Sex Outside of Marriage in Regency England || Bridgerton and Jane Austen's Novels
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- čas přidán 4. 03. 2021
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Variations on and the consequences of sex outside of marriage in Bridgerton, Jane Austen’s Novels, and Regency England. Fornication, prostitution, masturbation, pornography, sodomy, and maybe lesbian sex. The history of persecution of sexualities that are not heteronormative.
This video is an attempt, in part, to mitigate the erasure of diverse sexualities from history.
Music: “Pirouette” performed by Asher Fulero; CZcams Music
References:
Gilbert, Arthur N. “Buggery and the British Navy, 1700-1861.” Journal of Social History, vol. 10, no. 1, 1976, pp. 72-98. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3786421. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.
Citation for Table 3 on crime statistics during the Regency.
Burg, B. R. "The HMS African Revisited: The Royal Navy and the Homosexual Community." Journal of Homosexuality 56.2 (2009): 173-94. Web.
Regency History: The Magdalen House in Regency London, by Rachel Knowles; www.regencyhistory.net/2017/0...
Phillips, C. Child Abandonment in England, 1741-1834: The Case of the London Foundling Hospital. Genealogy 2019, 3, 35. doi.org/10.3390/genealogy3030035
Rictor Norton, Mother Clap’s Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830
www.washingtonpost.com/outloo...
Susan M. Korba. ""IMPROPER AND DANGEROUS DISTINCTIONS": FEMALE RELATIONSHIPS AND EROTIC DOMINATION IN "EMMA"." Studies in the Novel 29.2 (1997): 139-63. Web.
Lisa Moore. ""Something More Tender Still than Friendship": Romantic Friendship in Early-Nineteenth-Century England." Feminist Studies 18.3 (1992): 499-520. Web.
I think what people sometimes forget is that Jane Austen's England was * not yet * Victorian. And while the relative prudishness of Victorianism proper is up for debate, what's clear is that the previous era was definitely not prudish.
Well, you can say prudish or you can say moral. It sounds awful with all those destitute prostitutes and abandoned orphans. And without contraception, chastity is the only way to limit those horrors.
I see what you're trying to say, but to call it morality when chastity doesn't really help with either of those issues feels wrong. People having less sex doesn't make the prostitutes less destitute or keep your parents from dying: women's rights and social programs do.
Compared to the modern era they were. Imagine what they'd think of us today.
@@meretchen BUT---womens self defense voluntariy version---OR
male chauvinist hypocritical dominant imposed version vs. women.?
Rakes always have sideburns, or muttonchops. No exceptions.
🤣🤣🤣
Can confirm, they still do
you all prolly dont give a damn but does anyone know a tool to log back into an instagram account?
I stupidly forgot the password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me!
@Kristopher Jackson instablaster :)
@Melvin Atlas Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and im trying it out atm.
Takes quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
I don’t know how a society could find it more moral and respectable to abandon your child than to care for this innocent being in a home.
Society didnt think that was more moral, that's why chastity was prized.
One thing that surprised and disturbed me was how many of these relationships were exploitative. Like you mentioned one of the men who was hanged was 16, and that girl who was abused in the school was not only a teenager, but also in a position where she was under other people's care. No matter what a person's sexuality is, taking advantage of teenagers is morally wrong.
💯
I felt so bad for the half-indian girl. She was literally a victim of underage sexual abuse, and they discredited her because of her race. Just horrible.
Yes! The regency era was extremely promiscuous…in fact the Royal family and nobility were very openly promiscuous. We don’t typically think they were because this behavior was not openly spoken about- it was just well known as a fact.
The thought of the day unfairly held women to a higher moral standard, a practice that continues today.
This answers so many questions I had about regency britain but did not have the energy to research myself. Thank you so much for this wonderfully informative lecture.
Thank you!!!
I am more curious about Lydia Bennett who lived a FORTNIGHT with Wickham without being married. Remember when she is found, she recounts how she was given sermons about her behavior. She lived with a man!! She sisters would all become unmarriagable, and the family ruined because she was living with a man.
I want to know what was Lydia's endgame. She was completely content to live this wild and carefree life and never seems to bother her one bit!
Modern takes on this situation brilliantly written and acted in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries show Wickham as a brilliant manipulator and predictor. This can give the original text new depth with the understanding how she was being used.
In all honesty, it’s my opinion that Lydia was written as a brainless, flighty and fly-by-the-seat of your pants kind of character. She embodied all the recklessness that young women of that time were warned about and was the “cautionary tale”. She didn’t have an end-game because she simply didn’t think that far ahead.
I heard a good one that she gets the man to agree to marry her, thus so far (in her mind) she has been the most successful sister in achieving what their mother wanted for them. Only, she didn't realise life wasn't so simple.
Sorry, that should read Predator. Not predictor. I cant seem to edit my post.
Lydia's endgame was marriage and it never occurred to her that she would not end up so. She was stupid and naive and fell for everything that Wickham told her. She doesn't understand the implication that her non marriage would cause the ruination of herself and her sisters because that is outside the scope of her thoughts (her being 100% convinced that she's becoming Mrs Wickham very soon). Per her mother's example, getting married is the most important thing in the world and she's just happy it's happening for her first, ahead of her elder, more eligible sisters. As a very young and silly sixteen year old, she also doesn't grasp that her behaviour is bad because her parents haven't taken the time to check her in the way that they did the elder Bennett sisters. She also fails to understand that Wickham had to be bribed to marry her, that went straight over the top of her head. Basically she's a dumbass.
Dr.Octavia Xox has a 40 minute video about just this. It is called "why did Mr Wickham 'elope' with Lydia Bennet. A Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice character analysis."
This is amazingly researched and beautifully told! Well done!!
Thank you!!!
Sewstine brought me here and I’m forevermore grateful.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Regency England got their freak on!
Oh, and new sub...
Thank you for this! I always wondered what the sexual side of the regency era looked like. Media seems to only care about Renaissance or rococo era sexuality and even then get it wrong. I would also be curious about victorian sexuality, cause man that was a strict era when it came to everything. Going to get me a copy of Harriets book now!
Can we just talk about how provocative it was for Sienna to be singing that particular piece at the party where Anthony is. Just to be clear that piece is from Tales of Hoffman and is sung by a beautiful courtesan. It's called Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour. It was just so perfect.
this is SO GOOD thank you!!!!! every time i was like "ok but is she gonna talk about-" you brought up exactly what i was thinking of lmao! i'm really glad there was such a focus on gay and lesbian relationships too, i always get annoyed when people talk about relationships in history and extramarital sex without bringing that up, surely it should be a major topic? and bridgerton reallllly dropped the ball on it. anyways loved the video ♡♡♡
Thank you so much!!!
Please keep uploading! This was fascinating, compassionate, and sensitive. I love learning about the nuance and realities of these eras!
Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for all the research and care you took to make this. This is the content we need!!
Everything I didn't even think I didn't know about regency England. Your research videos are so interesting!!! Please keep making more :)
Thank you so much!
My disappointment at Benadict not being bi is emence. Would have made it so much more interesting. He still is in my head cannon. Great video!
I agree. Especially since it seemed like he is going to be at least bi.
I want to wait the next season before declaring it's queerbaiting... There is still hope!
I think they might make Colin bi. In the books he does travel a lot and is more worldly than the others. Makes most sense.
@@elisaumbro7288 Same! I know it's not the way of the books, but it seems like the series is taking quite some liberties, so there's still hope!
@@lemondrizzlecake7766 also his story deserved a rewriting because in his book he is an awful Nice Guy
Holy moly these comments... people, it's a video ABOUT the Regency, we aren't living in it. The amount of "Great video but you agree with LGBTQ so I'm never watching again" is... disturbing. Like... isn't that the definition of an echo chamber?
Also Cis gender just means not transgender... it has nothing to do with your sexuality. Plenty of transpeople are hetero, and plenty are gay. Just like there are straight and gay cisgender people.
Thank you, Rachel!
@@AJaneiteSews No problem. I'm really quite stunned at the attitude people are giving you after you provided such great content. Seems like they consumed it undigested...
As a fluent welsh speaker your pronunciation of Llanelli was excellent. ‘Ll’ is one of the hardest letters to pronounce in the welsh alphabet and you did a really good job. I knew exactly what you were saying.
I saw their house. I thought it a very good way to live and how lucky they were to live in Beautiful Wales. I believe one of the candidates for the Grail Castle was also in the n neighborhood. I climbed to it often and oddly enough, the climb up was very long but the climb down seemed another route and was very short. Magical Wales! I shall never forget it!
Incredibly interesting!! Thank you so much for presenting such a clear and well researched video on a topic that is often misinterpreted and misrepresented.
I've been a subscriber for a little while, and have been going through your past videos bit by bit. I'm so impressed with your research, but as a gay man who loves history, I really have to thank you for the surprisingly lengthy sections you dedicated to covering queer relationships at the time in a thorough and concise way, with no sensationalism. This might be one of the best overviews looking at a certain period of queer history I've ever seen, if I'm honest.
I'm *so* glad you called Bridgerton out for its queer tokenism in season 1! I thought for sure that Benedict's season 1 storyline would set him up for a season 2 storyline where he'd realize he's bi and that that's ok, but... nope. Everything led towards setting up Benedict to be Not Straight, and yet it was just queerbaiting and the actual queer characters were tossed aside, only there to be support for a heteronormative relationship.
(And even worse: the gay character's line to Benedict about 'how much it hurts, seeing his male lover across the room and not even being able to talk to him lest people see and suspect' got reworked by the straight women who wrote the Netflix-approved Bridgerton musical to be about Daphne and Simon not being able to reveal their true emotions, completely erasing the queer characters entirely.)
I've rambled long enough, but seriously, thank you for putting such great research into the queer part of the video, both about the sodomy and the lesbian relationships. This was truly wonderful.
Thank you! I really appreciate your feedback. Yeah, it was quite jarring that Benedict's entire gay storyline was just... gone in season 2.
I love this! As an LGBTQ person I always find LGBTQ history fascinating. I enjoyed Bridgerton But also found it a bit queer baiting - A lot of it implies that Benedict might have some interest in men, but then he ends up In a relationship with a woman. I hope they explore this and other LGBT characters a bit more in the second season.
Each book follows the lives (love lives) of one of the siblings and so season one was Daphne and then I think Anthony is next. I sure he'll be mentioned but as far as I'm aware the novels fall into quite classic romance tropes and I think it ends up rather hereto all round. Maybe netflix will broaden the horizons of the books though! (PS I haven't read them)
I think it would be cool if they made Benedict gay or bi. It could still follow the same plot as in the books. Just change the gender. As they did with race.
I agree about LBGTQ history. Especially lesbian history as it was not as greatly reported/documented.
@4Freedom4All But isn't Bridgerton as tv show promoted as fantasy? Many black and POC people said that they liked seeing themselves on screen as royalty even though it isn't based on reality. Plus Bridgerton is not historical novel. It's firstly romance.
Why set it in Regacy? Because people like pretty palaces and clothes though they wouldn't want to live without hot water etc. FICTION is imaginary. Why should POC be exluded from that?
It's the same as fairytales, they were mostly written by rich bourgeois women who wanted to be princesses. And nobody cares watching Cinderella that prince would never marry her.
If you want real british regacy era than read fiction from that era or read studies about that era, don't watch tv shows.
I think in the original books they were all white. And guess what? In the tv show they found a way to get around that. Yeah, they decided to keep misogyny, need to control women and homophobia.
Downtown Abby also has gay character who is servant and the noble family and other employees accept him eveb though it was still illegal to be gay.
In the tv show depict Benedict as someone who is going against society norms, gets delighted by notice of gay man and seems to enjoy the thought of drawing men in nude. So yeah, a lot of people thought he was going to be bi/gay.
How dare I want more representation? It seems like straight people will get eight series of straight romance. Why can't at least one include romance between people of same gender?
There's close to zero historical romances between people of the same gender that ends happily. So yeah, we don't have as much representation.
As I said the show is fantasy. In the show love between black woman and white man ended racism. Which is pure fantasy and we all know that reality is different.
I never said we live in perfect world. People around the world still have it hard whether they are POC or LGBTQ. Where I live, I can't even adopt a child or marry someone of the same gender.
But that's why tv shows and other media exists as way of escapism.
I mean, he can be bi, and still be in a relationship with woman. Just because he's bi, doesn't mean he'd end up with a man. And I think it was hinting that he was bi, and since this next season is about Anthony's love story, I'd like Benedict to explore his sexuality a bit before season 3 (which would be his love story). I would love to see bi representation, because people automatically think you're either gay or lesbian when they think of the LGBTQ community, and that's not true. Or they think if you're bisexual, you HAVE to end up with someone of the same sex, which is also not true. You can be bisexual and still end up with someone from the opposite sex.
@4Freedom4All I've read all of the Bridgeton novels (it's the reason why I watched the show), and it's looking like the show is deviating from the books, a bit. Because of the show was actually H.A., half the characters wouldn't be people of color. I like the deviations they've made thus far, and it has been suggested that Benedict might be bisexual, or bicurious at best. Which would be nice to explore! I do want them to keep his love story with Sophie, though. It was my favorite book out of all of them, and I would hate for the showrunners to do away with it.
No mention of the Georgian/Regency practice of the Hellfire Clubs. Austen barely references them (possibly how George Wykham managed to lose his £3,000 inheritance).
Interestingly, Anne Bronte is far more explicit in The Tennant of Wildfell Hall.
Can you expound on that? Hellfire Clubs I mean.🙈
Thank you for that entertaining and well researched paper. I really really enjoyed it!
You are super adorable and wholesome. Thanks for this video can't wait to go through your other uploads😊
"which I will of course watch because of the pretty clothes" I have been called out!
to keep it spoiler light, it seems like the bridgerton novels do follow the same repetitive pattern and even turns characters into the exact same archetype at certain points in the story... u can kinda see it with the way simon treats daphne after their marriage. what i know of eloise's story is honestly super heartbreaking for a character who couldve easily been a lesbian or asexual... even written straight, she deserved better and i hope the show gives her better, but with the way it treated simon and daphne in both their post-marriage characterization and the way they were treated i just dont have a whole lot of hope.
i find it rly interesting ppl dont think that women had as much sex as men. we know many men were having affairs with a whoooole bunch of women. well, those women were having affairs too.
Yeah, I was really disappointed to read the synopsis of Eloise’ book, both for her sake and Marina’s.
you have such a clear and easy to follow voice. this was interesting to listen to as someone who has read exactly 0 Austen works/knows very little about the social ways of the past lol. this video taught me a lot and confirmed that people have been the same since the beginning. i doubt “people” will be different til we evolve out of Homo sapien into the next species
Very educational&entertaining! Many thanks🙂 keep up the great work, please. 😉❤️
Very well told and researched! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you!!!
The way you narrate this is hilarious, I lol'ed several times.
Thanks!! 😆
So at this time, a consensual homosexual relationship was judged morally worse than a rape because the latter could result in procreation? Disgusting. Just another example of how religion can create awful moral standards rather than such as actually benefit society.
Fascinating video Janette. As long as I have been an Austen fan I never realized that Regency mores were not prudish. You made many strong points to defend the idea. Most notably that Austen features "rakes" in all of her writings an these boyz get off scott free from their bad behavior. Look forward to your next video. I shared your tea video on Facebook for my Bridgerton FB friends.
Thanks so much!!
This is fascinating!!! Please make more videos like this one
Wow, I had no idea there existed someone who wanted too much sex for Lord frickin' Byron, but apparently there was :')
Considering even our society's guilty of double moral standards& many men still find (sexually)assertive/"predatory" girls intimidating& tiring (albeit, temporarily amusing😁), it's hardly surprising. 😬🤐😂 Also, knowing our proto-rockstar, Georgie probs got bored with the lady&started hating everything about her, including stuff he'd previously enjoyed. Plus,he passionately loved complaining.😜😁
😂 Still a hilarious comment, though 😂😂😂 I actually thought the same. 😉
Amazingly done! I loved this episode!!!
Very well presented. I enjoyed your interpretation. You write very well. You certainly know your facts. First I heard of a Mollie house or Boston Marriage. Well done. I looked forward to your work in future. Thanks for sharing
this was very informative and excellently researched.thank you for including your sources.
Thank you for watching!!
Great video! Thanks for posting it!
One has to realise that society class were quite liberal regarding sex but they frowned upon licentiousness of people below them, especially their own personnel. The reason is that many marriages were arranged for financial reasons rather than love reasons. The novels of Jane Austen were so outrageous that she did not dare to publish them under her own name, especially not Sense and Sensibility which is completely misunderstood by most, because she described marriage out of love, which was considered unimportant and even a bit base as then the implied sex was for enjoyment instead of procreation. Most if not all gentlemen had at least one lover, a kept woman in the city, and many a lady dallied with a gardiner or peer elsewhere. In Italy, upper-class ladies tended to have an orangerie and a garçonnerie, the first for health in winter, the latter for warmth all year round.
I'm sure that last sentence has to be related to all the former ones, but it is late and my brain is not reading between the lines. Could you elaborate?
I couldn’t stand Bridgerton..... so unrealistic, I just can’t suspend belief like that, no bonnets!!!! Really! And the hair! Just took me straight out of the story! So distracting......
This was very informative and funny! Thanks for this video!
Thank you!!!
The reason Christians spoke out against homosexuality was about the picture it made. Marriage is repeatedly used in scriptures as a picture of the character of God and of the relationship Israel has with God, and Jesus has with the church. The two join bodies to become 1. Then out of that union, a new creature is produced. However, NOWHERE in any of these writings are people allowed to try to force those who do not believe in God to follow their rules. Rome and Greece had a very open culture of homosexuality. None of the Apostles and not even Jesus sent any message to Ceasar about the issue.
Perhaps true that there wasn’t force, but there isn’t a question on God’s view of the act of homosexuality according to scriptures.
Firstly, here’s focus on the family’s response, similar to yours in some ways, but on Jesus view being authoritative to all, not just an analogy:
“Some claim Jesus never said anything about homosexuality and therefore is neutral on the topic. Not true. Jesus was unequivocal in saying that to understand marriage and the sexual union, we must go back to the beginning and see how God created humanity and to what end. (See Matthew 19 and Mark 10.) Jesus holds up the creation story in Genesis not as a quaint Sunday school lesson, but as authoritative - reminding us that God created each of us male and female, each for the other. And the sexual union that God created and ordains is for husband and wife to come together in physical union, one flesh.”
In other scripture “sexual immorality” is used to describe any act of sex outside of Jesus’ and the apostle Paul’s clear definition of one man and one woman in marriage (Matthew 19 & Ephesians 5) If there was no definition, there would be no clarity on what sexual immorality even means.
God’s not going to smite the homosexual though, because of free will, so like you said, not force. God paints a clear picture of how he knows humans will thrive and be blessed and peaceful in the design he had intended for us. If you choose by your free will to live outside of that, then you will miss out on the life God is offering for you, what He knows in His authority as our creator to be what’s best for us.
Any opinion outside of this just questions the creator and is in its foundation rather a faith issue. At that point it doesn’t even matter what immorality and morality even is because it all just becomes relative without a definition, the tides of morality always changing with each generation and each persons changing opinion. Therefore rendering the very concept of ethics meaningless.
If you read that entire response, thank you. I just wanted to clarify that the Bible scriptures does clarify a stance on homosexuality, whether or not it was specifically written that it was “brought up to Caesar”. Its important to read process what the Bible says without the lenses of personal preference or opinion.
@@fleurviverre7097 In the family and in the church is the proper place to deal with God's law regarding marriage, family, faithfulness, and responsibility. Its' a family matter. Nero was undeniably evil and sordid. While John the Baptizer, Jesus, Paul, and the early church were silent about the Roman government's sins, the church was commanded to enact church discipline when believers fell into sin. What they taught and preached was purity WITHIN the church, within the family, and within the marriages. Just like the members were forbidden to sue each other, lawsuits were a normal and expected event in the civil realm. The believers are absolutely commanded to mirror Christ in their lives. The Christian is supposed to be a constant testimony to the changing power of God. To be different.
@@stephenszucs8439 gotcha, I think I understand better now the message you’re trying to convey, and I think I agree with almost everything you’re saying (just I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “changing power” of God. He’s the same yesterday today, and forever, Hebrews 13:8). Just an observation, but It seems to me that we are living in comparable times regarding the vastly different values between the government and the Christ follower. This has challenged me to understand more about what my response as a Christian should be in light of such times via Christ’s example. You’re right about being a testimony and to be different from the “world”. Thanks for the respectful response.
@@fleurviverre7097 The changing power is an attribute of God that allows an alcoholic and congenital liar to spend the rest of his life winning souls. It changed the murderous Saul to a martyr for Christ. God wasn't created. He creates. He does not change, he changes us. I think one of the hardest things to do, but the most effective is to pray for the country and Joe Biden and to win the people one at a time. We can't impact the culture without changing hearts.
@@stephenszucs8439 Yep, agreed
Dearest! That was such an important and informative video and I am blessed to have stumbled upon your channel today. The amount of information about LGBTQ people throughout history is very limited and what is available is not easily found by common folk like me (not a historian!) So thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are a smart speaker and we have enough humor bits here and there to keep us really entertained besides absorbing all the new info like a sponge ueheehehehehe
And I agree with you! I hope they do something different with Bridgerton because otherwise it's gonna be the same story over and over again and no ones got time for that (I abandoned the books because I couldn't bother to read the same shit all over again ugh)
Wishing you a lovely day and sending much love from Brazil 🥳✌
Thank you so very much for watching and for your kind comments!! 💚
I know this has nothing to do with the video... but ... Bentham's Head.... from Ask a Mortician popped into my head when you talked about Jeremy Bentham, and it derailed my focus for long enough to see if anyone else commented about it....
same
Didn't comment but thought of him
I had to check to make sure, Bentham's Head is indeed the head of the very same Jeremy Bentham. Such a fascinating individual!
A lovely video with excellent research. 💕
Thank you so much!!
You have some great research in here, well done. A bit harsh on Lydia though, oof. Appreciate you pointing out Mary Crawford’s “rears and vices” joke. I laughed when I read it but didn’t pick up on it being intentional.
I really enjoyed your video. Thank you!
Absolutely fantastic video!
Thank you so much!
Austen always leaves the bedroom door closed to the reader, of course, but she's far from naive or prudish about this stuff; her usual hard-headed realism is much in evidence. As people have said, she was no Victorian.
I always think the Aubrey/Maturin books give a fascinating alternative point of view of the Regency era. O'Brian was a huge Austen fan and it shows: his books show us what some of Austen's gentlemen did for a living.
For Sex And All That, the most interesting of the series is probably Clarissa Oakes (which I think was published under a different title in the US for some reason), but it's a motif in some of the other books too. (Aubrey isn't exactly a rake, and is certainly no predator, but he does--shall we say--let his passions overman his judgement on a pretty regular basis; driving his medical friend to ponder, only half-jokingly, "excision of the membrum virile".)
If you have a free couple of days and want to go back a bit in history to read of sexy times you can read The Rover by Aphra Behn. It’s a play written by a woman during the Interregnum and it has a great courtesan character named Angelica Bianca. It’s so long it was hard to read but I loved every word uttered by Angelica Bianca.
Very nicely done! Thanks!
Thank you, Jill!!!
Guilt by association frequently affected those who were empathetic to the plight of those who were not hetero-normative, to ensure their public silence, at least duing their lifetimes. Jeremy Bentham's sympathetic work on what we would now call same sex attraction may have circulated privately, and I'm not even sure about that, but was not published or included in his other writings, I believe until after his death..
You are correct. It was not published in his lifetime.
Loved your video. Such an interesting topic. You got the Welsh location pronunciation spot on! (From the Uk) also I’m on book 4 of Julia Quinn’s books, so far all heterosexual matches. However I do feel they are well written.
Every single one of the books is hetero, they were just written to be standard regency romance novels.
This was so educational and interesting, thank you :)!! I've been wanting to write a novel about girls coming out into society, so I was excited when I stumbled across this video, even though I didn't plan for my story to contain much sex. The part of queer history was so interesting to learn about as both a queer person and a writer - I was planning on having one of my characters be involved with another girl, but I hadn't started researching gregorian attitudes towards female homosexuality, though I suspected it wouldn't be great. The fact that they said it's impossible is sad but a bit funny.
this was so informative! thanks!
The court case you described is exactly the plot of The Children's Hour. I wonder if Lillian Helman was thinking of it/knew of it when she wrote the play.
I’m positive she used the Woods and Pirie case as inspiration!
Wonderfully researched, can’t wait for more.
I remember watching a doco back in the day, ‘Queer as 18th c Folk’- it was an interesting look at a shadow world...
Yes rakes existed in that era and yes they exist in every era. Shakespeare called them villains. We call them more colorful, stronger names. What's also true is that no matter their era, people of good taste avoid the rakes and avoid watching their escapades.
So much interesting info I’ve never heard.
Brilliant piece!!
Thank you!!
Thank you!!!
Great video, thank you! ❤
Enjoyed this well researched video except for the slur against romance novels at the end. There is quite a bit of serious research being done into the romance novel currently which bears investigating. Also the world of romance novels has widened in the last decade or so to include easily accessible, high quality and varied story lines from the LGBTQ+ world.
Everytime I learn a new fact about Jeremy bentham I like him more
Honestly, I appreciate the sarcasm so much
Romance novels often have a certain slant--and everything gives way to it, even historical accuracy.
The Regency Period may not have been prudish but it seems like Jane Austen was. She wasn't denying that forbidden sex was occurring, she just disapproved of it. She records births and pregnancy (Sense and Sensibility) but she doesn't seem to ever allude to sexual desire in her characters: their love, even passion, seems to be of an emotional nature ("in love"). I think this chasteness is what people pick up on as sex negative, not any denial of the existence of free sex, which she openly condemns with elegant obliqueness. The novel which jumps out to me as most focused on the culture war is Mansfield Park, which could be seen as a tale of Christianity v Worldliness. And it's clear which side she's on: no sex plays. She does seem to have great sympathy for "fallen women", portraying them as victims of male guile. She wrote in a letter that she feared that Anne Elliot was too good to be true, so we might judge from Anne Elliot's personality what Jane Austen believed that people (women but probably men too as Captain Wentworth is her soulmate) should be: chaste, faithful, constant, wise, patient, restrained, dignified, generous, stoic, consoled by poetry, rendered beautiful by presence of her beloved (she literally becomes more beautiful on her love's return after 8 years). Anne Elliot married but it would seem probable that Jane Austen died a virgin, though not because she wished it so.
Loved your video, please make more 👍🏾😊
Thank you!!!
New to your channel, but I now must seek out more!
Thank you, and welcome!
That quote on human sacrifices just changed my worldview 😯 I think it can apply very well to current politics too
Jeremy Bentham was also woke af about more than gay rights. Glad to learn what you cited here, I hadn’t known that before :)
Great job young lady and I did learn a couple of new things ☺️☺️
Thank you!!
"...wait, who was her mother, anyway?"
Wait...who was HER FATHER, anyway?
We have to wait until Chapter 19, the last chapter, before anyone finds out Harriet's parentage. Two sentences is all that matter gets as a resolution.
Which is odd, because "The Great Poultry Theft of Highbury" gets more attention in the same chapter
this video is so GOOD thank you!
The way you expressed how you like to study the regency era but wouldn't want to live in it made my heart really warm. Mostly because it's so easy to romanticize period pieces without realizing how women and lgbt people suffered through them and having someone acknowledge this while simultaneously loving to study them made me very happy. So thank you for the very informative video and thank you for touching on lgbt subjects and being so accepting it made me feel seen which is something that it's difficult to come across when I read or study about this subject that I love (sorry for some errors I might have made English is not my first language)
It's really funny to me when people try to say that people in the past were always chaste and stuff like that bc if you take even two seconds to look at why the Victorian era was the way it was, you'll realize it was a direct reaction to the Regency era. (And that's not even getting into the Tudor era...)
"Which I will, of course, watch because of the pretty clothes."
😂😂😂 That resonated
Hey from another academic. I really like this style. Its a great way to bring public engagement to history.
An interesting topic would be consumption, lord byron said once that it was an illness that would mean women would say be was dying beautifully. Consumptive chic and the work of alex tankard might be worth looking into
Thank you! And thanks for the suggestion!
This explains so much!!!
Great video!!! Very enlightening, I’ve learned a lot ♥️
Well, now I have a hankering to read Persuasion.....again🤣
Sex out of wedlock is not a new or modern action. I think it happened historically more than we think but bridgerton I think had outrageous scenarios in which the act was being made
Adventure stories, mystery novels, and bildungsromans of every variety are formulaic in their own ways. That doesn't mean we dismiss them as genres. Why does everyone make backhanded comments about modern romance novels as if they have nothing to offer, as if they are all the same when this is an extremely prolific genre that runs the gamut from straight trash to moving, deep, true works of literature?
I otherwise enjoyed this video and appreciate your astute analysis and thoughtful discussion.
You are FAB. Thank you so much.
This is wonderful. New subscriber! I would love to hear your thoughts on the series Gentleman Jack.
I loved Gentleman Jack! I’ve got it on my list of series to analyze ☺️
Fantastic, so interesting 👍👍
Thank you!!
Hi Carrie! First I want to congratulate you on the video! I loved! And second, I'm sorry if something is written wrong, because I'm Brazilian and I'm translating my questions through google! Can you clear me some doubts? If a wealthy single girl got pregnant and refused to reveal the identity of the child's father, what would happen? And if after the child was born in the countryside, she returned to the city with the child in her arms, what would happen?
Great information and video. As a bonus a adorable kitty 😺 .
Sex between women in the regency was no problem unless they used a godemiche. Also considered a way of them learning to please themselves so that it wasn’t such hard work for putative husbands
Pride and Prejudice is my fav of Jane Austen.
Oh god the quote at 28:00 made me laugh out loud!!
Just looking at your bookshelf. Do you have Ann McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern series?
Oh, yes!! I love those books ☺️
I love your cat😆😸💖
i don't know why i was so shocked when byron popped up 😭💀
I mean the truth is humans been doing sex things sex humans figured out they could do just cuz the upper class had no really documentary of it does not mean people where not sexing like crazy
I think if it was physically possible, at least some people were doing it, throughout history and now.
Thanks liked and subbed
Your cat is cute and is a supporting actor on your program.🐈⬛🐈
Ugh. Byron. Ya’ll know he slept with his sister, right?
Says who?
Very interesting and really well done!! I’ve heard some interesting theory’s about Charlotte Lucas and how her dialogues/actions could show she was also part of the LGBTQ+ community
Was the term "Evangelical" actually even in use in England that early?