Female Sexuality and Power

Zsuzsa Lukacs (Karoli University of the Reformed Church, Budapest)

Email: zsuzsalukacs@hotmail.com

 

ABSTRACT:

Female sexuality in Victorian times was a loaded subject, filled with the contrasting ideals of the domestic wife and the femme fatale. This era was also responsible for introducing the "new woman" and the "fallen woman," two other dichotomous ideologies that had a powerful force. The religious and social ideal of femininity was encapsulated in the idea of a woman's mission as daughter, wife and mother, while the cultural (literary and aesthetic) was consumed with images of mystical, deadly and sexually enticing female subjects. Pure women were seen as moral and spiritual guardians, fighting against the immoral influence their evil counterparts posed, not only to their household but also to the entire nation's moral health (Parker 12). These images concerning female respectability were circulated at all levels of Victorian culture, infiltrating the minds of both men and women with not only the positive propaganda and moral reprobation, but also the erotic images, creating a very ambiguous ideal for women.