The Cult of True Womanhood and Domesticity 19 th Century America No Time For Politics

4 Characteristics of the Ideal of Womanhood Piety Purity Domesticity Submissiveness

Piety Young woman of 1820s& 1830s = New Eve, working w/ God to bring the world out of sin through her suffering, pure, and passionless love Irreligion in females = the most revolting human characteristic

Purity Without sexual purity, a woman was a fallen woman Importance of wedding night, greatest gift to husbandher virginity Woman must guard her treasure with her life Dire consequences for being seduceddeath, poverty, depravity Female purity a weapon used by good women to keep men in control of their sexual needs and desires Purity fetish: decorating legs of furniture, stork and cabbage patch myths

Submissiveness Men the movers and doers; women the passive bystanderssubmitting to fate, God & men True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependent; a perpetual childhood. Clothing restricted physical mobility: tight corsets closed off lungs and pinched inner organs large #s of under garments and heavy dresses

Domesticity Womans place was in the home Home a refuge for the husband from highly competitive, unstable, immoral world of business & industry Family and home no longer geared around economic productiveness; suburbs developing; privacy in the home valued Beautiful objects at home; lives of leisure Women being seen not heard

Biological Basis for True Manhood & True Womanhood Women generally physically smaller than men Less physical stamina than men (clothing & exercise) Menstruation = periodic illness and temporary insanity Female nervous system more delicate than mens Woman a prisoner of her reproductive system, not so for men Phrenology Woman is a constantly growing child, and in the brain, as in many other parts of her body, she conforms to her childish type. Female brains thought to be smaller, inferior, more primitive Education took away 20% of a womans vital energy Intellectual activity could harm a fetus Avoid strong emotions-- might damage organs A womans reproductive organs must be bathed occasionally with a mans vital force, semen, to remain healthy Bad to be a spinster or celibate