Sex During the Victorian Era

By: Kiara Bell

Throughout the years, many rumors about sexuality during the Victorian Era have formed. The roles of each gender were said to have been a big component of daily living at that time, men were the breadwinners and women raised their children and were submissive to their husbands for sexual activities. The desire to have sex were solely for men and for prostitutes on the streets. These strict views on sexuality have become what we know believe as the Victorian Stereotype. Back during the 19^th century, doctors even believed that women were not capable of having any sexual desire whatsoever. If women showed any signs of sexual desire, it was seen as a disease or sickness and surgery would have to be performed on them to remove their sex organs.[1] I believe that was just insane and ridiculous.

Many people believed that throughout the Victorian Era, sex was a subject that not everyone discussed. Young girls could grow up into women and still not know the ins and outs of sex and where babies came from. Sex and anything even remotely related to the topic contradicted the notions of purity and was looked down upon extremely. [2] If women were caught doing anything along the lines of masturbating, something that was so demonized and awful, were considered to have some type of mental disorder.

After doing some research, I found that people believed men and women born during the Victorian Era were both factually uninformed and emotionally frigid about sexual matters. [3] When I finished reading articles like these, I could not help but feel terrible for the situations these women were going through and for the way they were being treated. When I saw a video during one of my classes called “The History of Sex from Don Juan to Queen Victoria, it was stated that sex within a marriage was completely normal and healthy. Eventually, doctors had limited the amounts of sex that could take place and women were to be warm and loving to their husband and have a love of home and their children. In the Victorian Era, the concept of honeymoons after marriage began and it would be referred to as the vacation from hell because they could have sex as much as they desired. Women did enjoy sex, contrary to popular belief.

 

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[1] Pastor, Gabriella, Chelsea Mageland, and Sarah Findley. "The Victorian Era." History of Human Sexuality in Western Culture (blog), http://historyofsexuality.umwblogs.org/pre-20th-century/victorian-era-2/ (accessed January 31, 2014).

[2] "Victorian Women: The Gender of Oppression." Women as "the Sex" during the Victorian Era (blog), http://webpage.pace.edu/nreagin/tempmotherhood/fall2003/3/HisPage.html (accessed January 31, 2014).

[3] Victoria and Albert Museum, "Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century." Last modified 2014. Accessed January 31, 2014. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/sex-and-sexuality-19th-century/ .

Teen Pregnancies

Teen Pregnancies

 By: Victoria Ambrose

Teen pregnancies have become so common that 3 in every 10 girls will become pregnant before the age 20. In fact, each year there are more than 700,000 teen pregnancies. Surprisingly, 50% of teens have never thought about how having a baby would change their lives. Teen pregnancy changes the lives and futures of teens in many ways. First off, the mother’s education may suffer. The main reason that teenage girls drop out of school is due to pregnancies. Did you know that less than 50% of teen mothers ever end up graduating from high school? Also less than 2% of these teens earn a college degree by the time they are 30. Having a baby at a young age not only effects the life of the teenager, but also the life of the child. These children are in fact 50% more likely to repeat a grade. They are not as likely to complete high school as children with older mothers are. They also do not have as high of a performance on standardized tests. Some girls may think that they should try to have a baby with their boyfriend to force him to stay with them. But did you know that 80% of fathers do not marry their baby mama? And these fathers pay less than 800$ a year towards child support, because they are broke too (or they are spending their money on other things). Teen pregnancy can be especially hard on kids whose fathers live in a separate setting. These kids are five times more likely to be poor than kids with both parents living at home. Also the daughters of teen mothers have triple the chance of becoming teen mothers themselves. And the sons of teen moms have double the chance of landing in prison in their future. [1]

In my opinion teenagers need to think about the risks involved in having sex. I think that teens need to be careful so that they do not end up poorly affecting their lives and the lives of their children. I watch the show Teen Mom on MTV and I’ve noticed that all of the teen mothers lose their boyfriend, drop out of school, and their kids’ lives do not appear to be good. Teenagers should take whatever precautions necessary to avoid becoming parents at a young age. Before you have sex, think about how it could impact your life and how it could impact the life of the baby you may be creating. 

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[1] “Teen Pregnancy.”2014. http://www.stayteen.org/teen-pregnancy.

Is Sexual Commerce Ethical?/Should Pornography Be Banned?

by Rhyann Bowman

One example of sexual commerce, prostitution, can be traced back throughout all of history. We can say with some confidence that wherever there have been money, goods, or services to be bartered, somebody has bartered them for sex. [1] Another example of sexual commerce is pornography. It’s more recent than prostitution. In these examples, most of the time, the participants voluntarily take part in the activities that take place. They get paid to engage in sexual activity and the customers are satisfied. But does that make it ethical?

I don’t think that sexual commerce is ethical at all. Prostitution is illegal, but why not pornography? It’s in a safer environment but it’s practically the same process and the same risks are involved. Pornography being accepted in society but not prostitution baffles me. I think both should be illegal. Pornography is accepted in society and it is made to seem glamorous but many porn stars are scarred from their experiences in the porn industry. Many women have horror stories about their time in the industry.

In the video above, ex-porn star Vanessa Belmont talks about the horrors she faced in the porn industry. She explains that the porn industry isn't what it's hyped up to be and it's actually terrifying. The viewers of pornography are encouraged to believe that the participants are enjoying themselves, when in actuality, it's the total opposite.





This video is a little more emotional. This woman's case is more traumatic than the woman's above. She has lost everything because of the porn industry. She got cervical cancer, lost a child, and got abused all because of porn. As she said, she felt what her mother went through and remembered what she and her sister had to go through because of their father's porn addiction. For workers in the porn industry, porn isn't just a paycheck. It affects your entire life and these two women are proof of that.

I think that this proves that sexual commerce is unethical. In my opinion, it's the same as prostitution but it's just in a different form. In both professions, the workers are abused, catch diseases, and are traumatized by their job. Also in both professions, the customers are paying for their entertainment. I don't see the difference between prostitution and pornography except the environment change. Other than that, it's the same. I think that both prostitution and porn should be banned.

[1] Head, Tom. "about.com." Accessed January 31, 2014. http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/tp/History-of-Prostitution.htm.

STD's in Young Adults

STD’s in Young Adults

 By: Victoria Ambrose

Did you know that if you and 3 friends are sitting in a room, one of you is likely to get an STD in the time that you are a young adult, statistically speaking? A girl (whose name remains anonymous) in her twenties who lives in a small town in Idaho shared her story. She got drunk with her friends one night and they all went to breakfast the next morning, as she was still drunk. A man who no one knew rolled by on a motorcycle and came inside to chat with them. She got a ride home with him since she was too drunk to drive. Her house was 15 minutes out into the middle of nowhere, with no neighbors. One thing led must have led to another and they had sex then he slept over. The girl expected to just get a hangover the next day but she also got genital warts. It was not until she later went to a doctor in another town, when she found out she had this STD. At the time this girl found out she was already engaged. She then had to tell her fiancé the news. She said that she was uneducated on all of the negative effects of sex because she did not want anyone in her town to think poorly of her having sex if she had gone to the local doctors to become educated. So she had not been in five years! There is now a vaccine for girls to get to prevent warts and cervical cancer. Had she have known this she might not be stuck with an STD. [1]

In my opinion I honestly do not blame the girl for not wanting to go to the doctor because she didn’t want people to judge her for being sexually active. I did learn that it is necessary to go to the doctor though. I feel that it is important to become educated on STDs before it is too late. There are shots you can get to prevent against STDs. It is important to stay protected too because the girl from the story was on birth control but did not use a condom. I feel as if even if you are on the pill, you can still get STDs if you do not use a condom. Stay safe and become educated!

                              

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[1]

The Naked Truth. “I wish I had gone to the doctor.” Revised July 2, 2012. http://www.nakedtruth.idaho.gov/sara.aspx.