An excerpt from Victoria Woodhull’s 1871 “Steinway Speech” on free love.
Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president, fought for female suffrage, labor reform, and equal rights. In this famous speech delivered at Steinway Hall in New York City on November 20, 1871, Woodhull challenges sexual double standards and observes that men and women may feel love and desire inside and outside of marriage. The speech was reprinted in The Great Sensation (1873) by Leon Oliver.