Even the ideal parameters of a woman's period were dictated to her, often on the authority of writers who weren't even doctors. In reality, however, this obsession with propriety affected all women, stifling open communication and often hindering women's access to education, marital rights, and health care. In theory, such ridiculous particulars were merely a level of Byzantine minutiae that haunted the rich and idle most modern folk manage to get by without knowing the details of private-jet etiquette. How specific and stifling? When at a dinner party, a lady eyeing the dessert course would have to hope a man was willing to cut her pear for her, as she was implicitly discouraged from doing it herself. With deeply specific and often counter-intuitive advice, Victorian pundits attempted to establish class markers and prescribe "acceptable" behavior that tended to come down harder on women than on men. Victorian manners occupy a space both sublimely funny and quietly horrific. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Unmentionable Subtitle The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners Author Therese Oneill
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