Homosexuality – Okay for Women
In Victorian Britain, women were sometimes engaged in what was called ‘female marriages’. These women would live together, own property, and even called one another ‘wedded wife’ or ‘hubby’. All of the above were impossibilities for two men. One of the reasons why women were able to behave in a way that men weren’t is the Victorian belief that the female of the species was more susceptible to their emotions than males. While many of these relationships did not involve homosexual sex, a significant number of them did.
These lesbian relationships were either overlooked or lay undiscovered. It was possible for female couples to kiss, embrace, and touch one another in public without arousing any suspicion. As a consequence, lesbian couples could easily hide the nature of their relationship. Anne Lister famously developed intense relationships with Anne Walker and Marianna Lawton which dominated much of her life. The so-called ‘lesbian diarist’ preferred to be the dominant partner which she emphasized through her masculine appearance.
Yet Only Women Were Punished for Prostitution
While it was primarily men who were punished for homosexuality, it was mainly women who got the wrong end of the stick when it came to commercial heterosexual sex. Moral panic about prostitution reached its peak in the middle of the 19th century in England. Part of the reason was that it allowed for visible female freedom from social control. Young women were under the yoke of male authority in all ways, except for when they became prostitutes and were economically and personally free.
Victorian society responded to the ‘threat’ of prostitution by condemning and disgracing ‘fallen’ women in newspapers, sermons, visual art, and speeches. Ladies of the night were depicted as a dangerous and depraved element in society and such women were doomed to disease and eventually, death. It was normal for men of higher standing to patrol the streets at night in a bid to persuade prostitutes to flee from their life of vice. While prostitution was unquestionably dangerous, it was one of the most profitable trades. Successful women were able to save enough to open a lodging house or business and educate their siblings.
The Contagious Disease Acts of 1864 allowed police officers to arrest prostitutes. They were examined and detained if they had venereal disease. In contrast, the ‘customers’ of these women were never arrested nor did they get into trouble of any kind. As the century drew to a close, society’s disdain for prostitutes meant they became increasingly easy targets for criminals. One of the most notorious examples was Jack the Ripper, who murdered at least five prostitutes during a brief spell in 1888. The police were never close to catching him. Meanwhile, men in drag were also being punished including one of the most famous performing duos of the age.