William Byrd II, a great legal advisor and political activist in early eighteenth-century Virginia, is also considered one of the best known writers to emerge from his generation. He left an amusing, informative, and diverse body of works which provides modern readers with a revealing look at life in colonial America. He wrote letters, diaries, travel narratives, historical pamphlets, poetry, and satirical sketches. All of these reflect the societal conventions in Byrd’s lifetime. However in the twentieth century, with issues such as racial and gender equality coming to the forefront, Byrd has been criticized for his attitude towards and portrayal of minorities—specifically women. He has been characterized by some scholars as having "obsessions with women and sex" which "would require a skilled psychiatrist" to understand (Bain and Flora 65).

This idea of obsession is carried even further by Kenneth Lockridge in his book On the Sources of Patriarchal Rage. He asserts that Byrd harbored an "intense hatred" of and an "implicit fury" against women, which Byrd projected and encouraged in various works such as "The Female Creed" (29-30). Yet even Lockridge asks why Byrd’s apparent misogyny is veiled in a polite, gentle guise. The question of Byrd’s attitude towards women needs to be addressed within the context Byrd’s own life and times, not within the code of gender equality which has been promoted in the twentieth century. His view of women can be accurately evaluated by looking at his own life, his relationships, and the conventions of the society that produced William Byrd and directed his expression, artistic and otherwise..

In the midst of William Byrd’s constant traveling and his demanding political responsibilities, Byrd took the time to chronicle his daily activities and his relationships with members of his social circle in his diaries, letters, and character sketches. From these documents, scholars and historians have obtained information about Byrd’s personality and attitude—especially towards women to whom many of his letters where addressed and many of his sketches devoted. However, it is asserted by certain scholars that Byrd’s treatment and perception of women in his writings reveals a deep rooted hatred for women that infected his eighteenth century society. Kenneth Lockridge believes that Byrd’s discussion of "the female body, female desire and power become the introduction to, metaphor for, and implicitly the source of the social and political corruptions of early eighteenth century England" (31). He goes on to argue that it is "the corruptible female body itself that is the central metaphor for all these [Byrd’s] tales of social and political corruption" (33). But do the works of William Byrd really display this vile attitude towards women, or were they merely the creation of his vivid, if sensuous, imagination which had no direct impact on society?

Throughout his written work it can be observed that Byrd was self-admittedly weak when it came to women. He was undoubtedly a highly educated man and fervently religious, yet when it came to illicit encounters with women, he was easily overcome by his worst impulses. He confessed in his self-portrait, "The struggle between . . . the King and the Parliament in England was never half so violent as the Civil War between this hero’s principles and his inclinations" (Marambaud 65). He often expressed regret and begged God’s forgiveness in his diaries after an inappropriate sexual encounter. He believed that "he lived more by the lively movement of his passions than by the cold and unromantic dictates of reason" (65). His fascinations with women often dictated his behavior. After the death of his first wife, he consistently pursued relationships with several English heiresses, failing miserably with each of them. It was not beneath him to approach prostitutes or slaves to experience sexual pleasure after his rejection by other women. Richard Preston of Princeton University writes of Byrd—"In the evenings he roamed the city, sometimes settling for an encounter in the bushes" (Elliott 46). When it came to sexual fulfillment, Byrd did not discriminate against the social, ethnic, or racial background of any woman. His interest in women was catholic; he was interested and found enjoyment in all types of women.

Byrd did not just chronicle his own physical and emotional needs, but also the supposed female counterparts to those needs. In his "Commonplace Book" and in "The Female Creed," he examines the characteristics of the female psyche. He comments on female superstition, the female body, the female libido, and female power in women's relationships with men. A passage from the "Commonplace Book" reads—"women are most lascivious about the time their Terms begin to flow" (Lockridge 7). An example from "The Female Creed," which Byrd wrote under a female pseudonym, reads—"I believe in astrologers, coffee casters, and Fortune-tellers . . . etc" (34). Both of these entries reflect the stereotype of the female persona at this time, which includes being irrational and being led by "female intuition" rather than male reason. These writings and others like them suggest to many scholars a misogynistic attitude—a complete distrust of female motives, a fear of her alleged insatiable sexuality which should lead to the ultimate suppression of her personality. Byrd is charged by his critics with perpetuating these ideas in the public arena through his writings. Yet these charges remain problematic for the modern readers who define feminism and misogyny is a way that would have been foreign to William Byrd’s generation. Should Byrd’s attitude be labeled as "misogyny" or should it be seen as a combination of traditional beliefs and his own unique outlook on life?

William Byrd undoubtedly formed his belief system concerning women based upon the traditional views surrounding the female gender which had been in existence and practice for hundreds of years. According to Howard Bloch in an essay in Misogyny, Misandry, and Misanthropy, the accepted concept of women that had survived for centuries was that "women are contentious, prideful, demanding, complaining, and foolish; they are uncontrollable, unstable, and insatiable" (3). Women had been evaluated in a sexually biased manner and no women could be trusted. Beautiful women were thought to inspire lovers which would presumably lead to the loss of their chastity, and ugly women were believed to be extremely passionate and always hungry for sexual involvement. Neither one was considered desirable for a man—"What many love is hard to protect; what no one desires to have is a humility to possess" (4). These sexual stereotypes would have greatly influenced Byrd’s mentality. It can not be argued that he influenced these ideas in his written work—he was influenced by them and was simply reacting to what he had been taught and conditioned to believe by men and women alike.

Byrd’s personal relationships with his wives reflect this training, but they also show the sincere love and affection that he had for them. In reading Byrd’s first "Secret Diary," it is apparent that he believed that his wife, Lucy, should submit to his authority. "Byrd complacently asserts that in all their quarrels he was right and she was wrong" (Wright 5). Yet even though Byrd believes in his superiority, he continuously defers to his wife, appears to be quite concerned about her, and spends much of his free time with her—not the actions of someone who hates and distrusts women. In an entry made on March 31, 1709, he states, "My wife was out of humor for nothing. however, I endeavored to please her again, having consideration for a woman’s weakness" (13). Another entry on July 12, 1709 reads, "My wife was very melancholy, but I comforted her as well as I could and was troubled to see her so" (31). He was quite naturally concerned with his wife’s health, especially during pregnancy and often restricted her activities during this time. Generally, his diaries do not focus on wild, sexual escapades, which other writings may suggest, but on discreet acts of intimacy with his wife and occasionally other women. Byrd’s love letters to each wife and other women in his life reveal a great admiration for women and their gentle nature. He commented once "There is something in female conversation that softens the roughness, tames the wildness, and refines the indecency too common among men" (Marambaud 66). Byrd’s tone towards women was authoritative, yet gentle. His letter reflect a need to be near and a part of a woman’s tender soothing nature—something not inherent in male relationships. Byrd’s character sketches take the opposite approach in writing style and in content.

Byrd generally wrote with a small audience in mind which included a select group of friends and colleagues. He undoubtedly tried to appeal to their sense of humor when he created his unorthodox characters and character sketches. The writers of the book, Fifty Southern Writers before 1800, identify Byrd as being preoccupied with "playing the role of comedian and wit" and having a "fascination with observing and creating characters" (Bain and Flora 61). With this in mind, the absurd characterization of women in "The Female Creed" is just that—absurd. It is a mockery of the traditional stereotype, not a support of it. Pierre Marambaud in William Byrd of Westover 1674-1744 asserts that "The Female Creed" is "not to be taken seriously" (97). Marambaud supports the theory that Byrd’s attitude towards women reflected a "certain code to which he adhered" (66). "Byrd worked hard to project and image of himself as a wit, as a master of the comic and satire" and this is exactly what he did (Bain and Flora 65). The fact that William Byrd wrote "The Female Creed" under a female pseudonym suggests that the idea that women were superstitious, cunning, and ruled by their emotions, was a traditionally acceptable view of women, probably acknowledged and mocked by women themselves. Byrd does not "attack" them from a male perspective, but gently "mocks" them from a female perspective. Byrd’s satirical view of women was subtle and stayed within the appropriate grounds of what could be acceptably discussed in social settings.

Through modern enlightenment and an acceptance of gender equality, twentieth century readers may continue to label William Byrd as a misogynist. Based upon the belief in his own superiority, his sexual obsession with women, and his open discussion of female foibles, it is understandable to arrive at this conclusion. But in light of the surrounding evidence—his love for his wives and family, his high regard for women in his love letters, the society that helped to form his conventional ideas about women, the fact that he wrote "The Female Creed" as a woman, and the fact that always tried to promote his comedic expertise—modern readers have to differentiate between what is now viewed as blatant misogyny and what William Byrd viewed as a natural outflow of societal expectations and conventions.