Katheryn Hughes claims that during the Victorian Era, “A young girl was not expected to focus too obviously on finding a husband. Being ‘forward’ in the company of men suggested a worrying sexual appetite. Women were assumed to desire marriage because it allowed them to become mothers rather than to pursue sexual or emotional satisfaction (Hughes, Gender Roles in the 19th Century).” However, the societal standard of sexual purity and a lack of carnal desires did not exist for men during the 19th century. In fact, many men would pay for a prostitute’s services because they [these men] were eager to bed and not looking to wed. Yet, even married men would stray from their wives in search of sensual satisfaction from their standard village entrepreneur (prostitutes are really strategic opportunists if you think about it.) With the boom of this business, came the clap… and other sexually transmitted diseases that forced the Victorians to think about intercourse as a danger rather than a harmless recreational activity.
Correspondingly, the female body was mystifying to artists and poets most likely because it was uncommon for a woman to present herself in an overtly suggestive manner. Fascinatingly enough, the19th century definition of “prostitute” did not only describe women who sold their bodies, but it was also used to label “women who were living with men outside of marriage, women who had illegitimate children, or women who had relations with men solely for pleasurable purposes and not for monetary gain (Flanders, Prostitution).” Nevertheless, women were often mistaken for prostitutes (corporeal entrepreneurs) because men would misinterpret social cues. Remarkably, a man wrote to the Times magazine in 1862 to complain that his daughters were being hassled by “lewd scoundrels” in the streets; In the same way that the 21st century handles jeering and cat-calling, the man’s concerned comment was met with a series of men who suggested that perhaps “the girls’ dress or behavior had encouraged the men (Flanders, Prostitution).”
Similarly, La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats discusses a knight-at-arms who is “alone” and “palely loitering.” The knight says that the “harvest’s done” and that the “sedge has withered from the lake” which both sound like euphemisms for dwindling sexual prowess as a result of infertility represented by the barren harvest and an inability to ejaculate which is represented by withering sedge near an uninspiring lake. Furthermore, the knight meets a woman with wild eyes and long hair who makes a “sweet moan” when he places a garland on her head as he continues to “set her on [his] pacing steed.” However, once the sexual encounter between the knight and the beautiful lady finishes, the knight realizes that he has been deserted on a cold hill side where he can see other “pale kings and princess [who are] death-pale.” Keats details the “starved lips” of the other men and ends with a discussion about the sedge that has withered from the lake, which is most likely the result of a sexually transmitted disease. Yet, it is unclear whether the last four lines of the poem suggest that the woman is left, like a prostitute, “Alone and palely loitering, Though the sedge is withered from the lake, and no birds sing.”
Indeed, all of the men fall victim to their own desires and they pay for services that could endanger their health. This poem seems like a didactic tale that warns the public about prostitutes or other sexually liberated women. Yet, I wonder whether the Victorian men are afraid of female sexuality or if they are actually afraid of their own lack of self-control? It’s probably the former.
I found this post really interesting about female sexuality being something victorian men were very afraid of. I think this relates to the post titled, “The Enchantress: Magic and the Femme Fatale.” Both of your posts address the fear of men against the beautiful women corrupting the brave or wise man. I’m curious to understand where this obsession with female sexuality and enchantment came from. According to the other post, it seems as though the author believes that tales such as Keats’ poem actually represent cautionary tales against falling prey to one’s desires.
I thoroughly enjoyed this blog post and would just like to highlight your point about the man who wrote into the Times in 1862 and how it was handled as jeering or cat-calling is today. I think it is especially pertinent to observe that the blame of the calling is placed onto the women and what they were wearing, which is something that we are still very much combating in our current culture. This victim-blaming of women is also coupled with the dissatisfaction of the families of these victims. It is mentioned in the post the father called the cat-callers “lewd scoundrels”. This reminded me very much of many male politicians who spoke out after the Donald Trump access video was leaked denouncing Trump’s statements by prefacing “I have a daughter”. To this day this does not get at the larger problem that when it comes to women unrelated to them, men have almost no sympathy or regard for females and seem to irrefutably sexualize them any chance they can. We then come to the question of when it comes to blaming women for sexual perversion, has anything really changed since the 19th century?
La Belle Dame sans Merci is associated with the fae – described as “a faery’s child” in line 14 of the poem – who are well-known for kidnapping children and replacing them with fairies (changelings) and stealing beautiful young women to serve the King of Fairies (http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-biggest-reasons-why-fairies-are-evil-510180209). With this in mind, both prostitutes and the fae are associated with the body as a trading commodity, a good to be sold, stolen or traded. But prostitutes tend to be regarded as shameful and/or disgusting where the fae are terrifying, beautiful but dangerous. Why this distinction? I’m going to think more on this topic in my blog post for Monday.
When this post mentioned the situation with the father writing a concerned letter to a magazine in the 1860’s, I was reminded of a post by Maia about victim blaming and sexual transgressions in relation to the Woman in White. One of Maia’s main points is that the consequences of banging or inappropriate attention from men is often attributed to women, which is a trend that appears to be running through our stories this semester. This idea of sexual women being evil can easily be seen as a tool men use as a way to control women farther in creating notions of what is right and wrong in regards to their [ word I can’t use because my post will be called spam]. The posts do differ in the fact that this post is more heavy focused on the sexually liberated woman, whereas Maia’s focuses on the women accused of being “too innocent”. Maia goes on to talk about how regardless of how women behave they just can’t seem to get things right in the eyes of Victorian society. The contrast between Maia’s and this post proves that in that both posts discuss the blame placed on women of polarized expressions of s-wordality.