The Politics of Respectability

The notorious double standard for sexual morality was alive and well in 16th- and 17th- century England. But the difference between male and female standards of honor has been exaggerated, argues Capp, a historian at the University of Warwick, England. Among the respectable middling classes and the "honest poor," a man's moral reputation was important--and the proof lies in the moral and legal leverage women exercised in various situations.

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