The Notorious V-I-C by Michael Ceraolo

The Notorious V-I-C

That's short for Victoria,

and I was and am notorious

because I dared to speak of sex

("Let women issue

a declaration of independence sexually,

                                                          and

absolutely refuse to cohabit with men

until they are acknowledged as equals in everything,

and the victory would be won in a single week")

I was also notorious because

I was the embodiment of Whitman's words

('Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself

I am large, I contain multitudes'):

practicing Christian principles although

I was opposed to organized religion,

the first to publish in America

The Communist Manifesto in English

at the same time Tennie and I

were working as the first female stockbrokers,

etc.

I gave a speech in Washington, D.C.'s

Lincoln Hall on February 16, 1871

Here is part of that speech:

"I come before you to declare that my sex

are entitled to the inalienable right

to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

The first two I cannot be deprived of

except for cause and by due process of law;

but upon the last, a right is usurped

to place restrictions so general

as to include the whole of my sex,

                                                   and for which

no reasons of public good can be assigned

I ask the right to pursue happiness

by having a voice in that government

to which I am accountable

I have not forfeited that right,

still I am denied

Was assumed arbitrary authority

ever more arbitrarily exercised?"

This speech led to my being nominated

for President by the Equal Rights Party the next year,

an honor which I happily accepted

(they also nominated Frederick Douglass

for Vice-President;

                            they should have

checked with him about it at some point:

he gave speeches for Grant)

On Election Day 1872

I received an unknown number of votes,

unknown because they were uncounted

by the powers that be

                                  But I had

other matters to worry about that day:

I was in jail

I had written of what I knew

about the great Henry Ward Beecher,

and Tennie had written about

a stockbroker named Luther Challis,

using the word virginity in her piece

"The public is in no danger from me"

"The great public danger . . .is not

in my exposure of the immoralities

that are constantly being committed,

but in the fear that their enactors

will be shown up to the public

they have so long deceived"

Because our paper had been sent through the mail,

we spent a month in jail,

victims of the mockery of Comstockery

We were never convicted,

                                       but

we spent our fortunes and then some

defending ourselves

"So after all

I am a very promiscuous free lover

I want the love of you all,

promiscuously

It makes no difference who or what you are,

old or young, black or white, pagan, Jew, Christian

I want to love you all and be loved by you all,

and I mean to have your love

If you will not give it to me now,

these young, for whom I plead,

will in after years bless Victoria Woodhull

for daring to speak for their salvation"

And now that I have heard

there may be a movie made about me

ninety years after my death,

that may finally happen