Between women friendship, desire, and marriage in Victorian England Marcus, Sharon 1966- creator ebrary, Inc text bibliography Electronic books. nju Princeton Princeton University Press c2007 2007 monographic eng
electronic
electronic resource
x, 356 p. : ill. Women in Victorian England wore jewelry made from each other's hair and wrote poems celebrating decades of friendship. They pored over magazines that described the dangerous pleasures of corporal punishment. A few had sexual relationships with each other, exchanged rings and vows, willed each other property, and lived together in long-term partnerships described as marriages. But, as Sharon Marcus shows, these women were not seen as gender outlaws. Their desires were fanned by consumer culture and their friendships and unions were accepted and even encouraged by family, society, and church. Far from being sexless angels defined only by male desires, Victorian women openly enjoyed looking at and even dominating other women. Their friendships helped realize the ideal of companionate love between men and women celebrated by novels, and their unions influenced politicians and social thinkers to reform marriage law.--From publisher description. The female relations of Victorian England -- Friendship and the play of the system -- Just reading: female friendship and the marriage plot -- Dressing up and dressing down the feminine plaything -- The female accessory in Great expectations -- The genealogy of marriage -- Contracting female marriage in Can you forgive her? -- Woolf, Wilde and girl dates. Sharon Marcus. Includes bibliographical references (p. [317]-346) and index. Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2013. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries. e-uk-en Women England History Women Social networks England Lesbians England History Female friendship England Women in literature HQ1599.E5 M37 2007eb 306.84/8094209034 http://site.ebrary.com/lib/rucke/Doc?id=10320502 http://site.ebrary.com/lib/rucke/Doc?id=10320502 CaPaEBR 060616 ebr10320502