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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.
Through a close examination of literature, memoirs, letters, domestic magazines, and political debates, Marcus reveals how relationships between women were a crucial component of femininity. Deeply researched, powerfully argued, and filled with original readings of familiar and surprising sources, Between Women overturns everything we thought we knew about Victorian women and the history of marriage and family life. It offers a new paradigm for theorizing gender and sexuality — not just in the Victorian period, but in our own.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Lesbians, Social networks, Female friendship, Women in literature, History, Women, Gay & Lesbian, Kvinnor i litteraturen, Sociology, Groupes de femmes, Marriage & Family, Huwelijk, Femmes dans la litterature, Amitie feminine, Femmes, Sociala natverk, Seksualiteit, SOCIAL SCIENCE, Vrouwen, Kvinnor, Lesbiska kvinnor, Lesbiennes, Histoire, Kvinnlig vanskap, Historia, LITERARY CRITICISM, Vriendschap, Victoriaanse tijd, Women, great britain, Women, history, Friendship, LGBTQ history, Lambda Literary Awards, Lambda Literary Award Winner, collection:judy_grahn_award=finalist, Women--history, Women--england--history, Women--social networks, Women--social networks--england, Lesbians--history, Lesbians--england--history, Female friendship--england, Hq1599.e5 m37 2007, 306.84/8094209034Showing 3 featured editions. View all 3 editions?
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1
Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England
2009, Princeton University Press
in English
1400830850 9781400830855
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2
Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England
January 2, 2007, Princeton University Press
Hardcover
in English
0691128200 9780691128207
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3
Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England
January 2, 2007, Princeton University Press
Paperback
in English
0691128359 9780691128351
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July 23, 2021 | Edited by Jenner | Edited without comment. |
July 23, 2021 | Edited by Jenner | Added new cover |
July 17, 2021 | Edited by Jenner | Merge works |
August 20, 2020 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from Better World Books record |