Mary's salvation and her belated growth into adulthood began when her publisher, Joseph Johnson, took paternal charge of her. He saw the born journalist who needed the education of his clever and radical circle. .
Her first publication, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), may seem conventional to modern readers, but it argued against many accepted child-rearing and educational practices of the 18th century. With this conduct book, written to satisfy the growing appetite of an emerging middle class, she worked within an accepted kind for women writers. In 1788 she became translator and literary advisor to Joseph Johnson, and in turn became a regular contributor of articles and reviews.
In 1792, Wollstonecraft published Vindication on the Rights of Woman, a significant book that advocates the equality of the sexes. Throughout these writings, she addressed the issues of the lack of learning, female manners, and state education. This was considered to be Mary's most famous work. She reasons that if women are indeed capable of being moral beings, then their education should be designed to help them achieve a moral and intellectual development equal, (or very near so) to men's. On a personal note, she mentions that with marriage, women should be an equal partner, not simply attractive and desirable objects.
Blake, Fuseli, and Thomas Paine were among the group she longed to be part of. Intoxicated by these men and their interesting discussions, her mind came to life. As time pasted she too became part of what was referred to as the English Jacobins, an intellectual and radical coterie. Feminism was not their main interest, but it was certainly a subsidiary focus. For the early years of the French Revolution, Mary would contribute reviews on subjects ranging from poetry to medicine to The New Analytical Review, as well as, translated philosophical works from German and French, both of which she learned on her own.