A
fallen woman is a Victorian woman with sexual experience. In almost every
situation, a fallen woman has a "sexual trespass that produced her
fall" (Auerbach 30). Fallen woman are popularly prostitutes, which were
very common during the Victorian era. The fallen women is the opposite of the
ideal women. However, the husbands of ideal women will still turn to fallen
women for sexual experiences. Ideal women are regarded as innocent and angelic
and society teaches that they need to be kept that way and often that excludes
them from any sexual experiences, even after marriage. Although the majority of
prostitutes' clients are "bachelors postponing marriage... middle-class
youths... soldiers and sailors...and so on" (Tosh, "Historians with
Masculinity", 182). Men also turned to homosexuality but although the
"'gay life' was very widespread...it remained firmly out of sight"
(Tosh, "Historians with Masculinity", 182). Due to sexual promiscuity
through prostitutes STDs spread through society. In 1864 the first Contagious
Diseases Act was enacted. This law held women responsible for the spread of
STDs; therefore, doctors could legally examine any woman, or mechanically rape
her, upon suspicion.
