So I am really surprised that sex has its own category in the Victorian dictionary, mostly because I believed that sex now and then must have been the same thing (I mean really, what could really change about that?) Under sex there are many small categories and they vary from masturbation down to abortion. Since it was such a wide subject, I decided to look on the views of abortion from the Victorian era to see what the majority’s point of view was.
I was really surprised at some of the language used to describe women who believe in abortion. They were called “savages” who are “no better than the women who commit such infamous murders to-day, to avoid the cares, the expense, or the duty of nursing and tending a child.” This was really harsh to read because abortion was and still is very controversial. Realizing that so much time has passed and the idea continue to be the same is both surprising and sad. It’s a woman’s choice and she should not be insulted or bashed for choosing to do what she wants with her body. I was also really surprised at the reasons why people believe women get abortions. making assumptions, and of the worse kind, really gave me an insight to how strict this era was and how much ignorance existed.
Jackson, Lee. “Dictionary of Victorian London – Victorian History – 19th Century London –Social History.” Dictionary of Victorian London – Victorian History – 19th Century London – Social History. Yale University Press, 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 26 Aug. 2015.
I agree whole heartedly. I think of sex in the Victorian Era as something that was taboo. I played the online game that is on the syllabus for this week and I couldn’t believe that kissing your friend on the cheek in public was considered distasteful. Abortion as an extension of sex is unsurprisingly just as taboo but I think the rhetoric surrounding abortion sounds the same today. Ignorance running rampant today, especially in the last decade or so with the attempts to overturn or undermine Roe vs Wade.
The attitudes surrounding abortions during the Victorian era continue to persist to this day. Many still believe that women are savages and murderers if they make a decision in their best interest, than say the baby’s interest, or even the church’s. Upon reading the different articles and entries, I found Victorian England to be strict as well. With that in mind, I then compared the overall attitude of Victorian England that I have been reading about for class to the overall attitude of any modern society of our time, I sadly found more similarities than differences.
Great choice of article! I agree that there are (sadly) many similarities in opinions on abortion and many subjects between the Victorian period and our own. What do you make of the fact that this article was written in America (rather than in England): do you think that makes a difference in its viewpoint? Also, what did you think of this sentence from the article: “We can forgive the poor, deluded girl-seduced, betrayed, abandoned-who, in her wild frenzy, destroys the mute evidence of her guilt”? It sounds like the author has at least a degree of sympathy and understanding of women who need abortions in some cases; why do you think the author believed that case is different?