Rethinking Female Chastity and Gentlewomen's Honour in Eighteenth-Century England
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8955902 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Soile Ylivuori (0000-0001-5674-164X, University of Helsinki, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 71-97 |
| Publication date | 2015-12-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x15000175 |
| OpenAlex | W2271740184 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 13 |
Honour was a gendered phenomenon for the eighteenth-century English social elite; scholars have argued that for women, honour was mainly equated with chastity. By problematizing the concept of chastity as well as chastity's relation with women's social reputation, this article questions the widely adopted view of the crucial importance of female chastity for maintaining honour and social status. A critical examination of eighteenth-century discourses of feminine propriety shows that even though chastity was presented as an internal feminine feature, it was evaluated by external signs, making it less dependent on physical continence than on public display of purity. Chastity should thus be seen as a negotiable performative identity rather than a stable state of sexual virtue. Moreover, the relation between chastity and social reputation is more complex than hitherto supposed; even a public loss of chaste reputation did not necessarily lead to the social disgrace threatened by eighteenth-century writers, but could often be compensated through other performative means. The article concludes that not only was chastity's role in the construction of female honour ambiguous, female and male honour also resembled each other more than has been assumed, since they were both based on an external spectacle of proper honourable appearance
Aesthetics · Art · Elite · Honour · Performative utterance · Political science · Reputation · Social science · Sociology · Spectacle · Virtue · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law · Scottish History and National Identity
The Manner of Submission’
A Laughing Matter? Marital Discord and Gender Control in Seventeenth-Century England
Virtue rewarded? Women and the politics of virtue in 18th-century France. Part I
Virtue rewarded? Women and the politics of virtue in 18th-century France. Part II
The Construction of Honour, Reputation and Status in Late Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century England
Women, Status and the Popular Culture of Dishonour
Expanding the Boundaries of Female Honour in Early Modern England
Honor, Gender, and Reconciliation in Elite Culture, 1570–1700
Sociability, Politeness, and Aristocratic Self-Formation in the Life and Career of the Second Earl of Shelburne
Politeness and the Interpretation of the British Eighteenth Century
Politeness and Whiggism, 1688–1732
The Taming of the Duel
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2024 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |