A paragraph from my porn essay!
During the reign of Queen Victoria, ideals of masculinity and femininity were defined and relatively static. It was a patriarchal society, and men were generally given all the active qualities and women were given the passive qualities in a model of binary opposition. Men were ideally restrained, moderate and controlled workers with the power to create life - but yet it was recognised that to be restrained and controlled they had to subdue their strong sexual and animalistic urges in a noble effort of self discipline. Women were primarily maternal and passionless. They did not have to cultivate self discipline as they had no sexual urges to speak of - they were a passive receptacle for male seed.
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