Historical Tiffany?

Six years or more ago, when my muse insisted I write about the first American women to achieve or fight for basic rights, I fell down many rabbit holes. Not the least of which were those that challenged my own misconceptions about historical societies.

Have you heard of the Tiffany Effect? Martins’ wrote the best article I've found by far. It's when a reader firmly believes the author must have gotten the history wrong. Example: because there's no way an ancient character could be named Tiffany. It applies to many more subjects, and I learned a great deal about my own bias. For instance, 19th-century women weren’t expected to marry before age 20. Women always ran businesses, wrote, participated in politics, pursued education, and protected their families. The problem with not knowing about these norms stemmed from who wrote the history books and their motivations.

Women from the era I researched were not so buttoned up. Early photography did show women lounging around with their long hair down or walking alongside a wagon on a hot Kansas day without a corset (OMG!—abbreviation is also not modern). My favorite lesson with women’s history (and I can’t find who wrote it first) is that if it’s yuck now, it was yuck then. We’re really not that far removed. So, before I assume an author got it wrong, I will now question my own confidence in assumed history.

Check out this online article: juliamartins.co.uk/the-tiffany-problem

Or, for all things women’s history refer to Normal Women by Philippa Gregory.

And, of course, for word origins (what’s modern?), I refer to primary sources or www.etymonline.com

Thanks for reading!

Truest