Thomas Thorild

Thomas Thorild (Svartenborg, Sweden, April 18, 1759 - Greifswald, Germany, October 1, 1808), was a Swedish poet, critic, feminist and philosopher.

Biography

He was born in Svarteborg, Sweden and died at Greifswald, which was then Swedish Pomerania, and is now part of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. His original name was "Thomas Thorén" and he studied at Lund University in Sweden and worked or studied at the University of Greifswald in Germany.

He was an important member of the cultural elite in Stockholm during the Gustavian era. He was popular among women because of his beauty and because of his ideas of gender equality; he aroused much attention with his idea, that just as a man was seen as a person first, and as a man (and a sexual objekt) second, a woman, who was seen as a sexual objekt first and a person second, should have the right to be seen upon the same way: "Just as foolish as it is to regard a woman only in the capacity as a SHE, it would be to regard a man only as a HE".

Thorildsplan is named after him.

References

* Herman Lindqvist, "Historien om Sverige. Gustavs dagar"