Sophie (or Sofie) Sager, (

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

, Sweden, 1825 –

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, United States, 1902), was a Swedish writer and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She was one of the first feminist activists and speakers for the modern women's movement in Sweden. She is also known for her part in the famous Sager Case (1848), where she sued a man for attempted rape and won the case, which was one of the most famous Swedish criminal cases of her time.

Life

She was born to a wealthy family and was educated in a girls' school. As an adult, she became poor and supported herself as

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

. She wished to start a dress-shop, and educated herself to a tailor in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 1848. In Stockholm, she was offered a room by an elder man by the name of Möller. She accepted, but was attacked sexually by him in her bed at his house. Sager fought back, and frustrated by her resistance, Möller abused her badly, although she managed to resist an actual rape. She managed to escape his house and was given help by a doctor, who documented her injuries and encouraged her to report Möller to the police. During this age, it was very unusual for a woman to report a rape of her own free will, as it was considered very shameful, and the case was given enormous attention in the press. Möller claimed Sager was insane, but the court was convinced by the doctors medical report, and judged Möller as guilty of attempted rape and violence. After this, Sager became one of the first feminist activists of the new women's movement in Sweden, touring the country to speak of women's rights. She claimed that women became passive with regard to their few rights and were given a low confidence in themselves because of their poor education, and took her own education as an example; she had been given her education in a girls' school, which did not teach much more than French and etiquette. At one occasion, she spoke dressed in male clothing. In 1852, she published the autobiography: ''Bilder ur livet. Ett fosterbarns avslöjande genealogi'' (Images of life. The revealing tale of a foster child) of her experiences. Sager moved to the US in 1854, where she became active within the American women's movement. She married the music teacher E. A. Wiener.

Quotes

"''I am the one who defies the false ideals of opinion, to enable myself to show my emancipation in my way of life''.” ”''I am the first woman in Sweden, to stand for the emancipation-theory in public, and therefore, it can not yet be so common, as it will be some day''.”

References

*Isa Edholm: ''Kvinnohistoria'' (Women history)(2001) Falun, Alfabeta Bokförlag AB, Stockholm *

Gunhild Kyle Gunhild Kyle (28 August 1921 – 14 February 2016) was a Swedish historian.Sweden's population 1970, CD-ROM, Version 1.04, Swedish Family Research Association (2002). She was Sweden's first professor of women's history at the University of Gothenbu ...

and Eva von Krusenstjerna: ''Kvinnoprofiler'' (Female profiles) (1993) Norstedts Tryckeri AB Stockholm

Life

Quotes

References

Further reading