Obviously, Bridgerton is not going for total historical accuracy. For Daphne, however, merely being alone with a man who is not family could ruin not only her prospects, but the prospects of her sisters, as we see happens with the unmarried Bridgerton girls when Marina’s pre-marital pregnancy is made public. Anthony carries on a sexual affair with Sienna and, though he doesn’t particularly what his family to find out, it would not ruin him. In Bridgerton, we see a stark difference between what is socially acceptable for Anthony vs. “Mothers might have given some premarital counsel to daughters, but although it almost certainly wasn’t actually ‘Close your eyes and think of England’ it may not have been much more illuminating.”Īnd, as with today, most freedoms in Georgian-era England benefitted the white, heterosexual, rich men first, most, and sometimes to the exclusion of all others. Hall, a historian of gender and sexuality, told the Tribune. “There would have been nothing in the way of formal sex education,” Lesley A. That said, Marina presumably had little education or knowledge about birth control and, as we see later in the season, does not have the necessary knowledge (or access to resources) to effectively terminate her pregnancy. Presumably, that is partially because she has already had an affair and become pregnant before she even comes to London, but it is also because her slightly lower class (and childhood on a family farm) has not meant the same degree of social shielding as Daphne. In Bridgerton, this kind of difference is depicted in instances like Marina knowing much more about sex and pregnancy than Daphne does before marriage. England circa 1813 had its own share of socially-constructed ignorances and, as with today, one’s access to sexual education varied based on things like gender, class, and location.
BRIDGERTON SIMON DAPHNE CHILD FREE
That being said, just because society is free for some, doesn’t mean it is free for all.
We get celebrity courtesans and mistresses.”
“Extramarital sex is no longer illegal, most adult consensual sex is within the law, there’s a very open culture of prostitution in London. “We know that Regency society is a very bawdy society, generally,” Bridgerton historical consultant Hannah Grieg told the Chicago Tribune. By 1800, almost 40% of brides getting married were already pregnant, and about 25% of first-born children were born out of wedlock. As historian Faramerz Dabhoiwala puts it in his book Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution ( via The American Conservative), the 18th century urbanization of England (by 1800, more than one million people lived in London) led to “more opportunities for sexual adventure,” and an increase in pre-marital and extramarital sex. While many think of old-time England as a repressive place, that stereotype comes more from the Victorian era, which followed the Georgian era when Bridgerton is set, and was notoriously repressive when it came to matters of sexuality and “morality.” The Georgian era was (generally) less conservative. The first season of Bridgerton is set in early 19th century London, which falls during the Regency sub-period of the Georgian era.
(Bet you’re feeling pretty lucky to have Google right about now.) Is this level of ignorance historically accurate? Let’s dive into the real history of sex education in Regency-era England to find out.
Unfortunately, the closest they get to answering it is: women get pregnant because of love, which is not very helpful. Later, Simon keeps the details of his “inability” to have children from his new wife much longer than he could have if Daphne had a better understanding of procreation.Įlsewhere on the show, Penelope Featherington and Eloise Bridgerton put their considerable minds to the task of finding out how babies are made so they can avoid getting pregnant before marriage-a valid question and concern for women of any era. In the first season of the delightful romance drama, Daphne has to find out about masturbation from Simon and heads into her wedding night knowing next to nothing about what might happen between two adults in lust, aside from the fact that it has something to do with the act of having children. If you think our sex education could be better today ( which you should), then Bridgerton‘s depiction of Daphne’s pre-marital lack of knowledge around sex may astound you. This Bridgerton article contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 1, including the ending.
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