Socioeconomic Slut-Shaming
What do Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman, Mary Astell, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti have in common when it comes to the fight for gender equality? Each sheds a new light on the age old argument, “Will men and women ever be treated equally?” Pretty Woman, a 1990’s rom-com, portrays Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward and Richard Gere as Edward Lewis in an unlikely romance between a rich businessman and a prostitute. Although Pretty Woman is a light-hearted film about what happens when a girl finds her “prince charming”, the movie draws many parallels about what it is like for women in the lower class of our modern society today to the eighteenth century London. Like Pretty Woman, “Jenny” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti explores the image of the lower class “fallen woman” and begs the question—can she be saved?
Jenny and Vivian both find themselves disadvantaged in society due to having little skills and their socioeconomic situation, forcing them to turn to prostitution. Although the author does not give us background information about Jenny, we are able to infer her economic situation from the details given about her throughout the poem. Society at this time was often describes as, “Victorian Britain, with its rigid gender roles, was a strictly patriarchal society where discrimination against women was a dogmatic practice. As John Tosh describes, “it was a society characterized by increasingly sharp category distinctions of gender and sexuality” (Tosh qtd. in Yildirim 46). Victorian ideology of gender rested on the belief that women were both physically and intellectually the inferior sex” (Yildirim 46). Whether you were in the lower class or the upper class, women were expected to be completely subservient to men. Although times have improved for women since the Victorian era, in many ways we are still fighting the same battles women were faced with in the early nineteenth century. Vivian explained to Edward Lewis that she turned to prostitution due to “no money, no friends, and no bum” to take help her (Pretty Woman). Running out of opinions Vivian tried prostitution, saying the first night she “cried the whole time” (Pretty Woman). She goes on to recollect that for her, the first night that you must give yourself over and sacrifice yourself was the worst, but seemed to be her only option to survive. Even though she knew she could do more, Vivian discusses how people putting her down her entire life made her think she did not deserve any better. Women are still ostracized, accused of being a slut for things that men do, without consequence, all the time. Women still make “78 cents to a man’s dollar”, causing them to have to work for “469 days to make what a man makes in a year” (O’Brien). Women, especially those with no learned skills or poor economic standing, are forced to take desperate measures in order to provide for themselves such as what Jenny and Vivian did.
Although the tones of Pretty Woman and “Jenny” differ, they both provide very humanizing portrayals of two women from two different centuries who are dealing with the social stigma of being the “fallen woman”. Pretty Woman written by J. F. Lawton was originally set to be a very dark portrayal of prostitution and women in the lower class during modern times, but was later revised into a more upbeat story about how the “fallen woman” can be saved. Although there was quite a bit of controversy about how this movie was supposed to end Lawton accounts, “During this whole thing, there was all this whole debate about ‘How do we end it, how do we save her?’…” (Erbland). For Jenny, unlike Vivian’s happy ending, she is left by the narrator the next morning where it can be inferred that she cannot be saved. Jenny, who is the object of Rossetti’s poem, does not have a voice throughout the poem and is described through the eyes of the narrator, giving a nod to the extreme limitations placed on women by Victorian society. Rossetti ponders several aspects about Jenny including her lifestyle, intellect, and beauty. Due to Jenny being asleep for the majority of their time spent together, the narrator forms judgments about her based on appearances, describing her as a “volume seldom read” (Rossetti 158). After observing Jenny for a while, he begins to find similarities between Jenny and his own cousin Nell, a member of the upper class. “The potter’s power over the clay! Oh the same lump (it has been said). For honour and dishonour made, Two sister vessels. Here is one” (Rossetti 181). Insinuating that even though Nell and Jenny are similar, their circumstances differ which greatly impacted their stations in life. When the narrator decides to pay and leave without waking Jenny or trying to rectify her situation in anyway, Rossetti gives the readers the impression that Jenny cannot be saved and the patterns of this society will continue to repeat itself.
In “Jenny,” it seems to implied that the narrator is some sort of wealthy scholar who is caught between feeling pity for the sleeping woman, having detached judgements about her, and also wanting to condemn her due to his upbringing in Victorian society. Further exemplifying that the very men who condemn these women for sleeping around and make them social outcasts for doing what they must to survive, are the same men who keep them in business. Reinstyilling the idea of double standards between genders, which is very much still prevalent today. Although neither Edward Lewis nor the narrator sleep with their prostitute on the night they spend together (although for Edward, this just applies to first night), it seems that these male characters have very different reasons for this. Rossetti makes the narrator seem narcissistic, almost a little bit pompous for ‘allowing’ her to sleep instead of having sex with him. Giving the impression that because he is not forcing her to sleep with him, this act makes him a saint. While on the other hand, Lewis’ intentions seems to quite honorable for letting Vivian sleep on their first night together, as he is developing feelings for her.
Both Vivian and Jenny are faced with challenges due to their socioeconomic standing, their employment, and where they come from. The stories of these women may suggest that we still have a long journey ahead of us until male and females are truly equal, but also that suggests that feminism is something for our society to work towards. Mary Astell, said to be one of the first feminist writers, states, “This is no hard Question; let the Soul be principally consider’d, and regard had in the first Place to a good Understanding, a Virtuous Mind, and in all other respects let there be as much equality as may be” (Astell 43). This idea of the “fallen women” who needs to be saved in order to be welcomed back into society, is very much a stigma from the past which should be learned from and improved upon. Women do not need to be saved by men and vise versa, but if in fact we could learn how to respect one another maybe we could, in some ways, save each other.
Work Cited:
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. Jenny. 1856. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. Fourth Edition. Vol. 2B. New York: Longman, 2010. 1623-32. Print.
Astell, Mary. Some Reflections upon Marriage. 1675. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. Fourth Edition. Vol. 1C. New York: Longman 2010. 2284-93. Print.
Yildirim, Aşkın Haluk. “The Woman Question And The Victorian Literature On Gender.” Ekev Academic Review 16.52 (2012): 45-54. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. (MLA SOURCE)
Erbland, Kate. “The True Story of Pretty Woman’s Original Dark Ending.” Vanity Fair. n.p. 23 March 2015. Web. 4 December 2015.
O’Brien, Sara Ashley. “78 Cents on the Dollar: the Facts about the Gender Wage Gap.” CNN Money. n.p. 14 April 2015. Web. 5 December 2015.
Pretty Woman. J. F. Lawton. Perf. Julia Roberts. Richard Gere. Touchstone, 1990. DVD.
“Richard Gere GIF.” GIPHY. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2015. Gif.
“Julia Roberts GIF.” GIPHY. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2015. Gif.
This was a very well thought out post and I found it very interesting. You did a great job comparing these two pieces while still giving your ultimate analysis that women are succumbed to a social stigma especially when social status is taken into consideration. I thought it was interesting that you mentioned Vivian thinking “she did not deserve any better” because people always put her down. I find this to be very thought provoking because when talking to many women in bad situations whether it be prostitution or even a bad/abusive relationship those are often the words they speak. This should open societies eyes to the realization that if we showed more equality between the sexes and even more respect towards different socioeconomic classes, we might be able to get rid of that idea: “didn’t deserve any better.” Great comparison and analysis. I really enjoyed reading your post.
I found the statement “This idea of the “fallen women” who needs to be saved in order to be welcomed back into society, is very much a stigma from the past which should be learned from and improved upon” compelling. It captures the idea that a fallen women has to be saved regardless of whether she wants that salvation or not. Second, it’s interesting that salvation has to come–from men or otherwise–before social reintegration can occur.
This post reminds me of some analyses of old Westerns and the movie Taxi Driver: the desire of the man to save the woman could exist in his fear that she may enjoy her life in the culture he disapproves of. Similarly both of these men want to “save” these girls from their fates. I agree with you, that Edward has good intentions while the speaker in “Jenny” does not. His intentions are really interesting, that he’s paying her money to spend the night with her just so he can feel like a good person. It’s like how people buy products connected to charities so that they “double up” with two products: feeling good and the literal product, e.g. Tom’s, Starbucks.
You honestly chose the perfect work to compare to “Jenny”; I remember thinking of Pretty Woman when reading it for the first time. Your comparison is very well thought out and thoroughly explained, and I absolutely love the way you use the differences of these two works to connect back to ideas about feminism in today’s society. I particularly love your line, “…the very men who condemn these women for sleeping around…are the same men who keep them in business.” This PERFECTLY exemplifies the double standards women struggle with daily, being constantly shamed and harshly judged for using their bodies in a way society disapproves of; and yet when men exhibit the same sorts of behaviors, they are ignored at best, and outright praised for it at worst. Your commentary on the concept of the “fallen woman” is really interesting too, and I think you did an excellent job tying together the endings of the two works to further your point. Really great work!
I enjoyed your comparison of “Jenny” to Pretty Woman and how you captured the social stigma of the fallen woman using the Victorian time period against modern day. Its unbelievable to see how far society has come since then and yet women are still suffering from man’s double standard. I liked your last thought that women don’t need to be saved by men, but if we let each other we can save each other. It reminds me of Mary Wollstencraft’s idea of marriage and that it should be build on a foundation of mutual respect. She argues that this version of love was stronger than romantic love because it doesn’t fade as fast. Julia Robert’s line ” She rescues him right back” perfectly describes the mutual relationship a man and women should have, unlike Jenny’s lover who believes himself to entitled to her body and looks down on her for her low social position and gender.
To say that we can gain details about Jenny’s past through the details given in the story is almost contradictory to the idea that men THOUGHT that they were superior to women in the 19th century. Since the narrator was a pompous being who thought he could gleam an idea of what Jenny and her past were like, saying that we can gleam the same information from observing a sleeping woman puts us on the level of the narrator. I believe that this was the intention of the author. He wanted us to step into his repulsive narrator’s shoes. So maybe we should avoid this and be more sympathetic towards Jenny WITHOUT making assumptions. Remember, to assume makes an “ass” out of “me” and “you!” Haha.
As far as your entire paper goes, I LOVE IT. Fantastic comparison. As Witherwings22 said, you chose the perfect work to compare with, and I have nothing more to add.
Just keep in mind that even a positive judgment or assumption on Jenny and her economic, physical, and mental state is exactly what the author wanted, and it makes us fall into the theme of human critique, specifically that of women prevalent in the 19th century.
Rachel Bevill
I agree that there is still a double standard, and I love that you chose to exemplify the double standard through a comparison between “Jenny” and Pretty Woman. When I first read Jenny I thought more highly of the narrator than I do after reading your blog. I viewed the narrator as a nice guy, but you point out that the seemingly nice guy is also the one who keeps prostitutes like Jenny in business. Men, especially during the Victorian era, are able to “get away with” sleeping with multiple women, but women are immediately deemed prostitutes if they sleep around.
Sara, you should look at the blog I wrote about the Visions of the Daughters of Albion if you would like to further explore “slut-shaming.” I wrote a similar blog that I think you may be interested in!
Your post was a breath of fresh air! Comparing Pretty Woman and Jenny was really interesting. Your analysis in comparing the two was great and it made me realize a lot of things in the movie that I never would have thought of. Your introduction was intriguing and it really pulled me in to your analysis. My favorite line was at the very end “if in fact we could learn how to respect one another maybe we could, save each other” I thought that was a satisfying way to end your post.
This was a very creative and refreshing take on the trope of the fallen woman, especially in using this particular film to do a compare and contrast critique. The trope of the fallen woman is such an old and prevalent one in literature – like Eve’s fall from God’s grace – that it makes sense that it has also found its way into modern media.
It’s interesting that you mentioned how a fallen woman’s salvation and acceptance back into society is only possible if done through a man, yet society barely holds any condemnation towards these men who are also participators and aren’t so moral themselves. As Edward Lewis said, “You and I are such similar creatures, Vivian. We both screw people for money”. I’m just glad Jenny and Vivian didn’t die! I was expecting Jenny to die when I first read this poem actually. Usually the trope of the fallen woman ends with her death, with her death absolving her from her “sins”.
I think it was a very good choice to compare these two pieces. I thought of this movie when I read Jenny, as well. I see a lot of similarities between the politics and atmosphere of Victorian London an modern society, but I was struck more by the message of the dichotomy between the wealthy and the poor of the time.
For me, Jenny and the narrator symbolize the hypocrisy of the attitude of the wealthy about the poor of the time. The narrator sees himself as a benevolent hero to Jenny, giving her the gift of a “safe” place to rest without the necessity of sex. He thinks Jenny should be grateful to him because of this perceived kindness. The fact that he never asks Jenny what she thinks or tries to find out how to help her in any meaningful way mirrors how the upper class took their pleasure and comfort from the labors of the poor working classes and hid their faces from the condition their desires left those classes in.
Like the narrator of the poem, the upper class never gave a thought to their own guilt in participating in the scenario. If they took notice of the condition of the poor, they assumed it was because of a lack of moral fortitude that they were in that condition, and if they felt any pity, it didn’t stir them to act to change it. Like the narrator, they simply paid the fee and left them where they were.
What a unique post! I really enjoyed your comparison between Pretty Woman and Jenny. This is so weird, too, because I just watched Pretty Woman for the first time yesterday, so, funny how things work out. I’ve always been interested in the idea of the “fallen woman” because it’s just so preposterous to me. That women are seen as something that needs to be saved and if they can’t be saved, then might as well forget about them or call them by some awful names. I think it is important that men are also perpetuating these ideas of the “fallen woman” especially through slut shaming. These ideas are definitely still prevalent today. Overall, good post!
LOVE this comparison. It really shows how backwards modern society can be when you can compare a piece of work written so long ago to a movie that could be considered a “rom com” and a movie beloved by many because of the romantic aspect. The Lawton quote of “how do we save her” perpetuates the idea that a fallen woman must be saved in order to have value, regardless of how she feels about it. Very good comparison and it puts the Jenny into a modern perspective that I had not thought of previously.