Hurrah for Wildthorn and Amelia Bloomer!

I heard today that Wildthorn has been selected for the Amelia Bloomer List.

Chosen by folk affiliated to the American Library Association, this is a list of 'well-written books about girls and women that spur the imagination while confronting traditional female stereotypes'. And very honoured I am that Wildthorn is on it.

Amelia Bloomer(1818 –1894)

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will be forever associated with 'bloomers'. In fact it was another American activist, Libby Miller, who first adopted the costume of long baggy trousers gathered at the ankles. Worn with a short dress or skirt they were designed to preserve modesty while allowing women more freedom of movement. It was the press that nicknamed them 'Bloomers' after Amelia Bloomer enthusiastically promoted them. Bloomers and their wearers were widely ridiculed and they never became popular. Amazingly, women preferred the inconvenience of the crinoline to this sensible garb.

What is perhaps less widely known is that Amelia Bloomer was the first woman to own, operate and edit a newspaper for women called The Lily and she used it to promote the cause of women's suffrage.

So tonight I'll be raising a celebratory glass in memory of a brave and pioneering woman.

Cheers, Amelia!

Hurrah for Wildthorn and Amelia Bloomer! is a post from: Jane Eagland