hoop-civilization

Updated: May 8, 2025

Analyze the present magnitude called Lady, and you can arithmetically state it, how little of it is nature-woman, and how much is hoop-civilization. To those, again, who object, that it is too primitive, we would reply, that the highest civilization is always a return to Nature, which is likewise exemplified by many of our ladies in the ball-room, we mean by their upper portion.

Various - The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 17, March, 1859