Sloan
points out that the "fantasy of ideal femininity...also entails a very
problematic fantasy of ideal masculinity, a fantasy which would have generated
at least as much ideological tension for Victorian men as it did for Victorian
women" (53). Therefore, as the roles of masculinity are being re-defined, the roles of femininity are being re-evaluated also. They do not act independently of one another.
I love the language here -- the idea of fantasy is great, as it implies an ideal rather than reality. Victorian culture was certainly stuck in the ideal.
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