These series of papers show the opinions and views of and in the coffeehouses of the time. I was often confused because of the different points of views expressed from page to page. The Tatler seems much like today's magazines. They covered broad topics and shed light on occurring events of the time.
However I did find the Female Tatler paper Interesting. Although men were supposed to be the dominant writers of the time, I found it interesting that a woman could create a somewhat successful paper aimed at, but not only for women. Women's perspectives are expressed in the female version of The Tatler. Although the Female Tatler had a short run (1709-1710) it was satirical, witty, and creative. It once again shows women's ability to enter what may be considered a masculine art and proving to be more than capable of matching or even exceeding the men's talent. I found the idea of creating Mrs. Crackenthorpe very intelligent as far as marketing and promotion. It gave the paper character. The phrase "A lady who knows everything" only added to the creativity of the paper. The phrase actually would give it more of an edge on the alternate paper The Tatler. I'm assuming The Female Tatler was in some competition with The Tatler considering The Female Tatler released publications on the days that The Tatler didn't. It would've snatched a few fans of The Tatler who wanted to read more news throughout the week, as well as the female audience that The Tatler most likely excluded or ignored in it's sexist practices.
I get your point, but be careful of words like "sexist" when dealing with earlier periods. After all, just because a woman wrote--or may have written, it's not completely known--for the paper, doesn't mean its values are automatically more liberating. And the fact that the Tatler and Spectator were written by men doesn't mean they were misogynist. You may wish to take two essays on similar topics and compare them side by side to determine if there is much difference.
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