Sexual Desire, Responsibility and the Fallen Man; Rachel Crothers' Ourselves and When Ladies Meet

Abstract

Rachel Crothers, during the course of her playwriting career (1906-1937), wrote over 30 plays exploring and validating the lives of women in early twentieth century American society. In particular, she often focused upon gendered double standards with respect to sexuality. Her early plays strike a more forthright, easily quantifiable feminist, activist tone in this regard. As the decades go by, however, the feminist tone of Crothers’ work becomes increasingly more complex and arguably ambiguous. In an effort to further investigate the complex arc of Crothers’ feminist voice over the course of her lengthy career, this essay will examine two of her plays which, though written 20 years apart, evidence a remarkably similar and provocative feminist thematic premise and dramaturgical strategy; Ourselves (1913) and When Ladies Meet (1933). Both plays explore the boundaries of responsibility for the sexually desiring, ultimately suggesting that women have the power to regulate not only their own sexual desires but also the sexual desires of men.