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Introduction to Victorian Masculinities

When it comes to the study of Victorian Masculinities, One article states that it has a lot to do with manhood as well as boyhood in Early Victorian Literature. One example of literature is Herbert Sussman's Victorian Masculinities: Manhood and Masculine Poetics in Early Victorian Literature and Art. A second example being a work by Joseph A. Kestner's Masculinities in Victorian Painting. Later on in the article, it states that ten years later, Martin A. Danahay's Gender at work in Victorian Culture: Literature, art and Masculinities. In 1995, R.W. Connell made an important note that Realizing there are multiple forms of masculinity is just the beginning. We need to look at their relationships with one another. In addition, we must examine the gender dynamics that exist within the contexts of race and class. The first paragraph of this article concludes by saying that in recent work devoted on masculinities, does just that and the essays published and discussed in this paragraph reflect this.

Caption: Book covers of “Victorian Masculinities: Manhood and Masculine Poetics in Early Victorian Literature and Art,” “Masculinities in Victorian Painting,” and “Gender at work in Victorian Culture: Literature, art and Masculinities”

The article continues by explaining that defining the term "masculine" is one of the fundamental problems while writing about it. Danahay, one researcher, says that until feminist philosophy denaturalized gender categories, masculinity as a term was not even available for analysis. The study of masculinity as influenced by factors like sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, race, and nationality is the result of this denaturalization. However, this diversification also has drawbacks of its own. Connell observes that within this perspective, it is simple to assume that working-class or black masculinity exists. That's why it can be difficult to define masculinity without essentializing. The kind of masculinity that at least two of the researchers address is referred to as an "alternative model." A word like this could imply a single, cohesive definition of masculinity that defines a more marginalized kind. But regardless of whether this kind of masculinity ever existed, examining how masculinity is constructed in different contexts shows that there was frequently a strong conviction about what constitutes "dominant" masculinity.

The concept of "alternative" masculinity points us in the direction of yet another evolution of masculinity. Some scholars, like Kestner, have focused on mainstream masculinity models like "The Classical Hero," "The Gallant Knight," and "The Valiant Soldier." Meanwhile, other academics, including Sussman, Thais Morgan, and Kaja Silverman, have investigated more marginalized or non-normative male identities.

'''Introduction to Victorian Femininity '''

The standard for being feminine and a woman in Victorian England followed a strict set of rules. A woman’s femininity was defined by whether the woman was kind, gentle, delicate, pure, and domestic. The ideal woman was subordinate to her husband, and the house was considered the women’s sphere. The public sphere was seen as a masculine place, which women were not supposed to be in. This idea of womanhood and femininity was commonly shared amongst the higher and middle classes in Victorian London. The notions of femininity were enforced by this poem called The Angel in the House, written by Coventry Patmore published in 1891. This is an excerpt titled “The Wife’s Tragedy”, in The Angel in the House:

“Man must be pleased; but him to please Is woman's pleasure; down the gulf Of his condoled necessities She casts her best, she flings herself. How often flings for nought, and yokes Her heart to an icicle or whim, Whose each impatient word provokes Another, not from her, but him; While she, too gentle even to force His penitence by kind replies, Waits by, expecting his remorse, With pardon in her pitying eyes; And if he once, by shame oppress'd, A comfortable word confers, She leans and weeps against his breast, And seems to think the sin was hers; Or any eye to see her charms, At any time, she's still his wife, Dearly devoted to his arms; She loves with love that cannot tire; And when, ah woe, she loves alone, Through passionate duty love springs higher, As grass grows taller round a stone.”

Caption: "Women in Victorian London washing" by Ross Dunn is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Women participating in domestic life in Victorian London.

Unraveling of Gender and Class Norms

Shopping

Gendered norms started changing rapidly in the late 19th century. This is seen with the emergence of the major shopping district in Victorian London. Consumerism was targeting women of all classes. High and middle class women were breaking into the public sphere by going out to shop. Whereas, women in lower classes needed work, and they were able to find work at these shops. This created a lot of social anxieties because these different norms were changing.

Caption: "Victorian Ladies fashion c1876" by JamesGardinerCollection is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse. Women’s fashion and femininity.

Slang'''

In the mid to late 19th century, the use of slang became an indicator to new perceived femininities. Girls and women that used slang were either categorized as “Girl of the Period” or the “New Woman”. The “Girl of the Period” was marked by women that uttered curses, used slang words typically used by men, and smoked cigarettes. The “New Woman” used slang, but she is different from the “Girl of the Period”. These women were women that wanted an education, to live a bachelor-like life, and they were the ones pushing for women being included in the public sphere; they were part of the women's suffrage movements. These new identities pushed against the Victorian ideas of what makes women feminine.

Medicalization of Femininity

People in Victorian England were concerned with sexuality and sexual promiscuity. Medical studies in the 19th century equated “overdevelopment” of women’s labias and clitorises as being proof that someone was a prostitute, sexually promiscuous, and/or a lesbian. Medical professionals, like William Flower, went as far as saying that black women’s genitals were an anomaly, and they were sexually deviant due to these perceived differences.

As written by “F.R.S.” to the Lancet in the late 1880s, he expressed that the clitoris should not be important or discussed when talking about female sexuality/intercourse. This is because sex was not about pleasure for the women. If women were seeking pleasure in their sex lives, their sexuality and femininity was considered abnormal.

Bibliography

Moscucci, Ornella. “Clitoridectomy, Circumcision, and the Politics of Sexual Pleasure in Mid-Victorian Britain.” in Sexualities in Victorian Britain, edited by James Adams and Andrew Miller. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, (1996): 60-78.

Marsh, Jessica. “‘Girls, Don’t Talk Slang!’: Late-Victorian Verbal Hygiene and Contested Gender Roles.” Women’s history review 32, no. 5 (2023): 745–759.

Ostrander, Paula Rae Bacchiochi. “The Disruption of Victorian Class and Gender Norms.” The General: Brock University Undergraduate Journal of History 4 (2019): 58–73.

Ren, Aihong. “A Fantasy Subverting the Woman’s Image as ‘The Angel in the House.’” Theory and practice in language studies 4, no. 10 (2014): 2061- 2065.

Smart, Graeme, and Amelia Yeates. "Introduction: Victorian masculinities." Critical Survey 20, no. 3 (2008): 1-5. Gale Academic OneFile (accessed November 28, 2023). https://link-gale-com.proxy.library.carleton.ca/apps/doc/A195134564/AONE?u=ocul_carleton&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=73d71c77.

The Project Gutenberg eBook, “The Angel in the House”, by Coventry Patmore, Edited by Henry Morley, 2014.