Gordon, Michael. "The Ideal Husband as Depicted in the Nineteenth Century Marriage Manual." The Family Coordinator 18.3 (1969): 226-31. JSTOR. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Gordon immediately challenges existing research on nineteenth century marriage and family patterns, quoting Goode’s (226) notion of the “classic Western nostalgia.” Gordon counters that new methodologies in studying families and marriage trends may not reveal specific information on individual behavior within marriages but do reveal general trends. Studying nineteenth century marriage manuals, Gordon says, allows researchers to determine if marriages were: (1) holding to, or challenging the status quo, (2) determine when and how new phenomena in society were impacting marriage (e.g. Darwinism), and (3) when “ideal marriage” (226) patterns (e.g. what constitutes female sexuality) developed. Gordon uses forty texts on marriage catalogued in the American Catalogue of Books. While Gordon notes that Victorian marriages showed more variation and less definitive trends than expected, he notes the following findings:
Gordon immediately challenges existing research on nineteenth century marriage and family patterns, quoting Goode’s (226) notion of the “classic Western nostalgia.” Gordon counters that new methodologies in studying families and marriage trends may not reveal specific information on individual behavior within marriages but do reveal general trends. Studying nineteenth century marriage manuals, Gordon says, allows researchers to determine if marriages were: (1) holding to, or challenging the status quo, (2) determine when and how new phenomena in society were impacting marriage (e.g. Darwinism), and (3) when “ideal marriage” (226) patterns (e.g. what constitutes female sexuality) developed. Gordon uses forty texts on marriage catalogued in the American Catalogue of Books. While Gordon notes that Victorian marriages showed more variation and less definitive trends than expected, he notes the following findings:
- Twenty-five of the forty texts on marriage and the choice of a male mate.
- Male mates were often chosen on the basis of their religion, morals, and physical stature.
- Intermarriage between Christians and “non-believers” (228) is seldom mentioned. When they are, they are deemed “sinful,” “unwise,” and as a “forbidden alliance” (228).
- Moral characteristics to avoid by women in choosing male mates include: idleness, intoxication (drunkenness), smoking, using tobacco in any form, licentiousness, gambling, swearing, and staying up in late hours, especially in taverns.
- Physical considerations were not based on “looks” alone. Male mates were considered with “lenses” including Social Darwinism and phrenology, the latter of which emphasizes “harmony of the minds” (229).
- There is little discussion of “romantic love” in a physical, or “cardio-vascular sense” (229).
- Hull’s primary characteristic of a “true marriage” (229) was a passionate love that “unified spirits” (229), though many of the manuals characterized love in marriage as a “reciprocated affection” (229).
- Wives should not choose their male mates for their fortunes, as wealth may wane within a few years.
- Many of the texts use Biblical references to support the idea of female submissiveness and male dominance, including references to St. Paul. Such submission should not be slave-like in nature. The wife will provide affection and the male wisdom, prudence, and temperance.
Tiusanen, Otto. "Hypermasuclinity in Turn-of-the-Century America." The Journal of Psychohistory. 39.2 (Fall 2011): 153-164. Ebsco. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
This article attempts to point to the emergence of hypermasculinity in early twentieth century America, primarily referencing biographies and letters about and regarding Theodore Roosevelt. The author suggests that the emergence of hypermasculinity in Roosevelt’s personal life and during his presidency is indicative of a wider trend emerging at the time.
Citing child-rearing as the primary source of hypermasculinity, the author contends that the absence of fathering in the household, and the conditional maternal love in nineteenth century American households promoted a sort of psychic control wherein parents caused feelings of guilt, fear, and insecurity in their children when they misbehaved. Raising children, apparently, promoted the following ideals in young men: children’s sexuality should be strongly discouraged; disobedience toward authority was the ultimate sin; self-denial, continuous hard-work, and strict following of the proper code of morals was thought to be essential.
From these controlling and fear-inducing methods of raising young men, middle aged men at the turn-of-the-century felt impotent and had low self-esteem. Hypermasculinity abounded in an attempt by these men to reverse their feelings of impotence, thus demanding hard work and strenuous activity from other people, idealizing war, and becoming, in effect, sadomasochists. (jvg)
This article attempts to point to the emergence of hypermasculinity in early twentieth century America, primarily referencing biographies and letters about and regarding Theodore Roosevelt. The author suggests that the emergence of hypermasculinity in Roosevelt’s personal life and during his presidency is indicative of a wider trend emerging at the time.
Citing child-rearing as the primary source of hypermasculinity, the author contends that the absence of fathering in the household, and the conditional maternal love in nineteenth century American households promoted a sort of psychic control wherein parents caused feelings of guilt, fear, and insecurity in their children when they misbehaved. Raising children, apparently, promoted the following ideals in young men: children’s sexuality should be strongly discouraged; disobedience toward authority was the ultimate sin; self-denial, continuous hard-work, and strict following of the proper code of morals was thought to be essential.
From these controlling and fear-inducing methods of raising young men, middle aged men at the turn-of-the-century felt impotent and had low self-esteem. Hypermasculinity abounded in an attempt by these men to reverse their feelings of impotence, thus demanding hard work and strenuous activity from other people, idealizing war, and becoming, in effect, sadomasochists. (jvg)
Stott, Annette. "Floral Femininity: A Pictorial Definition." American Art. 6.2 (Spring 1992): 61-77. JSTOR. Web. 11 Mar. 2014
This article discusses the representation of femininity in female-floral paintings of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-centuries. Although some form of relationship between flowers and femininity have appeared in paintings as early as the thirteenth-century, a new trend in the nineteenth century began to ascribe flowers to represent specific symbols of femininity both in art and in the social world. The author makes an important note that suggests that these floral attributes were only ascribed to white upper class women, and, as such, they are they models represented in these paintings. Connections between flower symbols and femaleness also went beyond art: etiquette manuals at the turn of the century indicated that women should appear and smell like flowers, while fashion of the time period often emplored the use of floral patterns and real and/or fake flowers as part of women’s accessories. The use of flowers to represent passivity, beauty, and innocence in women seemed to contradict the feminist movements at the time, but floral-feminine paintings succeeded, for a time, in expressing the dominant conservative definition of femininity while reforming and strengthening it. (jvg)
This article discusses the representation of femininity in female-floral paintings of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-centuries. Although some form of relationship between flowers and femininity have appeared in paintings as early as the thirteenth-century, a new trend in the nineteenth century began to ascribe flowers to represent specific symbols of femininity both in art and in the social world. The author makes an important note that suggests that these floral attributes were only ascribed to white upper class women, and, as such, they are they models represented in these paintings. Connections between flower symbols and femaleness also went beyond art: etiquette manuals at the turn of the century indicated that women should appear and smell like flowers, while fashion of the time period often emplored the use of floral patterns and real and/or fake flowers as part of women’s accessories. The use of flowers to represent passivity, beauty, and innocence in women seemed to contradict the feminist movements at the time, but floral-feminine paintings succeeded, for a time, in expressing the dominant conservative definition of femininity while reforming and strengthening it. (jvg)