Morality as Repression; Passionlessness as Liberty
In Nancy F. Cott’s “Passionlessness: An Interpretation of Victorian Sexual Ideology, 1790-1850” she talks about how between 1777 and 1794, a study of nine New England magazines indicates that in nonfiction and fiction stories, regarding illicit sex, men were punished, while women were given sympathy. This is interesting for two reasons: the first being that, as Cott points out herself, this was not the case in actual societal practice of the time; the second being that Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, published a century later and written about the century prior, depicts the consequences of such acts on women in the complete opposite way, more true to the reality of New England life toward the later half of the 18th century that Cott writes about.
While documents such as “Boston Female Moral Reformers Condemn Licentious Men” (Document 2) and Sylvester Graham’s “Lecture to Young Men on Self-Restraint” (Document 4) in 1838 and 1839 respectively, emphasize the need for men to steer clear of sexual wantonness, there seems to be an equal pressure on women to uphold their new image of being the most moral of God’s creatures, as preached by the Protestant churches starting in the mid-1600s (Cott, 132). Albeit, these two sources argue for this point in two very different ways–the first, by telling women to not stand for the double-standard created by licentious men, the second by preaching to men the unnaturalness and debilitating effects of onanism and sexual promiscuity–both seem to permeate the pressure for women to be the stronger sex; the pressure to embody morality. However indirectly, Cott’s idea of “passionlessness” seems present, particularly in the “Moral Reformers”, for the document makes the argument that a woman is “more chaste, more pure and more refined”and that seemingly gives the women more power or at least solidarity, over men (Peiss, 113).
So while this idea of women as chaste creatures of morality is appealing, because it tends to gives them power over the opposite sex, Cott argues that this in turn was another method of repression of women’s sexuality, though not without some benefits. The passionlessness that emerges in the Victorian era allows women to band together in non-sexual love for one another and to have control over their own sexualities, though ironically through a sort of repression. To bring this back to The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is shunned by both men and women because not only does she not uphold the moral standards of chastity that women adhered to, but she is also the “devil” that leers young men to licentiousness, the very same evils that Sylvester Graham and William Alcott (Document 3) warn men about.
I close with one of my favorite songs, Loretta Lynn’s “Rated ‘X’“, which describes the societal troubles a divorcee experiences, from both men and women. I can’t help but think of our dear Hester Prynne, herself “rated-X”.
“Well, nobody knows where you’re goin’ but they sure know where you’ve been
All their thinkin’ of is your experience of love their minds eat up with sin
The women all look at you like you’re bad and the men all hope you are
But if you go too far you’re gonna wear the scar of a woman rated-X.”
Happy International Women’s Day–here’s hoping for even greater things in the future. If New England could see us now…
Tags: morality, Nancy F. Cott, passionlessness, Sylvester Graham, William Alcott, women
March 8th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
From one Loretta Lynn fan to another: your discussion effectively highlights various themes of continuity and change in the way women have been construed as sexual creatures. As Cott points out, there wasn’t a uniform way that women were depicted–even in the 15th century, with the virulent misogyny of the witch-hunters, because it was also the case that holy women were seen to be especially fortified against the Devil’s ways.
What would the “greater things in the future” look like in your view?
March 8th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
I notice that the witch hunt or at least some use of the word “witch” is ever-present in almost all of our readings. I never realized how, but it seems clear now that those witch-hunts were closely tied to female sexuality (I’m probably not alone in thinking almost immediately of Miller’s The Crucible).
I’m surprised to say this, but now that I think of it I hesitated a lot writing that last sentence–haha. I think a lot of great and extreme changes have taken place over the last century, but it seems to me that much of what feminism strives for, at least what I understand about it, and is still not fully able to achieve is due to the history that clings to certain societal standards. I know I am speaking generally, but perhaps there are certain things that both men and women understand about the opposite sex now that aren’t being implemented into their daily actions. Perhaps letting things settle over time is what I meant about the future.