Women and Other ‘Others’

Abstract

In his 1988 historiographical article ’Seeing the Past’ Roy Porter stressed the regrettable lack of interest that satirical print scholars had shown towards representations of Georgian women.1 Porter’s challenge was taken up by Cindy McCreery in her 2004 publication The Satirical Gaze which, while enlightening in some respects, was not without its drawbacks.2 McCreery omitted discussions of images of foreign women and the use of female figures as emblems. It was in this latter category that Porter felt female characters were ‘most strikingly present’ in print culture, personifying concepts such as Britannia, Virtue, Justice, and Liberty.3 Tamara Hunt assessed some of Britannia’s many uses in Defining John Bull, noting Britannia’s versatility, her prominence in prints on the conflict with America, the decline of her utilisation after 1785 and her ousting by John Bull as national symbol.4