Later theorists were less conflicted. Helen Wilmans, for example, fully accepted twentieth-century consumerism, arguing that both women and men could access the animal will behind the drive for success. By the 1920s, the female leadership of the New Thought movement had constructed a model of womanhood fully capable of materialistic as well as sexual desire. But as Satter explains, this ideal was soon absorbed by the emerging discourse of popular psychology, and the desiring woman became sexualized. 4 Satter's attention to gendered language in New Thought seems long overdue, and her analysis of its ambiguous and slippery discourse is genuinely compelling.
Questions remain, of course.
Satter's focus on leaders tells little about the rank and file, although her claims about the efficacy of New Thought in the lives of women beg for their stories as well. But certainly there were affinities. Methodists like Frances Willard were thoroughly comfortable with the language of spiritual transformation, although they used it with a particular member of the Trinity in mind. 5 Margaret Bendroth Calvin College Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.