Hmm... it seems to me, concerning the texts discussed over the last three weeks, my salutation says it all--women were encouraged to maintain their chastity at all costs. I realize that this is fairly obvious and that this notion has already been analyzed at great length in class, but perhaps there is still a bit more to be said.
It's interesting that men (since we have deduced that it is likely that the majority of texts discussed in class were male-authored) chose to re-enforce virtuous behavior for women, particularly with respect to their sexual conduct. This seems rather counter-intuitive, since it would appear to be to a man's benefit for a woman to be "loose"--this would make it easier for him to appease his "extensive" sexual appetite (a characteristic that is supposedly typical of a male). Even though "double standards" in place are much more lenient for men with respect to sexual activity, it is difficult to indulge and take advantage of loosely defined boundaries when women are strongly encouraged to behave in the other extreme: to avoid sexual promiscuity.
On another yet similar note, 18th century and 19th century female fashion further promoted the preservation of chastity. Copious undergarments, corsets, and extremely intricate button sequences on dresses made the act of removing clothing difficult (not to mention moving in general), thereby discouraging immoral, licentious behavior.
Although women often wore corsets to achieve a particular body shape and excessive buttons on clothing were part of the extravagant nature of Victorian style, they certainly aided in encouraging women to protect their virtue. Similar to Chinese foot-binding (though significantly more painful than corsets), restrictive clothing was a way of forcing women into physical submission by limiting their mobility, which re-enforced patriarchy as a result.
2 comments:
It's true--you'd think the odds of men "gettin' some" would be increased by promiscuity on both sides of the gender divide. I once read an article--I think in Scientific American--that theorized men's obsession with virginity stemmed from a biological need to ensure their paternity. Why waste all those resources on raising a kid that's not your own? In the context of these narratives, the only way to ensure that your wife's baby is really yours is to marry a virgin. And of course, even then you can't be 100% positive, because who's to say she wasn't sleeping around after the fact? Yikes!
Your post made me laugh. I that picture of the woman with her corsett is amusing. That is so true that the clothing that women had to wear was also very restricted and made it difficult for any woman to remove her clothing quickly.(I would also find it difficult everytime the poor woman had to go to the bathroom)
But it is very true. There are so many double standards. And there still are today! Oh what a web of a mess!!
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