Introduction During the Victorian era, women were viewed as the very opposite of what a man ought to be. In the words of John Stuart Mill, who published a criticism of the way society differentiated between males and females “The female sex was brought up to believe that its ‘ideal of character’ was the very opposite to that of men’s ‘not self-will, and government by self-control, but submission, and yielding to the control of others…to live for others; to make complete abnegation of themselves, and to have no life but in their affections.” Basically, women were expected to be sweet, docile, innocent, virtuous, submissive, and man’s perfect helpmate. Women were seen as pure and clean. Because of this view, their bodies were seen as temples which should not be adorned with jewelery nor used for physical exertion or pleasurable sex. The role of women was to have children and tend to the house, in contrast to men, according to the concept of Victorian masculinity. Mistresses of househ...
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