Anger, Jane (fl. c. 1580)

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Anger, Jane (fl. c. 1580)

British essayist. Selected work: "Jane Anger, Her Protection for Women" (1589).

In 1588, the pamphlet "Boke, his Surfeyt in love" chided the moral corruption of women. A response, "Jane Anger, Her Protection for Women," claimed that females were the purer sex, corrupted only by men who drew them astray. The gender of the author, listed as Ja. A., Gent., came into question despite the feminine voice of the text. Though several Jane Angers are known to have lived at that time, there is no record of any of them authoring the pamphlet. If indeed the author was female, she would have been the first Englishwoman to enter the debate on gender issues of the Renaissance. Only one copy of the original pamphlet still exists.