Pure White Episode 3: True Womanhood
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Dec 18, 2023 Exploring the cult of true womanhood in Victorian gender ideologies, connecting sexual purity with white womanhood. Analyzing historical narratives of white women's agency and vulnerability in the 19th century. Discussing how purity practices shaped racial dynamics and privileges in white purity culture. Examining the legacy of true womanhood on white racial identity and cognitive dissonance in historical education.
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Purity As Political Power
- The cult of true womanhood linked white women's sexual purity to moral authority and political influence.
- This ideology let white women claim protective power while masking racial animus as innocence.
Moms For Liberty Example
- Moms for Liberty frames itself as white mothers protecting children from corrupt curricula and LGBTQ topics.
- They use maternal authority to justify book bans and political influence within the GOP.
Seduction Narrative Reversed Gender Tropes
- The 19th-century seduction narrative recast white women as fragile victims needing protection from corrupting cities and men.
- That shift displaced older views of female duplicity onto women of color, especially enslaved Black women.