Sexuality in World History (Themes in World History) by Peter N. Stearns

Author:Peter N. Stearns [Stearns, Peter N.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781138241718
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017-02-14T05:00:00+00:00

Issues of Social Class

The clearest evidence of wide changes in sexual behavior, in this first modern sexual revolutionary period, comes from the lower classes. Pornography, however, makes it evident that new sexual interests could also emanate from other social groups.

The class structure of the emerging early industrial society that was forming in the West, along with more open sexual appetites, also created a variety of situations in which class advantage could be pressed for purposes of gratification. This was not a new theme in human history, but its outcroppings became more common and sometimes more disruptive.

Several scenarios were involved. Use of prostitutes by middle- and upper-class men constituted the first, not a brand new circumstance but one that became far more widespread than before. The fact was the economic opportunities for women did not keep pace with demand in the early stages of the industrial revolution. Population pressure on the land was combined with the competition of factory products for goods women had traditionally produced by hand, such as thread. Many women moved to the cities in hope of work, but were disappointed. Some of course may also have been stimulated by aspects of the sex trade—it is important not to oversimplify prostitutes or their motives—but economic pressures were paramount. The result was the growing group of urban women with sex for sale. Many working-class men—particularly single migrants or immigrants—took advantage of these opportunities. But many middle-class adults also participated, often combining these activities with public defenses of respectability and even, in some instances, participating in campaigns to regulate and redeem prostitutes themselves. A significant clientele also developed among secondary school boys and university students. Brothels in Paris, for example, were particularly bustling during school holidays by the middle of the 19th century.

Servanthood and factory employment provided other settings. While there is no way to measure frequency, some factory owners and foremen abused their right to hire and fire women to claim sexual favors. Probably more common still was the sexual exploitation of female servants. During the 19th century, working as a household servant, usually living in, became the most common single job for urban women. In this domestic atmosphere, and given the subordination of the position, husbands and older sons of the employing family not infrequently took advantage of the situation. Seduction of servants, some of whom were simply forced, others of whom may briefly have dreamed of marriage and upward mobility, was a not infrequent consequence, and a substantial minority of servants were disgraced as a result—sometimes contributing to the illegitimacy rates in the process. This could be, among other things, a source of ultimate prostitution, when the young women found no alternate means of livelihood. Patterns of this sort were not brand new, but the situations in which they occurred became more common, with the rise of urban employment for working-class women and amid some cultural encouragements to new expressions of sexuality by men. Stories of fathers treating their sons to a brothel visit for a first

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