“Mrs. Satan” and the Free Love Movement
After divorcing Dr. Canning Woodhull, Victoria Woodhull became heavily involved in the Free Love movement—
Leading by her own example, Woodhull became a fierce advocate for the Free Love movement. She sought to erase the stigma of divorce and make it easier for women to escape abusive marriages. As a lecturer, Woodhull often spoke about sex and advocated for a women’s right to control their own bodies. (NPS, 2021)
“I want the love of you all, promiscuously,” and “It makes no difference who or what you are, old or young, black or white, pagan, Jew, or Christian, I want to love you all and be loved by you all, and I mean to have your love.” (Gabriel, 1998)
She was a living example of the Free Love movement’s principles—
At one point, Woodhull lived with her ex-husband, her current husband, and her lover all in the same apartment. Her ambitious beliefs within the free love movement also contributed to the advocation for women’s equal rights to men.(History.com, 2018)
“Let women issue a declaration of independence sexually, and absolutely refuse to cohabit with men until they are acknowledged as equals in everything, and the victory would be won in a single week,”. (Gabriel, 1998)
Naturally, her promotion of Free Love was often criticized. Among her harshest critcs was Thomas Nast, who famously depicted her as "Mrs. Satan" in a 1872 Harper's Weekly cartoon—
Pictured is Woodhull, bastardized to resemble a female Satan, carrying a “ Be Saved by Free Love” sign. She looks back on a woman literally carrying her drunkard husband on her back with a child on her breast. The text below reads "Wife (with heavy burden): I would rather travel the hardest path of matrimony than follow in your footsteps." This image was originally published in Harper's weekly, February 17, 1872, page 140 by Thomas Nast. (NYPL Digital Collections, 2016)
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This image is courtesy of: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. ""Get thee behind me, (Mrs.) Satan!"--[See page 143.] Wife (with heavy burden). "I'd rather travel the hardest path of matrimony than follow your footsteps"" New York Public Library Digital Collections.
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Quotations were sourced from Mary Gabriel's "Notorious Victoria: The
Uncensored Life of Victoria Woodhull - Visionary, Suffragist, and First Woman to Run for President" Click here to purchase on Amazon