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Victorians Uncovered was a three-part series, which lifted the skirts of 19th century respectability to reveal the naked truth beneath. Moral purity may have been the norm in public but sex was a powerful force behind the closed doors of brothels and respectable bedrooms alike as well as in art and secret literature. Upper class men had the freedom to express their sexuality but such behaviour meant ruin for women. As a result, exploitation was rife: working class girls as young as 13 were sold into prostitution and husbands had absolute power over their wives. And while men were expected to have affairs, the slightest hint of scandal that a woman had a sexual relationship outside marriage could mean being outcast for the rest of her life.
Roy HattersleyWilliam Stead, unscrupulous journalist or moral crusader?
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