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Sex & Gender in Antebellum America

Sex & Gender in Antebellum America. Rise of Non-Traditional Gender Roles. New goal = Nuclear family as a property-owning unit Expansion of the market economy Growth of wage labor Class divisions Mobility. Cult of Domesticity. A counterpoint to the Market Revolution

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Sex & Gender in Antebellum America

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  1. Sex & Gender in Antebellum America

  2. Rise of Non-Traditional Gender Roles • New goal = Nuclear family as a property-owning unit • Expansion of the market economy • Growth of wage labor • Class divisions • Mobility

  3. Cult of Domesticity • A counterpoint to the Market Revolution • Class-specific cultural ideal rooted in biological difference • “separate spheres”

  4. Women’s Sphere • Enclosed, limited, private space • Elevation in status • Decline in birth rate • Transformation of the physical space of the home

  5. Sex in Antebellum America • “Victorian” behavior • 1873 Comstock Law

  6. Aristotle’s Masterpiece • 1684, England, anonymous authors • Galen’s One-Sex Model • 4th century – 18th century • 1st female skeleton illustration = 1733

  7. Godey’s Lady Book • 1860 = 160,000 subscribers

  8. Passionlessness • Middle-class manliness emphasized self-control • White, middle-class femininity emphasized lack of sexual desire • Rise of female illnesses

  9. Limitations • Medical community • Banned from political activity • Elizabeth Blackwell

  10. Moral Reform • 1830s & 1840s = “A Woman’s Crusade” • 1837 = New York Female Moral Reform Society had 15,000 members • Why such appeal?

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