Did the Industrial Revolution Lead to a Sexual Revolution - Essay Example

Did the Industrial Revolution Lead to a Sexual Revolution? of Industrial revolution refers to a movement that marked a major turning point in the history of the human race. This new development that lasted through the 18th century and partly in the 19th century impacted almost every aspect of people lives. One area that realized the full impact of this movement is the traditional work setup. It is said that with the coming of industrialization, people moved from the domestic servitude which was characterized by confinement within homes, churches and communities, to take up new job in towns and cities. Following such movements, the traditional family cultures underwent drastic changes a factor that resulted to new forms of lifestyles. Such is the case that women who at one point served exclusively in their homestead found themselves competing with men for work in the industries, thanks to economic and social pressures of the moment, leading to “women emancipation”. With the growth of women demand for equal rights and equality with men, a new trend brought about the rise in illegitimacy rates. This work offers a detailed study seeking to uncover whether the industrial revolution lead to a sexual revolution. To start off this argument it is important to note that never before in the world’s history was there a greater demand for manual labor like it was in the industrial revolution era. During this period, the world reflected a male dominated society in which males worked in thousands of industries while women remained at home to accomplish house chores and tend their children. Progress in the industrial revolution during this period meant a greater demand for more workers. Families that once depended on farm produce saw the opportunity fend for their living by seeking employment in these factories. Soon, these families flocked the towns and cities to undertake factory jobs that were often dangerous and little playing. As time went by and the families grew, the weekly wages could not meet the needs of these families, thanks to the many children who were born. With the new development taking shape, factory and mill owners soon realized the potential for cheap labor that would come through employment of women and children in their millions. As time progressed women got employment in the factory and worked alongside men, a factor that contributed to women demanding equal rights in the working place, and later at home. In this work, we present two sides of the same issue with the first supporting the idea that indeed industrial revolution led to the sexual revolution during the second presents a different idea. Edward shorter, a renowned historian, presents a good argument to support this idea. According to his work industrial revolution altered the cultural set up of both male and females. He goes ahead to establish the fact that this period released an increase of births to the unmarried women following the sexual emancipation of females that resulted from industrialism. Here, Edward hints that female attitudes changed as they took on new industrial jobs, working in far places where they could exercise their rights to sexual intercose without any fear. He goes further to suggest this change as the main reason for the rise in illegitimacy rates. Another case is build on the basis of “escaping from the old residence.” Industrial revolution offered women new jobs that in turn allowed women to explore their sexual freedom far from their husbands or even fathers who were then considered far more powerful figures. Such is the case social ideology had placed women as subordinate figures whose only duty was to obey male commands. Parental intervention in the “mating market” of the young people has also been blamed for the sexual revolution since it worked to replace the young people’s need to find love on their own. According to this view, parental intrusion resulted in increased interest in sexual intercose. It is thus believed that female subordination and the need to fulfill the urges for sexual satisfaction caused females to rise up against the social restrictions in order to accommodate their new lifestyle, thanks to the industrialism economic independence. Rudolf Braun description of females in the industrial revolution era further supports this vie by referring to women as being “bound to the machine and the factory since earliest childhood, in adequate learned the art of cooking and homemaking”. This statement implies women prioritized their lives in a different way; running away from the traditional personal styles to find jobs in town and in the long run changed from the old manners to sexual emancipation. Female emancipation that grew during the industrial revolution period has also been linked to the development of the capitalism culture. Here, capitalism is associated with the market that established the “proletarian subculture”. This subculture carries the bigger blame of supporting premarital sex through the creation of a value based on competitiveness and individual self-interest learned in the market and soon propagated to other areas of life. The impacts of the new subculture came to be appreciated later when sex before marriage became a fashion, thanks to the new generation that felt their mannerism was socially appreciated at least by their equals. Based on this mind set women within the subculture began experimenting on different lifestyles that were influenced by market values. To better explain the argument that support this idea, let us consider an autobiography presented by one Ellen Johnston that illustrate how factory work saw her raise her child outside marriage. Ellen Johnson was born in 1830s in Glasgow and began working in one of the cotton factories in the city when she was only 11 years. The story continues with how she was sexually active during her teenage life and even ended up expecting an illegitimate child. What is surprising is the fact that her untimely pregnancy meant no big deal, and she did not even pursue marriage. On the contrary, she delightfully embraced the idea of single mother hood, cared for her unborn child till the time of birth. Following her childs birth, she returned to the factory and moved on with life depending on the wage earned from her work in the factory. This trend became so common by mid 19 century, a factor that influenced her letter life. It is said that with a small wage that could comfortably care for her child and mother, Helen did not see any need for a male husband and simply made choices that she deemed pleasing by her, a move that never existed in the previous century. The second part of the argument equally provides a strong argument to disapprove the ideas presented in the first argument. Here, it is suggested that unmarried women search for employment opportunity had nothing to do with trying to find sexual gratification, but instead it sought to offer them economic tranquility. According to this argument, the rise illegitimacy realized during this period can be attributed to men who failed to fulfill their marriage promises and also the community church and family that remained unsupportive. To support this point Tilly , scott and Cohen argument has it that , “ Unmarried women worked to meet an economic need, not gain personal freedom , and they attribute the rise in illegitimacy rate to dysfunctional marriages that ensured from unfulfilled promises and lack of traditional support from the family , community and the church” (Joseph , 2006, p.2) A further argument against addresses the issue of female emancipation purported to have led to women pursuing interests in work positions. Based on this argument, women only worked for economic needs. Ivy pinchbeck, a representative of the women workers states “Financial needs often compelled their women folk to take advantage of the better wages offered” (Edward, 1969, pg. 187) this argument supports that presented by Tilly’s, Scott and Cohen. A case study referring to women in Italy, and France provides information that clearly nullifies the idea of women seeking freedom from their traditional work. In this case, women lived in factory houses that were under strict nun’s surveillance (Joseph 2010, p.14). The nuns were placed here to regulate their social lives and behavior. Another argument against the idea of women seeking freedom has it those women wages were always lower and in most cases could not support their needs, and thus there was no reason for suggesting the former would thing of living in independence. Again using the issue of wages earned by females it would not make any sense to assert it as an indirect cause of the rising illegitimacy. It is logical to think that young working girls saw the need to find mates as their wages were low and in most cases unstable. According to one study “,the logical move for a single girl far from her family would be to find a husband with whom she might reestablish economy” (Frader, 2006. P.17). Having said this it is now clear that young girls never enjoyed the low paying jobs and thus desperately needed the financial support of another person. Still surrounding the job issue, men are said to aggressively pursue better job opportunities presented even in cases where it compromised their family well being, a factor that better explains the idea of men breaking their marriage promise( it should be noted that many jobs were unreliable) Touching on the women search of self-interest, change of traditional mannerism, attitude change and parental intervention, there is evidence that such development never meant provocation of the urge for sexual fulfillment in women. As stated earlier, female labor was purely for economic gain and not sexual fulfilling need to stay away from domestic servitude restrain. It is, in fact, argued that the majority of the female populace were not employed in the factory during this period. According to Tilly, Scott and Cohen female employment in factories only started in the later years of 19th century. Here, rise in the legitimacy rate rise is attributed to the process of finding a mate that followed the search of a suitable male person to function as a reliable source of financial income, insurance of shelter, and source of offspring. Lastly, there is a strong argument against the theory of “value transfer “said to have affected individuals by influencing the market. According to Ivy pinchbeck, this never happened during this period. From the presentation in the first argument, it is said “the value of …..Competitiveness that people learned in the market were soon transferred to other areas of life” (Joseph 2006, p.8). Pinchbeck provides that strong, hardworking women were always paid alittle higher than inferior and slower workers working for the same farmer. Pinchbeck goes on to say “the same applied in task strength and skill where people were still given higher pay.” Based on this argument it is clear that in both agrarian and industrial revolution women were paid based on their individual effort and since agriculture formed the basis for labor, women maintained the same ideals of competition inherent to their work ethics. Having presented this argument it is now obvious value transfer would never have occurred during the industrial revolution owing to the idea that alteration or revision of the agrarian revolution was not the focus of market value of competitiveness. Conclusion It is true based on historical data that cases of illegitimate children went up in the period marking industrial revolution. The biggest concern surrounding this happening is the question as to whether this period realized changes in women habits thus leading to “sexual revolution”. Two sides are presented with regard to the view for and against the idea. On one side, it has been argued “a change in the times led to an increase in the illegitimate rate (Frader, 2006. P.12).” The other side has it that women did not seek independence from old setting, but instead the pressure of the moment forced them to seek employment. Works Cited 1."Did the Industrial Revolution Lead to Sexual Revolution -... - History Activities." Enotes.com. Accessed November 4, 2014. 2."Download." 6 Taking Sides Did the Industrial Revolution Lead to A Sexual Revolution.pdf from Sendspace.com. Accessed November 4, 2014. 3.Frader, Laura. Women in the Western European Industrial Economy. In Becoming Visible: Women in European History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 4. Mitchell, Joseph R. Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World History. Fourth ed. 5.Mitchell, Joseph R. Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World History. 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill Contemporary Learning Series, 2006. 6."Sex and the Industrial Revolution." Accessed November 4, 2014. 7.Shorter, Edward. The Making of the Modern Family. New York:: Basic Books, 1987. Read More