Advice on flirting c. 1906

[kissmeforlonger]

There was a marked contrast between the two girls. While 'beautiful' was the term invariably applied to Edith, no one ever thought of calling her companion anything but 'pretty'. And ravishingly pretty she was - small but exquisitely proportioned, and having that deadly combination of demure eyes and saucy mouth which works such havoc on

Comments

Brilliant

[ideealisme]

"Don't be too trustful, my child. Men are capable of anything. However, if there is not another woman in the case, the obvious and only conclusion is that there is another man."

"Phyllis, how dare you?" Edith's cheeks were aflame with indignation.

And at this point I went - what? No wonder Edith's pissed off...oh wait... :)

[kissmeforlonger]

Yes ;-)

[etoile_violet]

Same here :-D.

[ladycat]

When men were men and women had bruises. Back to Victorian (almost!) values then!

[ideealisme]

I dunno. I remember watching the series about novels on BBC and how in the novel "Clarissa", the protagonist Lovelace started out as a stalker and eventually became a rapist. And then the publishers were overwhelmed by women writing in wishing they had a Lovelace to pursue them! I would never condone physical abuse or verbal belittling - but there is sometimes a strange, dark place in the female psyche to which feminism does not give enough time or room. IMO.

[kissmeforlonger]

Except that in Tracy's novels (and I've read 33 of them now), women are always treated with respect regardless of what they have done. I suspect the ethic is a gentleman would never lower himself to hit a woman (regardless of how that worked in real life). And as he thought women didn't have the intellectual capacity of men, it was easy to dominate the poor little things by force of mind rather than body.

Actually it surprises me that his novels always have a romance plot too, and very little game-playing between the main protagonists.