Why “bluestockingism” is a great word
BLUESTOCKINGISM — [Noun] The intellectualism, affectation, or characteristic behavior of a bluestocking, an educated or literary woman. From 'bluestocking' (a term for a learned woman, from the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society, whose members wore informal blue worsted stockings) + the suffix '-ism' (denoting a distinctive practice, system, or philosophy). First attested in 1812. Unlike "erudition," which denotes profound, genderless scholarship, or "pedantry," which implies a narrow, ostentatious focus on rules, bluestockingism is a social posture, specifically and inescapably feminine. It is the quiet hum of serious conversation in a salon, the defiant weight of a serious book in a reticule meant for frippery, the subtle, defensive arch of an eyebrow over a text of natural philosophy—the performance of a mind in a world that expects only a figure.