Page "Free love" Paragraph 11

A married woman was solely a wife and mother, denying her the opportunity to pursue other occupations ; sometimes this was legislated, as with bans on married women and mothers in the teaching profession.

In 1855, free love advocate Mary Gove Nichols ( 1810 – 1884 ) described marriage as the " annihilation of woman ," explaining that women were considered to be men's property in law and public sentiment, making it possible for tyrannical men to deprive their wives of all freedom.

For example, the law allowed a husband to physically discipline his wife.

Free love advocates like Nichols argued that many children are born into unloving marriages out of compulsion, but should instead be the result of choice and affection — yet children born out of wedlock did not have the same rights as children with married parents.