Secrets of a Lady’s Toilet
The Satirical Genius and Revolutionary Feminism of Lola Montez
“I expect to win the gratitude of the whole masculine gender by these rules of the art of fascinating. It used to be supposed that this art belonged exclusively to my sex; but that was a vulgar error, which the sharp practice of the men has long since exploded. And it is now well-established that gentlemen spend a great deal more time in inventing ways and means to entrap women and get them in love with them, than women do in trying to win the hearts of gentlemen. Love making indeed seems to be the ‘being’s end and aim’ of man. He appears to think that he was born for no other purpose, and he devotes himself to the business with a zeal and an enthusiasm highly honorable to his exalted genius, and to the immortal station he claims for himself of being the Lord of Creation.”
-Lola Montez, 1858. The Arts of Beauty; or Secrets of a Lady’s Toilet: With Hints to Gentlemen on the Art of Fascinating
If you’ve never heard of Lola Montez, you’re wrong. She’s the famous seductress who inspired the song:
🎶 Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets
And, little man, little Lola wants you
Make up your mind to have no regrets
Recline yourself, resign yourself
You’re through 🎶
