A brief Introduction to Victorian Society

1. A brief Introduction to Victorian Society 1837-1901 (the reign of Queen Victoria in England)

2. Key Ideas in this Period • Advances: Technology & Communications, Sanitation & Medicine • Religion • Gender Attitudes • Manners & Morals • Influential Authors/Thinkers of the Time

3. Transportation & Communications -Railroad lines, steamship lines, underground London railway, & telegraphs -The Industrial Revolution Sanitation & Medicine “Clean water was piped into cities, and adequate sewers were installed.” “The use of anesthetics in hospital operating rooms grew widespread…” (chloroform being used at childbirth) Key Topics expanded…

4. Religion The Evangelical Movement Roman Catholicism The Church of England (The Establish Church- Anglican) Darwinism (and many dissenters) Liberal Anglicanism The Oxford Movement Christian Socialism

5. Examples of the development of feminism • 1840:  Queen marries her first cousin, Albert, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. -Judge upholds a man's right to lock up his wife and beat her in moderation. • 1847: (also 1850) Factory Acts (women and children restricted to 10 1/2 hour day). • 1864 : Contagious Diseases Acts also 1866 and 1869 — women living in certain garrison towns liable to be declared prostitutes and forcibly examined for venereal disease). (through 1860s): The Alexandra Magazine • 1870: First Married Woman's Property Act. -Ladies National Association for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts founded by Josephine Butler. -Josephine Butler: On the Moral Reclaimability of Prostitutes. -Education Act (right of women to serve on School Boards).

6. Who was a prostitute? Perceived as a female occupation [but there were also male prostitutes] Definitions in early Victorian period along class lines Middle-class charity workers and religious organisations used category of the ‘fallen woman’ Fallen woman lived in sin included all those who did not conform to middle-class ideas of regulated sex, i.e. within marriage could include victims of rape, deserted unmarried mothers, women in consensual unions, prostitutes working class women did not see themselves as prostitutes many, especially those in consensual unions saw themselves as respectable - not exchanging sex for money whereas prostitution was exchanging sex for money care with stereotypes prostitution for many women = seasonal occupation for working-class women depended on  their economic circumstances others: temporary economic activity for young working-class women a way of earning sufficient money to marry or set up a small business different from full-time prostitutes full-time prostitutes – lives brief, miserable subject to police harassment, violence from their customers, disease different prostitutes participated in different arenas some in brothels others used lodging houses when dealing with clients pimps rare in GB until late 19c some husbands pimped for their wives – husbands had legal right to wives’ earnings before 1870s and 1880s Prostitution

7. alternative view of full-time prostitutes innocent girl (often from countryside), seduced, then abandoned, by an aristocratic protector passed on to other wealthy men final descent into poverty, disease, street prostitution, death majority of customers of prostitutes were working men, rather than aristocrats looking for adventure in working-class urban areas Numbers of prostitutes – quantification v. difficult Nos. fluctuated according to economic conditions Seasonal variations Statistics based largely on London 1830s estimated about 80,000 1858 est. about 83,000 1860s est. about 220,000 19c public perceptions of prostitution working-class women objectified        female sexuality constructed as ‘dangerous’ if exercised outside heterosexual marriage victims of male lust victims of poverty and ignorance always represented as vulnerable silent in face of sexual exploitation in need of salvation and reform by middle-class philanthropic and social investigators 1830s and 1840s – renewed public sympathy for prostitutes seen as victims of economic conditions – sweatshops, etc 1840s and 1850s social investigations of prostitution influenced by new statistical techniques and religious imperatives these investigations stressed economic problems but also girls’ low moral character male need for prostitutes demonstrated of sexual double standard and selective thinking sexual double standard 19c Britain chastity = part of a Christian life extra-marital sex = a sin but widely believed that it was ‘unhealthy’ for a mature man to be celibate (Hall) however, prostitution should be regulated for medical and moral reasons Regulation of prostitution Mid/late 19c moral panic about sexually-transmitted diseases poor health of nation’s military revealed by Crimean War and subsequent investigations Prostitution Cont’d

8. Contagious Diseases Acts 1864, 1866 Intended to reduce sexually-transmitted diseases in army and navy by • Compulsory medical examination of any woman • thought to be a ‘common prostitute’ • in a naval port or garrison town Sexual double standard embodied in legislation • assumed soldiers and sailors needed prostitutes to service their natural sexual impulses • Government had responsibility to provide healthy women do so women in these towns denied basic civil rights • prostitution was not a crime but • Acts allowed • arrest of women on suspicion of being a prostitute • enforced examination by male doctors • women incarcerated in ‘lock’ hospitals until recovered if found to be suffering from an STD little evidence that CD Acts controlled sexually-transmitted diseases • incidence declining before Acts were passed and continued to do so after they were repealed, suggesting other factors were more effective Acts suspended in 1883, repealed 1886, except in colonies

9. Manners & Morals – Examples of Ballroom Etiquette The following are taken from http://www.victorianweb.org/history/Etiquette.html • A lady or gentleman should finish their toilet before entering the room for dancing, as it is indecorous in either to be drawing on their gloves, or brushing their hair. Finish your toilet in the dressing rooms. • Always recognize the lady or gentleman, or the director of ceremonies with becoming politeness: a salute or bow is sufficient. • A lady should always have an easy, becoming and graceful movement while engaged in a quadrille or promenade. It is more pleasing to the gentleman. • If a gentleman, without proper introduction, should ask a lady with whom he is not acquainted to dance or promenade, the lady should positively refuse. • An introduction in a public ball room must be understood by the gentleman to be for that evening only, after which the acquaintanceship ceases, unless the lady chooses to recognize it at any further time or place. • A lady should not attend a public ball without an escort, nor should she promenade the ball room alone; in fact, no lady should be left unattended.

10. “Victorian prudery sometimes went so far as to deem it improper to say "leg" in mixed company; instead, the preferred euphemism “limb” was used.1 Those going for a dip in the sea at the beach would use a bathing machine. However, historians Peter Gay and Michael Mason both point out that we often confuse Victorian etiquette for a lack of knowledge. For example, despite the use of the bathing machine, it was also possible to see people bathing nude.” “Verbal or written communication of emotion or sexual feelings was also often proscribed so people instead used the language of flowers.” This information was taken from http://www.answers.com/topic/victorian-morality Morality & Manners Cont’d

11. Social Classes • “Prior to the industrial revolution, Britain had a very rigid social structure consisting of three distinct classes: The Church and aristocracy, the middle class, and the working poorer class.” • The ~ top 2% were church and nobility • The middle class were the bourgeoisie (middle working class) • The working poor were either laborers or actual poor (who depended upon charity/did not work) This information was taken from http://www.answers.com/topic/victorian-era

12. Influential Authors/Thinkers of the Time: Examples • The Bronte Sisters (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, etc.) • Rudyard Kipling • Charles Dickens • Robert Louis Stevenson (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, etc.) • Charles Darwin (theories of evolution) • Sigmund Freud (yes, the psychotherapist) Thinking of these people, how might they have been influenced by what was happening during this time frame, and, as well, how might they have influenced society?

13. Any Questions?