Key Terms in Evolutionary Biology of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: Victorian conception of sex differences

Definition
The Victorian conception of sex differences is a collection of ideas and theories on the biological differences between males and females most popular during the Victorian era (1837-1901). Many of these ideas can be traced back to Darwin's theories about the natural differences between males and females described in his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871).

Example(s) of use in context
In our class we studied these theories to get a solid understanding of evolutionary biology's beginings, in addition to better understanding earlier scientific theories about men and women. These theories gave of-the-day biological reasoning for why the two sexes are thought to be unequal, and more specifically why men held the more powerful position in the household and were better suited for higher-level jobs than women.

Scientific background and history
What was considered scientific theory on the sexes during the Victorian era would be, for the most part, written off as blatant sexism now a days. It was believed during the Victorian era that women and men differed drastically in personality in a number of ways, particularly in their emotional responses to their environment and intellect.(Russett, Cynthia, Sexual Science: The Victorian Construction of Womanhood, pp 19. Haravd Univeristy Press, Cambridge Mass, 1991; Darwin, Charles The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex 1871) Women were expected to keep house and tend to the children, while men went to work, brought in financial support and were heads of their households and families. These roles were assigned not so much out of conscious sexism but because it was believed that these were the roles nature had “designed” men and women for. Women were believed to biologically more emotional and maternal, coy and passive. It was also thought that women were less intellectual due in part to their tendency to act on emotions in a given situation, instead of reason. In the same respect it was believed that men were biologically more ambitious, aggressive and intellectually superior, making them better suited for the workforce and leadership roles within their communities and homes.The idea that women are inferior due to their differences from men is now considered sexist. It is also sexiest to assume that all women must possess particular, and always inferior, characteristics simply because they are not men.

It was these distinct personality differences that made men and women so well suited to mate. According to Darwin women were the “coy choosers” of their mates, the males, who competed with other men to win her affections. This theory could be easily seen in Victorian culture. Often a woman was courted by a few different men until she chose the one with whom she would like to settle down with. This “winning over the female” situation was noted to happen throughout different species, the males always competing aggressively against others to win over a female in the hopes of making her his mate so that he could spread his seed. In this sense it was believed that males were innately polygamous while females were innately monogamous. These theories were supported by the fact that women are not able to “spread their seed” like men, instead they have to carry around their offspring for nine months, and then nurse and raise them. Once a female is pregnant she is not ready to reproduce again for nine to twelve months, while a male can continue to produce offspring all year round.

Another popular theory of this era as to why women could never reach the same level of intelligence and power as men was because menstruation drastically affected a women’s mood and thought process. Menstruation was thought to be even more proof of female inferiority. In her book on sex science of the Victorian era Cynthia Russett addresses this theory of menstruation being a clear marker of women being the lesser sex. “… In intellectual labour, man has surpassed, does now, and always will surpass woman, for the obvious reason that nature does not periodically interrupt his thought and application” (Allan, James McGrigor as quoted in Sexual Science, Russett pg 30). Other physical indicators of female inferiority included were her smaller stature and facial features (Russett, Cynthia, Sexual Science: The Victorian Construction of Womanhood, pp 19. Haravd Univeristy Press, Cambridge Mass, 1991). Finally it was believed that women were physically and intellectually more similar to children and therefore could never achieve the same power as a fully-grown man.(Russett, Cynthia, Sexual Science: The Victorian Construction of Womanhood, pp 51-57. Haravd Univeristy Press, Cambridge Mass, 1991) In this sense difference in race was grouped with difference in sex, a popular belief being that white men were the most mature of all humans, followed by white women and men of other races, who were, again, comparable to children and ending with women of other races, who were thought to be more evolutionarily on par with primates.

Debates
These theories were challanged by a few people during the Victorian era. One person who question whether Darwin's ideas on the evolutionary differences between males and females was Alfred Russell Wallace, the man who was Darwin's co-discoverer of natural selection. He argued against some of the theories about the differences about males and females that Darwin had attributed to sexual selection. Antoinette Brown Blackwell also argued against the popular idea that females were innatly inferior. In her book The Sexes Throughout Nature she critized the idea of male supieority and made it clear she supported and promoted equality betwee the sexes. She was one of the first women to publicly stand up for female equality with her book.

Author
Kimberly Tronolone