The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal

The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal
ISBN-10
1136248110
ISBN-13
9781136248115
Category
History
Pages
240
Language
English
Published
2012-12-12
Publisher
Routledge
Author
Deborah Gorham

Description

In Victorian England, the perception of girlhood arose not in isolation, but as one manifestation of the prevailing conception of femininity. Examining the assumptions that underlay the education and upbringing of middle-class girls, this book is also a study of the learning of gender roles in theory and reality. It was originally published in 1982. The first two sections examine the image of women in the Victorian family, and the advice offered in printed sources on the rearing of daughters during the Victorian period. To illustrate the effect and evolution of feminine ideals over the Victorian period, the book’s final section presents the actual experiences of several middle-class Victorian women who represent three generations and range, socioeconomically, from lower-middle class through upper-middle class.

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