Prejudice, racism, and sexism have all been issues that have plagued the United States. These three issues all connect with the idealism of justice. Though each has a distinct meaning, they are interlinked by the struggles and hardships a common group went through to attain equality. Women as a whole struggled to attain freedom and independence from their male counterparts. Mary Wollstonecraft recognized the dismal state with which women lived during her time. She was a strong advocate of equality between the sexes, and her written views reflected this attitude. Her feminist approach to the situation was ideal. She managed to persuade people, especially men, of her views by simply writing in a manner that would appeal to them. Wollstonecraft's beliefs about equality were similar to those of Martin Luther King Jr. King witnessed the discrimination African Americans endured. He was a leader in the movement of civil rights and was determined to improve despondent conditions for African Americans, even if it took one city at a time. King's beliefs in equal rights and equal opportunities were the driving forces in the African American fight for justice. Letters from a Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King Jr., and Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society, by Mary Wollstonecraft, both show similarities in the struggles women and African Americans endured to attain equal rights. .
Wollstonecraft complains about the admiration given to women for their beauty, and how this admiration did not allow women to live up to their full potential. She states, " I need only deserve that when a woman is admired for her beauty, and suffers herself to be so far intoxicated by the admiration she receives as to neglect to discharge the indispensable duty as a mother, she sins against herself by neglecting to cultivate an affection that would equally tend to make her useful and happy" (Jacobus 783).