“In 1980 Earl Anderson published an article in {{w|Eighteenth-Century Studies}} on the history of foot races in which he characterised the old women's race in {{w|Evelina}} as a delightful instance. That view, thankfully, is not replicated elsewhere. Pioneering Burney scholars, including {{w|Margaret Doody|Margaret Anne Doody}} and Kristina Straub, have read the race as symbolic of a social system that dehumanises women and is a literalisation of male brutality.”