Studied by 0 people
Look for rest women in sport after men... Add in more New Woman stuff <- Zotero LOOK AT WHY STUFF LECTURE NOTES
Historiography sexual history
History as consc. part social & political activism
(1960s) New academic interest in histories sexuality, espec. homosexuality
Prev. v/little interest in sex
(1980s & 90s) šGH
Time social & political fervent: civil rights, student activism, womenās libā¦
Rise gay lib. politics @ same time (pride events - anger)
e.g. Jeffrey Weeks on social & legal oppression faced by gay men
Martha Vicinus on intimacy & eroticism bet. women
Lesbian historians turned to history to prove legitimacy lesbian desire
raiding the past for sisters/pioneers of modern lesbians (e.g. Gentlemen Jack)
Adrian Rich: try to create lesbian continuumintimate friendships bet. women, charting how these relationships surpassed love of love - creating lesbian continuum of lvoe could be claimed by modern-day feminists
Practical, biological view that came up when necessary - reproduction, etc
Assumed outside remit history, just someth. nat. & innate part human condition like breahting - timeless ā not sensible topic historical study
Conceptual shift ā womenās ā gender history
looked to address gender inequality not through jsut looking at women but by examining how gender xonstructed, how and why made in diff. contexts - contextualise gender, break down & interrogate it
historians sexuality do same thing w/sexualityā¦
sim. conceptual frameworks
rel. bet. men and women not inevitable nor patriarchal nat., biological essentiallismā¦ historians sexualism chang. so-called faccts of life ā actually notions used to suppress homosexuality and uphold heterosexuality + idea women more maternal and less sexual (not given/ inevitability of the body, but rahter partic. construction female body designed to uphold patriarchy & maintian status quo, same with idea men have higher sex drives)
Historiography sexual history
Foucaltās beliefs on sexuality
essentivlism v/ social constructionism
Sexuality (like gender) not nat., but socially constructed.
Simple š biology but socially & culturally contingent.
Fundamentally changes questions we ask. ab. sex in past.
Powerful chall. to so-called āfacts of lifeā - e.g.
homosexuality as āunnat.ā
men hav. higher sex drives
women as inherently material/ sexually passive
āThat which is has not alw. been, that since these things have been made, they can be unmadeā
Indeed, v/notion hav. sexual identity is recent developm. (150 yrs old).
Before that, societies understood and approached sexual behavior and identity differently, often without the distinct labels and frameworks we use now
essentialists = people who think things donāt change (e.g. identifying 13thC women as lesbian)
social constructionist (thinking about how poeple act at the time)
How has soc. been regulated?
Prostitution C19th/early C20
Why did women go into it?
The level of prostitution was high in Victorian England, such that the acts themselves affected a large proportion of the female workforce in Britain
Women often forced into it by rose MC domestic morality (underlying expectation of Victorian "respectability" and morality, which particularly valued female chastity and modesty)
increasingly difficult for women to obtain work in certain professions, causing an increase in such areas as needle-trades, shop girls, agricultural gangs, factory work, and domestic servants,[6] all occupations with long hours and little pay. Low earnings, in some cases, meant that women had to resort to prostitution to be able to provide for themselves and their families, particularly in households where the male breadwinner was no longer around.
way to survive for women stuck in poverty
but Victorin ideals framed it as sinful & immoral way of life
How has soc. been regulated?
Prostitution C19th/early C20
Concern
Legislation
Prostitution ā pervasive social concern
Fuelled by widespread fers ab. morality, public health & exploitation women & children.
Aim: stop spread venereal disease (partic. military & port cities)
What: harsh & invasive + swift & brutal
Allowed for arrest, mandatory medical examination any woman suspected of being prostitute to be arrested, even w/o concrete evid.
Forced detention of women for medical treatment if they were found to have sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Lots sensationalist & alarming accounts.
Sensationalist journalism played signif. role in heightening public concern.
"The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon," a series of articles published in The Pall Mall Gazette in July 1885.
Focused on scandalous & horrifying aspects š§ prostitution, includ. claims y/š§s being sold into sexual slavery to satisfy desires elite šØ.
Reporting created moral panic ab. š§ prostitution, white slavery & āsexual excess
Moral panic generated by such sensational accounts ā stricter enforcem. Contagious Diseases Acts & implementation even more draconian measures.
Women could be arbitrarily identified as prostitutes for behaviors such as walking alone in the evening, living in certain areas, or simply being seen with a male acquaintance.
Authorities could break into homes without warrants, arrest women without allowing them to make provisions for their children, and subject them to medical examinations and detentions for up to nine months if they were found to have STIs.
Inadequate conditions; not en. beds. Female VD patients gen. had to resort to workhouse infirmaries if no availability within a lock hospital.
In a lock asylum, women were ātaught appropriate behavior through religious instruction, and a decent working-class profession, so that a process of inclusion in respectable society would be fulfilled after a process of exclusion.
How has soc. been regulated?
Prostitution C19th/early C20
Campaign for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts
Much of the criticism came from women and reformers who viewed the laws as unjust, misogynistic, and a violation of women's rights and personal freedoms.
moralists and feminists but also those more generally concerned with civil liberties, especially since the Acts were perceived as having violated basic human rights.
Allowed authorities to violate women's bodies through forced medical examinations and detentions, often w/o any evidence or trial. This was seen as a gross violation of human decency and autonomy.
(Dr. Charles Bell Taylor & William Paul Swain) 1869 paper critic. lack police investigation/evid. req. to bring women into lock š„/asylum.
Butlerās speeches highlightedĀ exactly what impact the Acts had on the lives of working-class women. In one of her speeches, she stated āit was recorded that virtuous women had been taken up, virtuous women had been insulted, wives had been taken up and insulted, and most justly, āa medical rape,"[22] meaning arrested women were often forced into an examination without their consent. Butler described how police officers could arrest any woman they suspected of prostitution, and had arrested several women who were not infected but still forced into an exam.
Provision made for physical examination prostitutes' male clientele.
Imposed burden control & punishm.solely on women, whilst men held accountable ā created clear sexual double standard, legally enforcing idea male sexual behavior outside ā acceptable, whilst female sexuality tightly regulated & punished.
Regulation women's bodies (men's) seen as implicitly approving male sexual freedom while condemning women who engaged in the same behavior.
This highlighted the gendered nature of the laws, where men's "animal appetites" were seen as inevitable, whereas women were punished for supposedly facilitating these behaviors.
(Elizabeth Blackwell doctor) Women & men rec. same treatment under law.
(speech @ conferences) Condemned inherent double standard inĀ Acts & āaimed to take the responsibility of purity gatekeeping out of the hands of the women and shift some of the responsibility onto men as well.ā
(Dr. Charles Bell Taylor & William Paul Swain) 1869 paper: incredibly unfair that the treatment was not the same towards men with disease.
Inconsistent treatm. genders inherent in the acts was a key part of Josephine Butler's campaigns for their repeal. In one of her public letters, she allowed a prostitute to deliver her own account of her personal encounters with men:
It is men, only men, from the first to the last that we have to do with! To please a man I did wrong at first, then I was flung about from man to man. Men police lay hands on us. By men we are examined, handled, doctored. In the hospital it is a man again who makes prayer and reads the Bible for us. We are had up before magistrates who are men, and we never get out of the hands of men till we die![5]
Critics argued that these laws effectively condoned prostitution by regulating it rather than addressing its root causes. They claimed that instead of controlling the spread of venereal diseases, the Acts lowered moral standards by implying state acceptance of prostitution.
(Nightingale) System of regulation result in lower rates of disease
(Dr. Charles Bell Taylor & William Paul Swain) 1869 paper results highlighted that the Acts did not decrease the spread of disease at all.
The campaign for repeal emphasized how the regulation of sex through these laws intersected with broader issues of gender, sexuality, and class. The Acts primarily targeted lower-class women, exacerbating social inequalities.
The movement argued that societal views on gender and sexuality needed to be reexamined, much like how discussions of race and colonialism were shaping contemporary understandings of social regulation.
How has soc. been regulated?
Prostitution C19th/early C20
Campaign for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts: colonialism & racial dimensions
(1860s) GB colonial government implem. Cantonment Acts
Regulate prostitution in military areas (cantonments) where British soldiers were stationed.
Mandated the registration and regular medical examination of women suspected of being prostitutes to prevent the spread of venereal diseases among soldiers.
Similar to the Contagious Diseases Acts in Britain, the Cantonment Acts required women suspected of prostitution to undergo compulsory medical examinations. If they were found to have venereal diseases, they could be detained in lock hospitals for treatment.
The enforcement of these measures was often arbitrary and invasive, targeting local Indian women and subjecting them to harsh scrutiny and control.
The enforcement of similar laws in colonial contexts, such as India, where native women were blamed for spreading STIs, revealed a racial dimension to these practices. Colonial authorities often portrayed/ laws reinforced racial stereotypes native women as hypersexual/promiscous and disease-ridden, justifying invasive medical testing and regulation.
This mirrored domestic views where WC women seen as agents disease preying on men, necessitating state intervention.
How has soc. been regulated?
Prostitution C19th/early C20
š war
sex, gender, processes colonialism (lecture in few weeks) shape regulation sex
e.g. fear black men hypersexual predators white women
Identity
(how do people fit into the world & udnersand themselves as part of it)
lesbian culture post-war Britain
Importance space to shaping lesbian identities.
What were the characteristics and significance of the social spaces for queer women before and after World War II?
(post war) New social spaces opened up for queer women
Prior, frequented underground bars & pubs, partic. in areas like Soho & West End(illegal but part mainstream social scene).
š©-only venues: many of these venues catered specifically to women, creating a clandestine yet crucial environment for lesbian identity and community building.
Spaces/ cultures integral to shap. lesbian identities
Prov. space where women could comm. w/& recogn. each other
Build sense community & cohesion
Cultiv. spec. styles & codes behaviour ā est. shared cultural identity.
Identity
lesbian culture post-war Britain
How did WWII and its aftermath impact social spaces and opportunities for queer women?
Significantly disrupted trad. social structures, creating new opportunities for lesbiansā¦
Many š© exper. taste of freedom & dep.
W/many men away at war, women moved into shared accommodations, which fostered close relationships & community building amongst š©.
War years š opening new venues such as bars, clubs & coffee houses.
Gateway Club ā important social hub for lesbians.
Identity
Butch/femme culture
How did butch/femme culture emerge?
What was it?
Very tight-knit
supportive BUT constraining types lesbian identity (desire to conform & be part scene)
ā only 2 solid identities for lesbian women: butch (hyper-masculinity) or femme (hyper-femininity)
Identities clearly demarked in gendered binaryā performed/ identified themselves in partic. way
E.g. masculine dress, short cropped haircuts VS skirts, blouses, high-heeled shoes, black-latent leather handbag, makeup, earringsā¦ couples dressed in polar opposites
āThere was role-playing & that was the way it was. If you werenāt one way or the other, if you didnāt conform, they derided you for it & said you didnāt know what you were.ā
āThe extremes in dress were fascinating, I mean some of the more butch women. I mean, navy blue suits, immaculate white shirts, you know, ties w/a Windsor knot. Short cropped haircuts. I mean some of the women could really pass as men.ā
Identity
Butch/femme culture
What did this mean?
Gendered code/ performance sexual identity/lesbianism/ identity & behaviour.
Defines who should be doing what & w/whom ā gendered code around lesbian identity & behaviourā¦ interpreted in diff. ways.
Chall. norms femininity & gendered behaviour.
Butch women more likely to be assaulted because their gender presentaiton seen as being more transgressive than that of femmes (many of whom passed as being straight).
Way of an f you to the mainstream, over how women should be & should act, role should play in soc. ā way throwing off confines womanhood.
Allowed them to identify & š each other; š cohesion and community.
(Joan Nestle)
Butchesā masculine presentation way to pretend to be man but way to show their lvoe for women & show their expertise - harnessng masculintiy for thier own ends rather than live out manhood
Policing what was approp. within these spaces ā ownership?
Lesbians grappling w/rel. bet. gender and sexualityā¦ being radically gay but also old-fashioned in their gender roles patriarchal power
quote conflates sexuality & gender (link to transgender seminar)
(Sheila Jeffries) Nothing more than sad attempt to be accepted by mainstream, to play nice and fit in w/heteropatriarchy
Horrible roleplay heteropatriarchy, reprod. idea men better, more powerful & more important than women.
newer women rallied against this dichotomy - generational gap bet. butch-femme and those who didnāt want to be part closely-regulated subculture (invovled in gay-lib. front)
prevalence classic butch and femme linked to classic notions masculinity and femininity ā less important to lesbian culture
Using gender as tool/category analysis helps us understand how sex understoodā¦
Presentations gender shaped womenās sex lives, on dance floor, dark cornersā¦. shaped how identified in society, how treated by scholarsā¦ through this exploration identity, can see how gender and sexuality sep. but incredibly intwined.
why were advice writers in this period so concerned w/teaching people how to have good sex? Why did their advice look the way it did?
what was at stake in discussions of good & bad sex in this period
how does this speak to concerns ab. gender, race & class?
Revolting woman ā image & ideas womanās place in soc. unsettled & up for debate
in this partic. period, women revoltig (as in image & role white MC woman in America undrgoing profound/ unsettling & concerning change)
Coventry Patmoreās poem Angel in the House (1854) ā pop. stereotype.
White MC pious submissive obedient domestic
Sep. spheres ideology: belief men & women ought to occupy sep. spheresā¦ men in competitive public world politics & work, women in harmonious priv. arena fam. life (leisure).
How American soc. conceptualied & talked ab. approp./ desirable/ ideal womanhood, even if only applied to certian women
Space & gender onnected by way we exper. locations in their relation to the bodies & behaviours that occupy them (Krueger)
(Krueger) š© grew tired of these oppressive roles & mobilised to fight for more visibility & rights ā reshap. gspace rhetoric by mov. into spheres typically consid. masc.
(later yrs C19 & early C20) š¼ image under assault
W/IR, 1000s WC š© began to work in šs āchall. trad. gender roles.
BUT paid as much in workplace ā organise & fight for equal rights ā right to vote 1918 GB.
Women ā louder and harder to ignore, pushing into social-political life
Female suffrage part broader diverse movement - temperance, free š (against ā laws & equal access to š©ās sexuality), socialism, BC, prhobitionā¦
Feminism not 1 movem./organ. aimed at changing womenās opportunities in 1 way but broad movem. aimed overthrowing whole system/status quo
Growing & tak. up more space in politics than anyone before
Marie Jenny Howe (self-identified feminist, 1914)
Feminism not limited to any 1 cause or reform. It strives for equal rights, equal laws, equal opportun., equal wages, equal standards, & a whole new world of human equality.
The Woman Question, raised by Mary Wollstonecraft in her pamphlet, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), influenced the mid- and late-Victorian feminists. In the 1850s, Harriet Martineau continued vigorously the Woman Question debate in her polemical writings. She urged upper-class women to obtain a proper education and profession in order to make themselves financially independent. Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna dealt with the Woman Question in her book The Wrongs of Woman. She condemned womenās industrial employment and propagated domestic feminism. Frances Trollope and Elizabeth Gaskell urged upper-class women to become active in the public sphere. Charlotte BrontĆ« and George Eliot criticised social marginalisation of women.
A number of Victorian feminists, including Emily Davies, Frances Power Cobbe, Josephine Butler, Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and Millicent Garrett Fawcett, revived the Woman Question debate in their campaign for womenās rights, including the right to higher education, property, employment and suffrage. The effects of the campaign were positive although gradual and delayed in time. In 1857, the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act permitted women limited divorce, and an act of 1891 denied men conjugal rights to their wivesā bodies without their wivesā consent. The Married Womenās Property Acts of 1870 allowed married women to retain and control their earned income, and in 1882 they gained the right to own and control their property. In 1878, the University of London began to grant B.A. to women and in the next two years the first women colleges were established at Oxford: Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville. In the 1880s and 1890s, the Woman Question became a vital issue in British newspapers and periodicals. Militant female activists (suffragists), writers, artists and educators expressed their polemical views on the condition of women.
Single women at marriageable age were perceived as a growing social problem in mid- and late-Victorian England. The phenomenon was noticed and described by William Rathbone Greg, who published in 1862 an essay āWhy Are Women Redundant?ā. The author argued with genuine concern that according to statistics ā[t]here were, in England and Wales, in 1851, 1,248,00 women in the prime of their life, i.e. between the ages of twenty and forty years, who were unmarried, out of a total number of rather less than 3,000,000.ā (12). Greg predicted a miserable life of ācelibacy, struggle and privationā to those women and, as a remedy, he proposed their massive shipment to the British colonies, where single men supposedly waited for wives.
To transport the half million from where they are redundant to where they are wanted, at an average rate of fifty passengers in each ship, would require 10,000 vessels, or at least 10,000 voyages. Still, as 350,000 emigrants have left our shores in a single year before now, and as we do not need and do not wish to expatriate the whole number at once, or with any great rapidity, the undertaking, though difficult, would seem to be quite possible.
However, Greg signalled a serious obstacle to his plan. The colonies mostly needed marriageable women from the working-class and the lower ranks of the middle class, but the majority of āredundantā women in England who would not find husbands were from the middle- and upper-class. Greg remarked with dismay that an increasing number of young upper-class English women āreally and deliberately prefer the unsatisfying pleasures of luxury and splendour to the possible sacrifices of married life.ā (21)
One cause of female celibacy was that the rate of marriage declined steadily in the second half of the nineteenth century while the age of newly married women was continually rising. Besides, a growing number of educated and liberated women, who were later to be called āNew Womenā, began to question the foundations of paternalistic society and the supposed bliss of the traditional Victorian marriage.
Many women dec. not to marry (danger. threat to most con. factions soc. since women who didnāt respond to their assigned trad. role as mothers were dreaded)
rejected idea mariage as only means for achiev. fulfilling life since social advantages regarding female educ. & work opportunities allowed them diff. alternatives.
Obviously concerning for those invested in maintaining existing status quo.
Against this backdrop drops new woman.
Revolting women
New Woman
Define term
(1894) Writer and public speaker Sarah Grand
Umbrella term for host diff. groups/types women who (alth. not unified/ singular) threw off trapping trad. womanhood in diff. ways
Soon ā popular catch-phrase in newspapers and books
Significant cultural icon fin de siĆØcle
Departed ā stereotypical Victorian š©.
intelligent
educated
emancipated
dep.
self-supp.
not only middle-class female radicals, but also factory and office workers
rejected idea mariage as only means for achiev. fulfilling life since social advantages regarding female educ. & work opportunities allowed them diff. alternatives.
riding bike
trousers not skirts
smoking, drinking
pursuing higher educ.
pushing for entrance into male-dominated careers
challenging ocnfines male-domianted marriage
limiting no. children she had by campaigning for birth control
The New Woman was a very fin-de-siecle phenomenon. Contemporary with the new socialism, the new imperialism, the new fiction and the new journalism, she was part of cultural novelties which manifested itself in the 1880s and 1890s. (Sally Ledger)
At the end of the nineteenth century, New Woman ideology began to play a significant part in complex social changes that led to the redefining gender roles, consolidating womenās rights, and overcoming masculine supremacy. The discourse on gender relations took place alongside developments in labour relations (increased feminisation of the labour force), divorce legislature, education for women, single motherhood, sanitation and epidemiology as well as female consumer culture. The New Woman soon found advocates among the aesthetes and decadent.
The New Woman, a tempting object of ridicule in the press and popular fiction, was generally middle-class, and New Women included social reformers, popular novelists, suffragists, female students and professional women.
Whilst lauded/celeb. by some for being this new modern womanā¦
Lots backlash/ antagonism ā people against female suffrage since new woman whose rejection pious submisive womanhood threat to social order ā stereotyping
clear evidā¦. changing political landscape & womenās impact in politics + real fears changing role women in soc. + threat re-est. gender roles and way American society works - fear women leaving their trad. roles and impact it would have
Contemporary satirical representations us. pictured her riding š² in bloomers & smok. š¬ (aggressive & attractive).
The New Woman was by turns: a mannish amazon and a Womanly woman; she was oversexed, undersexed, or same sex identified; she was anti-maternal, or a racial supermother; she was male-identified, or manhating and/or man-eating or self-appointed saviour of benighted masculinity; she was anti-domestic or she sought to make domestic values prevail; she was radical, socialist or revolutionary, or she was reactionary and conservative; she was the agent of social and/or racial regeneration, or symptom and agent of decline. (Lyn Pykett)
Set up battleground around gender true woman: proper femine, pious maternal classical version woman vs bastardised version: hysterial, aggressive, poorly-dressed new woman whoād lost their femininity
ā defined by Ledger & Luckhurst as ādouble-codedā, that is, they could be āadvocates of conservative causesā because they may have an āimage of sexual freedom and assertions of female independenceā while, at the same time, warn against the ādangers of sexual degeneracyā and āthe abandonment of motherhoodā
Revolting women
New Woman in Dracula
quintessential female malady āassociated with the sexuality and essential nature of womenā (Showalter 5, 1985). She also adds that āmental breakdown, then, would come when women [...] attempted to compete with men instead of serving them, or sought alternatives or even additions to their maternal functionsā (121), thus emphasizing the idea of a correlation between hysteria and the new ambitions of women, a fictional discourse that will be developed more fully in the following section concerning illness in Dracula.
Victorian male readers could rest assured and Victorian women were in a way warned of what would happen if they tried to rebel against the patriarchal system.
Revolting women
flapper
rise āthe flapperā
media fascin.
chall. no tions acceptable female behaviour
signif. their fashion
picture ā Life Magazine 1926
āWaists & breasts
appeared: long hair was banished along w/the old-fashioned corsets. Frills were out, sport clothes, [&] crisp suitsā¦ were in.ā (Anne Douglas)
Their cultural impact m/more widespread due to media fascination w/them
talked ab. at length in press & in books & films
e.g. Great Gatsby focuses on flapper lifestyle, ostensibly based on his wife Zeldaās flapper antics
Many traits assoc. w/them = variations gender-bending code female conduct (rebellious manner)
hyper-feminine qualities: wearing short dresses, being flirtatious, dancing, seducing men
simult. masculine/ boyish/ tomboyish in their dress/ manner: short bobs, andrognous Coco Chanel-style clothes, engagem. in formally male perogatives like driving, smoking, drinking, going to bars, staying out
Pushed no. boundaries amongst acceptable behaviour, partic. for women ā blurred lines bet. masculinity & feminine
(late c19) Soc. broadly thought š©ās sex lives all ab. reprod.
Raised hemlines revealing knees for 1st time
Express new understanding womenās sexuality by drawing attention to their legs, rather than to their bosoms/ waists as fashion traditioally had
conceptually shift: equating womenās sexuality w/maternity ā pleasure: new feminine identity, in which sexuality severed ā motherhood & based instead on pleasure
More than rejection motherhood but all the expectations that came along with it
Flapper ideal symbolised rejection all gender expectations came along w/motherhood too
Revolting women
flapper
along w/ārising cult of youthā, encourag. changes to womenās sexuality
Increased opportunities for sexual expression
(late c19) Soc. broadly thought š©ās sex lives all ab. reprod. ā had to be heterosexual
(Lisa J. Lindswist) Only C20 that mainstream opinion could begin to conceive of 2 š© hav. rel. w/sexual componentā¦
Flappers seen as liberated, indep. & sexually liberated, marking rise new youth culture emphas. individuality, pleasure & sexual expression
bisexual experim.
1-night stands, seduction, hav. affairs
š ā spaces for sexual activity outside parentsā š
50.4% 2,500 women admitted to @ least intense emotional rel. w/anoth. woman
1/2 admitted to sexual experiences/ sexual in character w/anoth. women
media, lit. (Hemmingway + books like Radcliffe Hallās The Well of Lonelin. 1928 ā scandal ā succ.)
Chall. Victorian notions passionless/sexless MC woman - expressing themselves in new ways - not just heterosexual but homosexual, redefining womanhood to allow for greater publicity and positivity regarding female eroticism & sexual expression.
Assault on married heterosexuality met w/abivalenceā¦ dismissed it as mere folly (not true sex without penis & vagina)
Soc. broadly thought š©ās sex lives all ab. reprod. ā had to be heterosexual
Could perform act āchummingā
act performance: peck each other on cheek, hold hands - acceptible, practice for marriage ((884) My woman crush ā¤ - YouTube)
for some women, practice but real thing
e.g. play covering lesban themes shown on Broadway 1923 absol. trashed
1 review: a more foul & unpleasant spectacle has never been seen in NY
producer tried on obscenity charges
This outrage = response to women being sexual in way not approp. at time + women committing cardinal sin rejecting men altog.
New woman & concerns it brought w/replaicng place trad. womanhood & gender status quo (image which had seemed so solid & fundamental to American soc. now under threat
Not revolutionary change - mostly ab. media repres. & _ section soc.
But even if doesnāt map onto reg. soc., image women and ideas theri place in soc. revealed through this
expectation women would leave school & get married
Cameron Esposito
complex individuals; every type persoanlity in queer community, even the bad ones
dead lesbian trope/ bury your gays - lesbian character only visible when die
can never have life after that kiss - no boring domesticity
alice mitchellās father decides insance - how else could she have wanted to run off w/another woman ā pleads in front all male jury āpresent insanityā
by mak. her victim illness, rathern than someone who dec. to murder woman she couldnāt have, MC Memphis could restore all-too-important social order
Saw no reason why shouldnāt live her life with woman she loved but rest soc. stronglu disagreed. her lvoe Freda crossed every boundary acceptable MC female behaviour.
dared to think differently
in doing that
Also momentā¦
What 5 things brought this about?
Also moment crisis when it comes to American masculinity, espec. white MC
White MC manhood in crisis because new fears ab. šŖ & virility (or lack thereof) of modern ā bodies
rising prominence homosexuality both cause and symptom of failing American manhood - chall. trad. notions manhood
new modern world sapping trad. manly vigour ā white men feminised in diff. ways
āly worked for faceless corporations in somet. dull jobs, toiling away @ their desks w/nothing tangible to show for their lab. as generations before had.
ā Could take pride & power in their work
ā New types stresses weakening men
Their bodies declining as work shifting away: ā prone to mental illnesses
E.g. overworked businessšØ got neurasthenia which left them fatigued, constipated, able to perform in workplace & marital bed, weak physically & in āš)ā¦ same as busy soc. š©.
Could get job ā erosion šØhood, lost their identities as breadwinner family (pride & power).
Many expereinced real humilitation within their families & communities
Genuine concerns masculinity being chall. & men losing their touch ā feminised, emasculated by even louder womenās voices
1890s caricature gender role reversals (satire of the "New Woman"): smoking woman aggressively pursues a coy man.
l, casual smoking woman aggresively pursuing coy, feminised men
other pictures have women holding men with strings around their neck
Reflecting fears new woman but also clear anxiety here ab. status American men.
if women gain control bedroom/ballot box, American menās manhood would suffer
(Wendy Clein) White MC masculinity also udner threat ā minority groups and homosexualsā¦
These groups taking up increasing proportion popul.
Shape & numbers African men ā (migration ā sharply, peaking 1930)
ā fears white MC (es[ec. men) los. their social & political power, & their physical prowess
bubbles over in calls for lynching black men early century
justiied it by virility/ sexual threat black men that req. restraint to protect respectable (white) women
As cities grew & soc. ā ā urban, open. ā diverse spaces for pursuing homosexual relationships.
Opportunities for lesbians & gay men to create underground supp. networks & communities
(Jennifer Terry) Homosexuality š femininity & lack masculinity.
ā seen as a severe threat to American values ā cultural obsession.
Rising prominence homosexuality chall. trad. notions manhood, seen as both cause & symptom declining trad. masculinity in a modernis. world.
new modern world sapping trad. manly vigour ā white men feminised in diff. ways
Anxious parents seek. sex education to condemn same-sex activity & reinforce trad, gender roles.
Newspapers both terrified and titillated readers with scandalous stories about same-sex activities, portraying participants as sex offenders or degenerates in drag balls in Harlemā¦
Homosexuality being medicinally classified as sanity & treated as disease, w/states pass. laws for forced sterilis. those deemed 'sexual perverts.'
Homosexuals fac. harassment, violence, job loss & eviction.
Heavy regulation homosexuality, including police raids on gay bars & new legislation to curb gay communities.
(1923) Public cruising being explicitly prohibited.
(1933) NY police empowered to arrest drag queens on charges of lewdness.
Kinsey's reports on male homosexual experiences fueled fears.
37% men & 13% women had @ least 1 homosex. eper.
McCarthy's lavender scare targeting suspected homosexuals: 1000s lost jobs in efforts to eliminate perceived risks to national security (see later FC)
How did WWI impact this?
2-year stint WW1 allowed for performance aggressive masculinity on battlefield, bolstered further by progpaganda and pop. repsresentations war
white men ā powerful, muscular agggressive, liberatory force
but loss 120,000 men in battle and return others w/physical and mental disabilities (e.g. shell shock) chall. this on warās end - fears ab. menās bodies & minds more prevalent
How did men defend status quo?
Pushed back against threats to their status/ challenges to white patriarchal supremacy
Push women back tow. trad. versions womanhood
Shore up supremacy through physical viol. & restrictive legislation (e.g. laws against miscegenation not repealed until CR legislation 1960s)
Build up/ bolster white masculinity itself
(Michael Kimmel) Mainstream pop. culture saw changes as men attempted to prove their masculinity @ places like baseball park. football field
Reaffirmed masc. through sex, leisure & culture.
How was leisure used to maintains tatus quo?
reading culture
Scouts & Guides
sport
Interesting sphere in which people introd. to, taught & then expected to act in partic. ways according to their gender
Partic. young people - malleable and in early stage developm. - e.g. reading culture
Grow. interest inā¦
boys: military prowess, making own lives
girls; marriage, childcare & hobbies based at home in the garden]
this is repeated; this dynamic constantly repeated in diff. guises (construction of norms through this repetition)
these arenāt formerly educational but rather a subtle construction of gender norms (happening more implicitly)
Prov. men concerned w/state american masuclinity the opportn. to supp. organised effort to make big men out of little boys
This organ., alth. on parallel lines w/that of the Boy Scouts, is diff. in its aims & details. Whereas the teaching of the Boy Scouts develops manlin., that of Girl Guides makes for womanlin., in both cases by means which appeal to the young people themselves. (Agnes Baden-Powell, Girl Guides: Note (1910))
Fed into and shaped gender dynamics.
Movem. designed for boys, prioritis. masculinity, with an ethos of a modern, rugged man.
Gender construct revealed in refusal let girls join scouts: saw it ab. hav. fun, not being a man.
Decided adjust scouting for inclusive gendered environm. but to create a sep. group for girls (Girl Guides).
āApprop.ā for girls to pursue tomboyish hobbies.
Names reflected roles: scouting (adventuring and exploring) vs. guiding (responsibility and care).
Leisure used to teach gender roles by stealth, attracting children with fun activities and molding them to ideal gender roles.
Overlap in activities (e.g., proficiency badges), encouraging the same skills like first aid, fire safety, astronomy, cooking, camping.
In theory, principle parity
Many activities presented as gender-neutral, benefiting everyone.
Some activities, while masculine, appealed to girls (e.g., sailing, camping).
Feminine tasks open to boys (e.g., child nursing, homemaking, knitting).
Masculine cultures seen as universal aspirations, contrasting w/ view feminine cultures niche, less appealing/ less important.
Accepted for girls to be tomboys but not for boys to engage in traditionally feminine activities, reinforcing a hierarchy of gender constructs.
Physical strength/ aptitude in sport is central to hegemonic masculinities; crucial to elite masculinities. Physical prowess defines masc.
Exmplified by classical gods and American college jocks.
Activities train & showcase articulate, reinforce & demonstrate masculinity.
Prov. boys & y/men way to channel excess energy and aggression constructively; popular in 19th-century America.
Muscular Christian movement promoted sports like š to toughen men against modern life's softness.
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (1896) defended its risks & injuries; instill masculine virtues benefiting society, nation & race.
(Theodore Roosevelt, 1893) The sports espec. dear to a vigorous & manly nation are alw. those in which there is a certain clight element of risk.
Angling/fishing: patience, dexterity, skill.
Golf: precision, accuracy, power.
Cricket: skill, fitness, teamwork, respect for procedures and rules.
Sportsmanship encompasses values of fairness, humility, pride, and ambition.
Sport is seen as a maker of men, prov. physical strength for battlefields & mental fortitude for politics and business.
Close š bet. sport masculinity persist; sport remains a venue for masculine community, role models, and masculine expression, integral to 'lad culture'.
How was sex used to maintain status quo?
interwar manuals vs PW (for PS, see seminar)
cultural & soc. context
signif.
Shift in Sexual Attitudes: Early 20th-century sex was increasingly viewed as important for personal wellbeing and not just for procreation. This shift was influenced by the rise in premarital sex and birth control.
Focused on enhancing ā pleasure & mutual orgasm, w/emphasis on ā responsibility for sexual technique (emphasis on restraint, patient & timing - nice guys finish last)
Gender roles: šØ initiators sexual pleasure, responsible for awaken. their š°āā' sexuality. āorgasm was central to a succ. ā.
(Marie Stopes) Sex had to be āmutual affair, not the mere indulgence of a man.ā
Men nat. sexual. Women needed to be awakened.
Relegated āsensitiveā āawaken.ā ā sexual pleasure to domain ā skill, leav. šØ firmly in charge that pleasure
Reflects view šØ as innately aggressive/experienced & š© as helpless/passive/exper. & awakened to her own sexuality by her spouse (though did indicate central concern for womenās pleasure) - contradiciton in assertion š© had own sexual needs but could fully express them autonomously
Good sex šn as crucial for succ. ā, overall health, & social stability.
Concept mutual orgasm initially important but later diminished in favor of ā-centric views of sexualityā¦
Concept mutual orgasm initially important ā ā-centric.
(Elaine Tyler May) Post-WWII discourse often portrayed ā sexuality as danger. force need. ācontainment,ā sim. to ā¢ power.
Shifted respons. for sexual satisf. to š©, w/decline in importance clitoral stimulation.
š©'s sexual bodies often portrayed as problematic & in need of maintenance.
š© -> intended aud. for instruction & response. for own climax, š¤µās fidelity & keep. her genitals odour-free.
Locus sexual sensitivity ā ā to ā
šØ ā fragile & sexually vuln. (sexuality subject to function & extricably entangled w/his sense self-worth).
Focus male sensitivity revealed great anxiety & certainty ab. those norms, partic. ab. strength & vitality US manhood (illustrat. their fears nat. vuln.).
Reflected CW anxiety ab. male āsoftn.ā
CW commentators used "softn." to express fears ab. nat. vuln. (e.g., "soft on communism/ homosexuality)
Powerful erections symbolised šŖ front against peril perversion fac. US ā curbing marital ā sexual function req. all advice & reassurance experts could provide.
ā Experts prov. extensive advice to curb ā sexual function & maintain nat. šŖ.
Way maintain ā as response to chang. sexual norms, meet. demands w/o fundamentally chall. ā power.
Contradictions in interwar manuals reflect soc. grappling w/āthe woman questionā
Women had sexual needs must be met for marriage to succ. BUT wives depended upon their husbands to āawakenā those needs.
Women = fragile creatures who req. tendern. & delicacy on husbandās part (partic. dur. honeymoon) BUT orgasmic sexual pleasure critical to womanās good health.
Masculine sexual power absol. essential BUT husbands bulbimbling, ignorant, sensitive clods who needed instruction on pleasuring wives.
(1947) Ferdinand Lundberg & Marynia Farnham asserted āmodern womanā experienced satisfaction in her sex life mostly because she refused to submit fully to her role as wife & mother.
Sexuality and Power: These manuals illustrate how sexual scripts could both reinforce and challenge existing gender power dynamics, highlighting marriage as a site of gender contestation.
![<p>quintessential female malady āassociated with the sexuality and essential nature of womenā (Showalter 5, 1985). She also adds that āmental breakdown, then, would come when women [...] attempted to compete with men instead of serving them, or sought alternatives or even additions to their maternal functionsā (121), thus emphasizing the idea of a correlation between hysteria and the new ambitions of women, a fictional discourse that will be developed more fully in the following section concerning illness in Dracula.</p><p><span style="color: blue">Victorian male readers could rest assured and Victorian women were in a way warned of what would happen if they tried to rebel against the patriarchal system.</span></p>](https://knowt-user-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/8b6b3434-34ec-467d-8f59-87c8ad38c6a1.png)
![<p>picture ā <em>Life Magazine</em> 1926</p><blockquote><p><em><span style="color: purple">āWaists & breasts </span><s><span style="color: purple">appeared</span></s><span style="color: purple">: long hair was banished along w/the old-fashioned corsets. Frills were out, sport clothes, [&] crisp suitsā¦ were in.ā </span></em>(<mark data-color="purple">Anne Douglas</mark>)</p></blockquote><h5 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true">Media fascin. w/them</h5><p>Their cultural impact m/more widespread due to media fascination w/them</p><ul><li><p>talked ab. at length in press & in books & films</p></li><li><p>e.g. Great Gatsby focuses on flapper lifestyle, ostensibly based on his wife Zeldaās flapper antics</p></li></ul><h5 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true">Chall. notions acceptable female behaviour</h5><p>Many traits assoc. w/them = variations gender-bending code female conduct (rebellious manner)</p><ul><li><p>hyper-feminine qualities: wearing short dresses, being flirtatious, dancing, seducing men</p></li><li><p>simult. masculine/ boyish/ tomboyish in their dress/ manner: short bobs, andrognous Coco Chanel-style clothes, engagem. in formally male perogatives like driving, smoking, drinking, going to bars, staying out</p></li></ul><p>Pushed no. boundaries amongst acceptable behaviour, partic. for women ā blurred lines bet. masculinity & feminine</p><h5 collapsed="false" seolevelmigrated="true">Sep. women ā maternal (fashion)</h5><p>(late c19) Soc. broadly thought <span data-name="woman" data-type="emoji">š©</span>ās sex lives all ab. reprod.</p><p>Raised hemlines revealing knees for 1st time</p><p>Express new understanding womenās sexuality by drawing attention to their legs, rather than to their bosoms/ waists as fashion traditioally had</p><ul><li><p>conceptually shift: equating womenās sexuality w/maternity ā pleasure: new feminine identity, in which sexuality <mark data-color="blue">severed ā motherhood & based instead on pleasur</mark>e</p></li></ul><p>More than rejection motherhood but all the expectations that came along with it</p><ul><li><p>Flapper ideal symbolised rejection all gender expectations came along w/motherhood too</p></li></ul>](https://knowt-user-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/ae3a7051-b608-4321-b3ba-dd9c5baa08c0.png)
![<p>Interesting sphere in which people introd. to, taught & then expected to act in partic. ways according to their gender</p><p>Partic. young people - malleable and in early stage developm. - e.g. reading culture</p><p>Grow. interest inā¦</p><h4 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true"><strong>Reading culture</strong></h4><p>boys: military prowess, making own lives</p><p>girls; marriage, childcare & hobbies based at home in the garden]</p><p>this is repeated; this dynamic constantly repeated in diff. guises (construction of norms through this repetition)</p><ul><li><p>these arenāt formerly educational but rather a subtle construction of gender norms (happening more implicitly)</p></li></ul><h4 collapsed="false" seolevelmigrated="true">Boy Scouts (1907) & Girl Guides (1909)</h4><p><u><mark data-color="blue">Prov. men concerned w/state american masuclinity the opportn. to supp. </mark></u><em><u><mark data-color="blue">organised effort to make big men out of little boys</mark></u></em></p><blockquote><p><em><span style="color: yellow">This organ., alth. on parallel lines w/that of the Boy Scouts, is diff. in its aims & details. Whereas the teaching of the Boy Scouts develops manlin., that of Girl Guides makes for womanlin., in both cases by means which appeal to the young people themselves.</span></em> (<mark data-color="yellow">Agnes Baden-Powell, </mark><em><mark data-color="yellow">Girl Guides: Note (1910)</mark></em>)</p></blockquote><p>Fed into and shaped gender dynamics.</p><p>Movem. designed for boys, prioritis. masculinity, with an ethos of a modern, rugged man.</p><ul><li><p>Gender construct revealed in refusal let girls join scouts: saw it ab. hav. fun, not being a man.</p></li></ul><p>Decided <s>adjust scouting for inclusive gendered environm</s>. but to create a sep. group for girls (Girl Guides).</p><ul><li><p>ā<s>Approp</s>.ā for girls to pursue tomboyish hobbies.</p></li></ul><p>Names reflected roles: scouting (adventuring and exploring) vs. guiding (responsibility and care).</p><p>Leisure used to teach gender roles by stealth, attracting children with fun activities and molding them to ideal gender roles.</p><p>Overlap in activities (e.g., proficiency badges), encouraging the same skills like first aid, fire safety, astronomy, cooking, camping.</p><ul><li><p>In theory, principle parity</p></li><li><p><em>Many activities presented as gender-neutral, benefiting everyone.</em></p></li><li><p>Some activities, while masculine, appealed to girls (e.g., sailing, camping).</p></li><li><p>Feminine tasks <s>open to boys</s> (e.g., child nursing, homemaking, knitting).</p></li></ul><h5 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true">Signif. this?</h5><p>Masculine cultures seen as universal aspirations, contrasting w/ view feminine cultures niche, less appealing/ less important.</p><p>Accepted for girls to be tomboys but not for boys to engage in traditionally feminine activities, reinforcing a hierarchy of gender constructs.</p><h4 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true">Sport</h4><p>Physical strength/ aptitude in sport is central to <strong>hegemonic masculinities</strong>; crucial to elite masculinities. <strong>Physical prowess defines masc.</strong></p><ul><li><p>Exmplified by classical gods and American college jocks.</p></li><li><p>Activities train & showcase articulate, reinforce & demonstrate masculinity.</p></li></ul><h5 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true">Embedded most obviously in <strong>contact sports</strong>.</h5><ul><li><p>Prov. boys & y/men way to channel excess energy and aggression constructively; popular in 19th-century America.</p></li></ul><h5 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true">Different sports reinforce varied masculine qualities:</h5><p><strong>Muscular Christian movement</strong> promoted sports like <span data-name="football" data-type="emoji">š</span> to toughen men against modern life's softness.</p><ul><li><p><span style="color: yellow"><mark data-color="yellow">Senator Henry Cabot Lodge</mark></span> (1896) defended its risks & injuries; instill masculine virtues benefiting society, nation & race.</p></li><li><p>(<span style="color: yellow"><mark data-color="yellow">Theodore Roosevelt, 1893</mark></span>)<span style="color: yellow"> </span><em><span style="color: yellow">The sports espec. dear to a vigorous & manly nation are alw. those in which there is a certain clight element of risk.</span></em></p></li></ul><p>Angling/fishing: patience, dexterity, skill.</p><p>Golf: precision, accuracy, power.</p><p>Cricket: skill, fitness, teamwork, respect for procedures and rules.</p><p>Sportsmanship encompasses values of fairness, humility, pride, and ambition.</p><h5 collapsed="true" seolevelmigrated="true">Signif. this</h5><p>Sport is seen as a <strong>maker of men</strong>, prov. <u>physical strength</u> for battlefields & <u>mental fortitude</u> for politics and business.</p><p>Close <span data-name="link" data-type="emoji">š</span> bet. sport masculinity persist; sport remains a venue for <u>masculine community, role models, and masculine expression</u>, integral to 'lad culture'.</p>](https://knowt-user-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/9a7546d4-f348-4f6d-8d92-ae7ac4ed122c.png)
Note
Flashcard