 The classic treatment of self-respect is Thomas Hill’s “Servility and Self-Respect,” first published in 1971. Hill argues that there is a moral problem with servile people – by which he means those who are overly deferential, self-loathing, or self-abnegating. He gives three case studies: the Uncle Tom, a Black man who “displays the symbols of deference to whites, and of contempt to blacks;” the Self-Deprecator, whose “sense of shame and self-contempt make him content to be the instrument of others;” and the Deferential Wife, who is “utterly devoted to serving her husband” because of her belief that “the proper role for a woman is to serve her family” (1991c, 4–5). The problem, Hill thinks, is not that these people are making anyone miserable. They might be “Wise enough to Love their Chains,” to borrow Mary Astell’s description of the dutiful wife (1996, 29), and those around them might enjoy the benefits of their eager self-denial. For Hill, the problem is more intrinsic. The servile agent does not appreciate their own rights, either because they misunderstand them – like the wife who is brainwashed into thinking that she isn’t really allowed to say “no” – or else they just don’t value their own rights as much as others’ whims.