And on today's show...
In Devon in 1892, a police officer investigates claims a baby is dying from neglect. The complaint was made by the kid's 19 year old uncle. Under further questioning, it also turns out said uncle is also the baby's FATHER & the complaint arises from the fact he is jealous his sister has recently started bedding with half of the local garrison. To get back at her he has started sleeping with their cousin. IT'S RURAL VICTORIAN JERRY SPRINGER!
It is always good when Daniel lets me know how his research is going. This one may have actually broken my brain though.
The above was a text and as Daniel's just appeared he has elaborated. Unsurprisingly enough, this is the one time in his research period that the headline of "shocking immorality" (or similar) really has been just exactly that. I mean just euw. And indeed squick.
Sexual morality is a fascinating question though. As Daniel pointed out incest wasn't actually illegal in the UK until 1908. Mind you, it was understood to constitute "aggravated" adultery so a woman could seek a divorce from her husband for it. (Because having a sexual double-standard enshrined in law is such a fine thing... And because [warning, inexact quotation ahead] if adultery constitutes the dissolution of a marriage, how many men in this House can consider themselves to be married?...) Everyone always thinks of the Victorians as being v prudish & putting skirts on their piano legs and things, but then the popular press was leaping about rather after the fashion of the very worst tabloids in terms of content, although the quality of the writing was naturally vastly better...
People are fascinated by sex. I blame Freud. (As do assorted other people, many of whom are v clever & get cross because modern society cannot understand a passionate yet non-sexual relationship & basically have lost nuances of emotion that were bopping about earlier...) And sexual morality is such a huge thing even now. I'm not so much meaning teenage pregnancy/Section 28/prostitution/STDs. Think about the choicer insults that get hurled at women. Most of them are to do with sex. In the early modern period heaps of court proceedings involving women are to do with women having been called whores/jades etc etc. We do not seem to progress that much as a species, really, although women do now have the opportunity to have a public persona that has nothing to do with their sexuality.
At the moment I am having issues thinking properly, owing to exhaustion. So I am not making sense & cannot track my thoughts properly. Of all the things about being ill I think having my brain play tricks on me is the worst. I don't like not being able to *think*. Because thinking is what I do. I am terrified I am turning into a stupid person. Maybe I'll ask Daniel to lend me a nice weighty academic book to read. Maybe that will make me feel better...
It is always good when Daniel lets me know how his research is going. This one may have actually broken my brain though.
The above was a text and as Daniel's just appeared he has elaborated. Unsurprisingly enough, this is the one time in his research period that the headline of "shocking immorality" (or similar) really has been just exactly that. I mean just euw. And indeed squick.
Sexual morality is a fascinating question though. As Daniel pointed out incest wasn't actually illegal in the UK until 1908. Mind you, it was understood to constitute "aggravated" adultery so a woman could seek a divorce from her husband for it. (Because having a sexual double-standard enshrined in law is such a fine thing... And because [warning, inexact quotation ahead] if adultery constitutes the dissolution of a marriage, how many men in this House can consider themselves to be married?...) Everyone always thinks of the Victorians as being v prudish & putting skirts on their piano legs and things, but then the popular press was leaping about rather after the fashion of the very worst tabloids in terms of content, although the quality of the writing was naturally vastly better...
People are fascinated by sex. I blame Freud. (As do assorted other people, many of whom are v clever & get cross because modern society cannot understand a passionate yet non-sexual relationship & basically have lost nuances of emotion that were bopping about earlier...) And sexual morality is such a huge thing even now. I'm not so much meaning teenage pregnancy/Section 28/prostitution/STDs. Think about the choicer insults that get hurled at women. Most of them are to do with sex. In the early modern period heaps of court proceedings involving women are to do with women having been called whores/jades etc etc. We do not seem to progress that much as a species, really, although women do now have the opportunity to have a public persona that has nothing to do with their sexuality.
At the moment I am having issues thinking properly, owing to exhaustion. So I am not making sense & cannot track my thoughts properly. Of all the things about being ill I think having my brain play tricks on me is the worst. I don't like not being able to *think*. Because thinking is what I do. I am terrified I am turning into a stupid person. Maybe I'll ask Daniel to lend me a nice weighty academic book to read. Maybe that will make me feel better...