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Women in Culture and Society
City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London
From tabloid exposes of child prostitution to the grisly tales of Jack the Ripper, narratives of sexual danger pulsated through Victorian London. Expertly blending social history and cultural criticism, Judith Walkowitz shows how these narratives reveal the complex dramas of power, politics, and sexuality that were being played out in late nineteenth-century Britain, and how they influenced the language of politics, journalism, and fiction.
Victorian London was a world where long-standing traditions of class and gender were challenged by a range of public spectacles, mass media scandals, new commercial spaces, and a proliferation of new sexual categories and identities. In the midst of this changing culture, women of many classes challenged the traditional privileges of elite males and
asserted their presence in the public domain.
An important catalyst in this conflict, argues Walkowitz, was W. T. Stead's widely read 1885 article about child prostitution. Capitalizing on the uproar caused by the piece and the volatile political climate of the time, women spoke of sexual danger, articulating their own grievances against men, inserting themselves into the public discussion of sex to an unprecedented extent, and gaining new entree to public spaces and journalistic practices. The ultimate manifestation of class anxiety and gender antagonism came in 1888 with the tabloid tales of Jack the Ripper. In between, there were quotidien stories of sexual possibility and urban adventure, and Walkowitz examines them all, showing how women were not simply figures in the imaginary landscape of male spectators, but also central actors in the stories of metropolotin life that reverberated in courtrooms, learned journals, drawing rooms, street corners, and in the letters columns of the daily press.
A model of cultural history, this ambitious book will stimulate and enlighten readers across a broad range of interests.
Victorian London was a world where long-standing traditions of class and gender were challenged by a range of public spectacles, mass media scandals, new commercial spaces, and a proliferation of new sexual categories and identities. In the midst of this changing culture, women of many classes challenged the traditional privileges of elite males and
asserted their presence in the public domain.
An important catalyst in this conflict, argues Walkowitz, was W. T. Stead's widely read 1885 article about child prostitution. Capitalizing on the uproar caused by the piece and the volatile political climate of the time, women spoke of sexual danger, articulating their own grievances against men, inserting themselves into the public discussion of sex to an unprecedented extent, and gaining new entree to public spaces and journalistic practices. The ultimate manifestation of class anxiety and gender antagonism came in 1888 with the tabloid tales of Jack the Ripper. In between, there were quotidien stories of sexual possibility and urban adventure, and Walkowitz examines them all, showing how women were not simply figures in the imaginary landscape of male spectators, but also central actors in the stories of metropolotin life that reverberated in courtrooms, learned journals, drawing rooms, street corners, and in the letters columns of the daily press.
A model of cultural history, this ambitious book will stimulate and enlighten readers across a broad range of interests.
368 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 1992
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1528 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 17, 2015
London, James Thomson's "City of Dreadful Night" --
The West End -- a fantasia of fashionable consumers patronizing delightful emporia, brightly-illuminated theaters, and extravagant dining establishments. The East End -- docks, convoluted slums, crime, and "babbling" foreigners. At the end of the 19th century the gulf was widening. Map and metaphor.
In this study Walkowitz focuses on those who bridged -- or transgressed -- the boundaries between the two worlds: voyeurs and anthropologists (sometimes one and the same), slumming nobs and ragging undergraduates, the charitable and those who took advantage of the immoral opportunities offered by the desperation of the poor, the "privileged gaze" of men whose fantasies constructed the identity of the Other.
The desire to transgress boundaries was perhaps all the more intense because the taboos of the day were so strong and binaries so entrenched: male/female, rich/poor, English/foreign, respectable/not. These norms might be questioned by music-hall transvestism or bluestocking discussion at the Men's and Women's Club, but more active attacks were perceived as dangerous sources of disease and death.
Of course sex comes up quite a lot in this book; its the Victorians, they worried a lot about sex. Even talked about it a lot, contrary to popular opinion, although generally in more oblique language (at least for public consumption; diaries and private conversation and letters were another matter). Walkowitz is very interested in the various discourses and attitudes relating to sexuality, marriage, prostitution, identity, urban space, power, philanthropy, and spiritualism. The new entry of respectable women into the hitherto masculine public sphere was a major factor in connecting these themes.
A remark about the cover: the superficially respectable woman depicted is in fact Mary Kelly, a prostitute notoriously killed by Jack the Ripper. Her portrait and story were widely circulated.
Walkowitz uses fiction, reportage (sensational and serious), and serious sources such as surveys and studies interchangeably. She also appends a thoughtful chapter on the 1980s "Yorkshire Ripper" case.
topics for further reading: Olive Schriener, Karl Pearson, Jack the Ripper, Contagious Diseases Acts, Toynbee Hall, WT Stead, Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, Georgina Weldon, Charles Booth
The City is of Night, but not of Sleep;
There sweet sleep is not for the weary brain;
The pitiless hours like years and ages creep,
A night seems termless hell. This dreadful strain
Of thought and consciousness which never ceases,
Or which some moments' stupor but increases,
This, worse than woe, makes wretches there insane.
They leave all hope behind who enter there:
One certitude while sane they cannot leave,
One anodyne for torture and despair;
The certitude of Death, which no reprieve
Can put off long; and which, divinely tender,
But waits the outstretched hand to promptly render
That draught whose slumber nothing can bereave.
The West End -- a fantasia of fashionable consumers patronizing delightful emporia, brightly-illuminated theaters, and extravagant dining establishments. The East End -- docks, convoluted slums, crime, and "babbling" foreigners. At the end of the 19th century the gulf was widening. Map and metaphor.
In this study Walkowitz focuses on those who bridged -- or transgressed -- the boundaries between the two worlds: voyeurs and anthropologists (sometimes one and the same), slumming nobs and ragging undergraduates, the charitable and those who took advantage of the immoral opportunities offered by the desperation of the poor, the "privileged gaze" of men whose fantasies constructed the identity of the Other.
The desire to transgress boundaries was perhaps all the more intense because the taboos of the day were so strong and binaries so entrenched: male/female, rich/poor, English/foreign, respectable/not. These norms might be questioned by music-hall transvestism or bluestocking discussion at the Men's and Women's Club, but more active attacks were perceived as dangerous sources of disease and death.
Of course sex comes up quite a lot in this book; its the Victorians, they worried a lot about sex. Even talked about it a lot, contrary to popular opinion, although generally in more oblique language (at least for public consumption; diaries and private conversation and letters were another matter). Walkowitz is very interested in the various discourses and attitudes relating to sexuality, marriage, prostitution, identity, urban space, power, philanthropy, and spiritualism. The new entry of respectable women into the hitherto masculine public sphere was a major factor in connecting these themes.
A remark about the cover: the superficially respectable woman depicted is in fact Mary Kelly, a prostitute notoriously killed by Jack the Ripper. Her portrait and story were widely circulated.
Walkowitz uses fiction, reportage (sensational and serious), and serious sources such as surveys and studies interchangeably. She also appends a thoughtful chapter on the 1980s "Yorkshire Ripper" case.
topics for further reading: Olive Schriener, Karl Pearson, Jack the Ripper, Contagious Diseases Acts, Toynbee Hall, WT Stead, Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, Georgina Weldon, Charles Booth
January 23, 2014
I'd say 2/3 of this book is quotes. And not whole sentences, but words. Lonely words. "Like" this. Even "the" Jack the Ripper chapter was "boring", "and" hard to "get through". Now "imagine" 250 "pages" of this "type of writing" with often no idea who the qoutes are from, and you'd get bored too.
However, one thing was extremely interesting. Even in victorian days, when the women were dressed literally (!!) from head to toe, it was their fault that they were murdered and possibly raped on the streets. Because of their clothes. The men's opinion were that they wore their dresses so tight and with their extendable buttocks to deliberetly excite the men and therefore should not be insulted when approached by strangers on the street.
However, one thing was extremely interesting. Even in victorian days, when the women were dressed literally (!!) from head to toe, it was their fault that they were murdered and possibly raped on the streets. Because of their clothes. The men's opinion were that they wore their dresses so tight and with their extendable buttocks to deliberetly excite the men and therefore should not be insulted when approached by strangers on the street.
January 23, 2025
4.25! Really well researched and well written book. Walkowitz does a nice job making broad theoretical claims about city life in the Victorian period and backs it up with a nice collection of evidence that is both broad in scope and specific in cultural development!! Highlights are the Maiden Tribute of New Babylon and every. single. mention. of the Glorified Spinster
April 21, 2018
Walkowitz argues that when Jack the Ripper began his killing spree, the media and the public interpreted the case in the light of longstanding debates about women's role in London, fallen women, the working-class poor and the risk of violence to women who transgressed their chosen place. For anyone interested in women's lives in Victorian Britain, this is really informative, showing how they functioned (often against opposition) as philanthropists, charity workers and intellectuals in a male-dominated public sphere. The Ripper stuff is more familiar to me, though she does show how the killings could neatly be tied into existing perceptions about Jews, scientists, men and women. Very dry (it's a university press) but worth the reading.
November 11, 2018
A look at the ways late-Victorian media shaped social crusades and visions of social (meaning sexual and cultural) danger in 1880s London Town. The book takes the Jack the Ripper murders as the center of Walkowitz's tale, and discusses the way the middle-class press used the killings to polish and shape their own political agendas regarding the poor (hapless, helpless, dangerous, misguided) and the rich (predatory, depraved, enviable)...and of course to titillate potential subscribers into following along with the moral crusades the newspapers had embraced. Fascinating book, and one I assigned to a couple of freshman History classes back in the day.
July 22, 2007
One of the few books that has made it through all of my moves. Walkowitz effortlessly weaves tales of not just sexual danger, but also, and perhaps more significantly, anecdotes of the palpable tension between the classes, most notably during the months when Jack the Ripper terrorized the city. The book, from chapter to chapter, in essence tells the story of western male chauvinism that was prevalent not just in London, but she tells it from the point of view not of the gazer or flaneur, but rather of the object. Insightful and successful at capturing the ethos of the era.
May 23, 2017
This book is a MASTERWORK in cultural and gender history. Combines incredibly dynamic and fluid writing, meticulous, thorough detail of archival research, and broad-scope interests and awareness. Not only a wonderful study of Jack the Ripper and the social and cultural pressures that made that figure possible, but also of the creation of the modern news media and normative as well as radical social groups that interweave throughout those other stories. CANNOT RECOMMEND HIGHLY ENOUGH FOR VICTORIAN HISTORIANS, literary scholars, lay nerds, and just about anyone who gets their hands on it.
January 7, 2015
So I read this for my Jack the Ripper class. An excellent resource, and a lovely read for the feminist historian. Really gives an excellent view of gender relations in Late-Victorian London, gives overviews on the prominent figures of the time and the prominent issues, such as the Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon, W.T. Stead, the Men and Women's Club, etc. Not something I'd read for fun, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
December 1, 2015
Fascinating from beginning to end. Not only was the narrative easy to grasp, it also gave me a better understanding of that horrid Michel Foucault and his almost senseless theories. Don't judge me. It was my first time studying his work.
October 9, 2019
This was a required reading for a graduate level history course on women and modern European history. I did not like this book at all. Very hard to comprehend. Had some good information but the use of quotation marks and parenthesis in every other sentence was just annoying and interrupted the flow.
Read
October 9, 2022I have a few quibbles here and there, but Walkowitz is a fabulous storyteller (and I always know I'm going to enjoy a history book when it opens by invoking Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James); this was a very fun read!
March 23, 2021
fascinating tho sometimes makes u feel like a voyuer
March 30, 2022
excellent points about gender relations, sexual violence, class, etc
Want to read
August 30, 2024___________________________________
FROM BOOK: Vendere e comprare sesso (Giulia Garofalo Geymonat)
FROM BOOK: Vendere e comprare sesso (Giulia Garofalo Geymonat)
February 23, 2017
In an era known for its virtuous veneer, it's nice to uncover the scandalously seedy dark side.
January 19, 2023
Excellent content, turgid style.
Once upon a time, scholars wrote with literary flair, humor even. Alfred Cobban, for example, wrote beautifully and could make me laugh out loud (really) with a scholarly irony.
Not Professor Walkowitz, unfortunately. This is writing that seems to be prisoner to the most ferocious of Victorian corsets, inflexible and no fun at all.
But none of that can gainsay her originality and engagement, I'd call this historical sociology, offering a compelling picture of how people behaved and, importantly, the ways in which their behavior changed, and the psychological and social mechanics of that change.
So an incredibly valuable book, can't fault the scholarship or academic interest . . . its just that for a subject that should be so much fun, this one isn't
Once upon a time, scholars wrote with literary flair, humor even. Alfred Cobban, for example, wrote beautifully and could make me laugh out loud (really) with a scholarly irony.
Not Professor Walkowitz, unfortunately. This is writing that seems to be prisoner to the most ferocious of Victorian corsets, inflexible and no fun at all.
But none of that can gainsay her originality and engagement, I'd call this historical sociology, offering a compelling picture of how people behaved and, importantly, the ways in which their behavior changed, and the psychological and social mechanics of that change.
So an incredibly valuable book, can't fault the scholarship or academic interest . . . its just that for a subject that should be so much fun, this one isn't
February 6, 2012
I read this for a History of Sexuality course in my graduate program 10 years ago. I remember it being pretty interesting, but I'm a bit hazy on the details. If you're interested in women's history and issues of sexuality, it's a good read.
June 2, 2014
Tried to make more of the modern feminist viewpoint than the historical trajectories it purported to discuss - and consequently achieved neither to any great degree. Occasional worthwhile facts but less frequent discursive excellence, in my opinion.
November 25, 2016
Given the title, I expected more of a pot boiler, but instead found an extensive academic dissertation. A woman's domestic role leaves little freedom within a male power structure. Her options are limited, and her very being is at risk in every arena inside the home and without.
April 25, 2007
I thought a book about Jack the Ripper would be more interesting . . . but maybe I just don't like the linguistic turn . . .
April 12, 2008
I liked all the details in this book. The structure of the book was a bit odd, but I think it makes sense after it's completely read.
December 14, 2008
Another academic history that is quite appealing to a general audience.
September 1, 2011
Aside from the fact that this kind of book is entirely not my cup of tea, CoDD presents a thorough and clear narrative.
December 4, 2013
The first two chapters aren't bad, but the book goes downhill from there.
January 3, 2014
JRW is, well, JRW. Brilliant, a beautiful wordsmith, and a cultural theorist par excellence. It doesn't get better than this.
June 26, 2014
Read it for a university course; a bit of a slog and not really that compelling subject matter (to me). Would recommend to academics in the field only.
Read
December 27, 2016A considerable focus upon W. T. Stead's campaigns against white slavery, and the Ripper murders.
June 9, 2025
Read for a course, this book was so freaking boring. I got nothing from it. I found the spark notes though, and it seems like it has interesting content
January 11, 2008
One of the best books I was assigned to read in grad school.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews