Although men wrote defenses of women before Jane Anger wrote Her Protection for Women, to defend them against the scandalous reports of a late surfeiting Lover, and all other like Venerians that complain so to be overjoyed with women's kindness (1589), Anger is the earliest known major female, secular, English feminist polemicist who wrote in her own name. Details of her life including her dates of birth and death and the identity of her parents are unknown. Indeed, all that is known of her is what her writes about herself in her tract. In this earliest known sustained defense of women by an English woman, Anger uses lively language with a surprisingly modern ring to respond to the pamphlet, Boke his Surfeit in Love (1588), a misogynistic attack on women. Although most of her arguments are secular arguments, she uses a few religious arguments.

      Anger responds to each accusation in Surfeit with a refutation and a counterattack. According to Anger, it is selfish, self-centered men who are the baser sex, dishonest men who lead virtuous women into sin, greedy men who are inconstant, decietful men who use sweet language to woo a woman to her doom, and lecherous men who ravish innocent women. And it is hard-working women who feed lazy, slothful men, virtuous women who guard the morals of society, dependable, courageous women who bear and rear the children, resourceful women who clothe their family, tolerant, loving women who nuture their husband's frail egos, patient women who care for their husbands when they get drunk or sick, and wise women to whom men journey for wisdom. In short, while women provide the necessities of life, create the extras that make life comfortable, and form the backbone of society, wanton men squander the fruits of women's labor.

      To demonstrate her polemical style, here are two examples of her secular arguments. In the first, Anger notes that women can do nothing can deter lustful men.

      "If we clothe ourselves in sackcloth, and trust up our hair in dishcloths, Venerians will nevertheless persue their pastime. If we hide our breasts, it must be with leather; for no cloth can keep their long nails out of our bosoms."

      In the second, Anger assails men's expectations of their wives.

      "It has been affirmed by some of their Sex, that to shun a shower of rain, & to know the way to our husbands bed is wisdom sufficient for us women: but in this year of [15]88, men are grown so fantastical, that unless we can make them fools, we are accounted unwise. "

      Her humorous creation story treats men with the same respect and dignity which the author of Surfeit treats women. Here, man was formed first from the foul things of the earth and was sanctified by God to be his most holy creation. From this magnificent creation, woman was formed. And women are as much better than men as men are better than dust. Finally, Anger alludes to the New Testament stories which indicate that Christ came from woman, not from man, and that it was woman who found the empty tomb and declared Christ risen. Anger writes:

      "The creation of man and woman at the first, he being formed In principio of dross and filthy clay, did so remain until God saw that in him his workmanship was good, and therefore by the transformation of the dust which was loathsome unto flesh, it became purtified. Then lacking a help for him, GOD making woman of man's flesh, that she might be purer then he, does evidently show, how far we women are more excellent then men. Our bodies are fruitful, whereby the world increases, and our care wonderful, by which man is preserved. From woman sprang man's salvation. A woman was the first that believed, & a woman like wife the first that reverd of him."

      From Jane Anger: Her Protection for Women, Jane Anger, Richard Lone and Thomas Orwin, London, 1589, reprinted in Early Modern Englishwoman: A Facsimilie Library of Essential Works, Part 1: Printed Writings, 1500 - 1640, Volume 4: Defenses of Women Jane Anger, Rachel Speght, Ester Sowernam and Constantia Munda by Scolar Press, 1996

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