Why is: Victorianz orl moar complik8d so hard for people to grasp?
Well, I was a bit irked (to put it mildly) at Mariella Frostrup invoking '19th-century normality' as against modern confusions and complicated relationships -
Er, yes, do tell us about the strict and particular monogamous and heterosexual relationships pursued by Ye Eminent Victorians while I am over in the corner here giggling, when I'm not frothing at the mouth mentioning the prevalence of loathsome diseases, the amount of sex-work going on, the incalculable amounts of illegitimacy. Let's talk about when an Orrible Murder blew the roof off some apparently respectable Victorian household, or, similarly, a high-profile divorce case.
Mind you, in the process of being A Nexpert for the student podcast project I mentioned yesterday, I discovered that they had been reading some work by a younger historian who is all over the meedja and good luck to them, in which it is implied that the Victorians were At It like bunnies, and happy bunnies at that.
And we concede that we daresay that some of them were, and that not all Victorian middle-class wives were lying on sofas worn out with child-bearing while their husbands molested the housemaids (and probably gave them syphilis if not illegitimate babies).
Can we not imagine a seethingly rich tapestry? Twentieth century sources after all suggest that there is an enormous range of degrees of sexual knowledge and experience across the population, and I really doubt that that is a thing that is going to change, within certain parameters.
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