Читать книгу The Changing Face of Sex - Wayne P. Anderson PhD - Страница 11

Women’s sexual responsiveness was tightly restricted by the social norms and expectations of the time. A married woman had few legal rights, and an unmarried woman had few options for supporting herself, teaching being one of the few occupations open to her. Once married, her property became her husband’s, and she could not vote or sue. The woman’s role was to have and care for the children and tend the house. She could not sue for divorce; and if her husband divorced her, all property and custody of the children belonged to him.

At this point in time I’m sure it is almost impossible for a modern woman to understand how restrictive roles were and how these limitations could exist without being questioned by most women. But most people have trouble thinking outside the box society places them in, and those that did like Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger were roundly condemned in their time. Another social expectation was that a “decent woman” would not want to interact freely in the sex act.

A number of people with extreme views, even for their own times,became the arbiters of the country’s sexual standards in several fields. Anthony Comstock help set the legal standards, Richard von Krafft-Ebing the psychiatric standards, and John Harvey Kellogg the health and medical standards.