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kimabill 's review for:
Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners
by Therese Oneill
The blurb on the front of this book describes it as "unsettlingly fascinating," which I think is quite correct. This book is a journey through some of the rules and expectations placed on women's dress, hygiene, health and behavior in Victorian times. And holy geez, is it ever weird and disturbing. The author describes (with a good sense of humor) what it was like for women to get dressed, go to the bathroom, have periods and have sex in a time during which they were completely powerless in the eyes of the law. Chapter one is entitled "Getting Dressed" How to Properly Hide Your Shame" and it describes all kinds of garments and undergarments whose main purpose was to hide the layer of garment below it and disguise all the parts that women were supposed to be ashamed of or that could cause lust in any nearby men. It talks about a "cage crenoline" which was (as the name states) a wire cage in the shape of a skirt that women would wear underneath all of the fluffy layers of their dresses to hold the fabric (sometimes 40 POUNDS worth) away from their bodies so they wouldn't trip when they tried to walk. (Women were LITERALLY WEARING CAGES!)
The book also contains fascinating discussions about the proper way to flirt (DON'T DO IT OR YOU ARE A FLOOZY WHO WILL DIE ALONE.) and the best way to obtain wrinkle-free skin (Bind your face with thin slices of raw beef!) There are lots of quotes from lots of "learned men" of the time about how women were supposed to behave on their wedding nights, which should be the first time they even THINK about sex. And there are lots of hilariously inaccurate ideas about female anatomy (again, from the minds of a bunch of dudes).
Reading this book, it was kind of depressing to see how many vestiges of the Victorian Era we are still dealing with as far as how women are "supposed to behave." This book talks about how women are supposed to dress when they go out in public, and how they are basically "asking for it" if they show some ankle or walk around by themselves or with a group of single girls. These ideas are not too far removed (except by a century) from complaints about yoga pants on girls being "too distracting" for male students in the classroom. There were actually a lot of things like this that made me sink into a bit of despair over how far we have not come in so many ways. But overall, the book was mostly just funny and entertaining.
The book also contains fascinating discussions about the proper way to flirt (DON'T DO IT OR YOU ARE A FLOOZY WHO WILL DIE ALONE.) and the best way to obtain wrinkle-free skin (Bind your face with thin slices of raw beef!) There are lots of quotes from lots of "learned men" of the time about how women were supposed to behave on their wedding nights, which should be the first time they even THINK about sex. And there are lots of hilariously inaccurate ideas about female anatomy (again, from the minds of a bunch of dudes).
Reading this book, it was kind of depressing to see how many vestiges of the Victorian Era we are still dealing with as far as how women are "supposed to behave." This book talks about how women are supposed to dress when they go out in public, and how they are basically "asking for it" if they show some ankle or walk around by themselves or with a group of single girls. These ideas are not too far removed (except by a century) from complaints about yoga pants on girls being "too distracting" for male students in the classroom. There were actually a lot of things like this that made me sink into a bit of despair over how far we have not come in so many ways. But overall, the book was mostly just funny and entertaining.