Myths of sexuality : representations of women in Victorian Britain
Studying the depiction of women in Victorian popular art and literature, this book examines the role of women in 19th-century Britain and analyzes the regulation of their sexual behaviour. Special emphasis is given to the portrayal of prostitution, adultery and female philanthropy.
History
x, 228 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780631155027, 9780631172574, 0631155023, 0631172572
16681707
The norm : respectable femininity. The contexts of Woman's Mission ; Duty, pleasure and nature ; Power and dependency ; Domestic ideology ; The rural Idyll
Forms of deviancy : the adulteress. Divorce and the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act ; Ethics and aesthetics : propriety in art ; The visual representation of adultery ; Case study : Augustus Leopold Egg, Past and Present. Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1858
Forms of deviancy : the prostitute. Definition of the prostitute ; The language of prostitution
The prostitute and social chaos. Filth and infection : prostitution and the language of disease
The prostitute as social victim. The mythology of the life and death of the prostitute ; Medicine ; Social investigation ; Religion
Visual culture and cultural myth. Publics and institutions ; The physical stereotype ; Visual representation ; Case study : Abraham Solomon, Drowned! Drowned!. Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1860
Woman's mission to women