Sister Juana
Daughter of the Church, Mother of Knowledge
Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz
Life in the Monastery
She collected many books, studied and wrote like she wanted to do. She had many instruments that she referred to as her children: "my telescope, my sundial, my obsidian mirror, my astrolabe, my quills, my writings... these are my children." She thought that every woman deserved the right to an education, such as the one she provided to herself, just like they "deserved" to have children with a man. In her poem "Foolish Men" she expresses how she feels men accuse women of being the cause of their misfortunes when, in reality, it is the men that are the cause.
Witty Woman & "Foolish Men"
"Since I couldn't dress as a man, I dressed as a nun."
When men say women are their own issue but really they're the problem...
With you, no woman can hope to score;
whichever way, she's bound to lose;
spurning you, she's ungrateful--
succumbing, you call her lewd.
We're all sinners alike
Or which is more to be blamed--
though both will cause for chagrin:
the woman who sins for money
or the man who pays to sin?