Denise Noeby Denise Noe
First published in Winter, 2013, Volume 8, Issue 1, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies.
The late 1960s and early 1970s witnessed the emergence of several movements for changes in the treatment of women and an expansion of their opportunities and roles. Those movements were extraordinarily diverse. Part of it was sometimes called “women’s liberation,” often shortened to “women’s lib.” Today these movements are likely to be referred to as one sort or another of “feminism.”
These movements inevitably led to counter-movements calling for the retention and even strengthening of traditional sex roles. One of the most popular of the traditionalist movements was, and remains, that of Fascinating Womanhood. The book Fascinating Womanhood, by the late Helen Andelin, was first published in 1963. It spawned programs of classes teaching its principles to women. Those classes continue to flourish up to the present time in the United States and many other countries.
The Fascinating Girl was first published in 1970. While FW was oriented primarily to adult married women, FG targeted single young women. Both books taught the same traditionalist sex role principles, according to which, married women should be homemakers and their husbands breadwinners. Additionally, Andelin believed a woman should strive to become an “ideal woman” from a specifically “man’s point of view.”
In illustrating what constitutes the ideal woman as men see her, Andelin drew examples from both real life and literature. Although Andelin was—suitably for her beliefs—a home economics major in college, her books show that she was widely read and particularly well-versed in classic literature. Her literary examples range from works as ancient as the Bible to those contemporary with her own life in the twentieth century, such as the novels of Taylor Caldwell.
However, a disproportionate number of her examples came from the Victorian period, usually defined as stretching from 1837 to 1901, the sixty-four years in which Queen Victoria reigned over Great Britain.
Andelin’s critics might use this Victorian emphasis to attack her views as woefully outdated. However, it is also possible to see her reliance on Victorian works as indicating the special literary and artistic richness of that era.
The Ideal Woman from a Man’s Point of View
Andelin believes it is important to realize that women often value qualities in other women that are strikingly different from those men value in women. She writes, “Women are inclined to appreciate poise, talent, intellectual gifts, and cleverness of personality, whereas men admire girlishness, tenderness, sweetness of character, vivacity, and her ability to understand men.”
FW teaches that the Ideal Woman from a man’s viewpoint consists of an equal number of “angelic” and “human” qualities. She defines the angelic qualities as understanding men, possessing inner happiness, having a worthy character, and being skilled and conscientious as a “domestic goddess.” She elaborates that these qualities “awaken a feeling near worship” in men toward the women who have them. She believes that men should put women on a pedestal, seeing the female as morally superior to the male.
Domestic skills are vital for the husband-breadwinner, wife-homemaker lifestyle Andelin champions. She points out that men’s jobs may often be stressful so it is vital to their ability to relax and rejuvenate that they come home to a clean and tidy house, preferably entering the home to smell the aroma of a savory, freshly cooked meal and to find a wife who looks pretty and well-kempt.
The human qualities are defined as femininity, radiant happiness, radiant health, and childlikeness. These are the attributes that fascinate and amuse men as well as awakening male protectiveness. She believes men feel necessary as protectors and providers if women are dependent and that they feel secure as leaders when women are submissive.
It should be noted once again that Andelin’s emphasis on attributes such as dependency and submissiveness grate on many observers—not all of them people who would give themselves “feminist” as a label.
David Copperfield’s Female Loves and FW Attributes
In describing the FW ideal, Andelin points to the characters of Agnes and Dora in the Victorian classic David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Agnes was a friend of David’s since their mutual childhoods. He met Dora in his youth and married her. After Dora’s death, he wed Agnes.
Andelin believes that Agnes represents the “angelic” qualities that are half of the ideal woman from a man’s viewpoint while Dora represents the “human” qualities that are the other half.
When David first meets Agnes, author Charles Dickens writes in David’s voice, “she looked as staid and as discreet a housekeeper as the old house could have.” This impression is reinforced later when the reader learns that Agnes is indeed conscientious in performing domestic chores.
David’s heart fills with a kind of worship for Agnes as he speaks of her as having the “tranquil brightness” of a “stained glass window.”
On the other hand, Dora is described as possessing a light, sparkling personality with childlike attributes. He considers her “a fairy and a sylph.” He finds that she has “the most delightful little voice, the gayest little laugh, the pleasantest and most fascinating little ways that ever led a lost youth into hopeless slavery.” When she presses flowers against her chin, he is thrilled and finds himself in a “feeble ecstasy.”
Thus, David married Dora. The marriage was less than satisfactory because she was a poor cook and unreliable housekeeper. David cannot regard Dora as a “counselor” because she lacks the “character and purpose” that he yearns for in his intimate companion.
After her death and his marriage to Agnes, Davis enjoys a greater sense of mental equilibrium. Agnes keeps a neat and tidy house and always has tasty meals at the ready. He can confide in her in ways that he could not confide in Dora who seemed to lack understanding of serious and important matters.
However, David’s satisfaction is never complete in his marriage to Agnes. He is not thrilled or captivated by her. He sometimes yearns for Dora’s lively, childlike mannerisms.
Andelin sees Agnes and Dora as representing not contradictory qualities but qualities that are both parts of what Andelin believes is the distinctively feminine nature. FW teaches that women should strive to combine the best of both Agnes and Dora.
Victor Hugo’s Deruchette and William Thackery’s Amelia
Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea was published in 1866. Andelin writes that the character of Deruchette in this novel includes both the angelic and the human qualities of a man’s ideal woman. She quotes Hugo as rapturously writing of Deruchette, “Sweetness and goodness reigned throughout her person.” Hugo describes this heroine as possessing the ability to cheer others up through her own cheerfulness and suggests the great importance of such ability. Hugo writes, “Is it not a thing of divine, to have a smile which, none know how, has the power to lighten the weight of that enormous chain that all the living in common drag behind them? Deruchette possessed this smile; we may say that this smile was Deruchette herself.” He elaborates, “There is in this world no function more important than that of being charming—to shed joy around, to cast light upon dark days, to be the golden thread of our destiny and the very spirit of grace and harmony. Is not this to render a service?”
Deruchette is further described as “making all kinds of gentle noises, murmurings of unspeakable delight.” In other parts of the book, Andelin encourages women to make the sorts of murmurings that she believes captivate men. She believes that feminine women coo, purr, and make baby talk.
Perhaps support for the idea that men often find women making childlike sounds appealing may be found in the popularity of 1950s and 1960s sex goddess Jayne Mansfield, noted for her high-pitched squeal of delight as well as her hourglass figure.
The charming Deruchette is said to be sweet and good but to occasionally have “a certain mischief in the eye.” Hugo also describes her as sometimes characterized by “an air of bewitching languor.”
A suitor tells Deruchette, “I think of you as a prayer … to me you are holy innocence … the living form of a benediction.”
Thus, Deruchette exemplifies both the enchanting childlike qualities that Andelin believes captivate and hold men’s interests as well as the angelic qualities that lead them to place women on pedestals.
In commenting on Deruchette, Andelin anticipates that some readers may regard the character as “a bit insipid.” Andelin reminds the reader that “Victor Hugo was a man, a rugged man who wrote challenging sea stories, speaking more the language of men than women.” Thus, he seems to confirm her belief that men are entranced by characteristics in women that other women disdain.
The character of Amelia in Victorian writer William Thackery’s novel, Vanity Fair, is another that Andelin believes displays attributes of the male version of the ideal woman. She quotes Thackery limning Amelia as “a kind, fresh, smiling, tender, little domestic goddess, whom men are inclined to worship.” He also states, “she had a pair of eyes which sparkled with the brightest and honestest of good humor, except indeed when they filled with tears, and that was a good deal too often; for the silly thing would cry over a dead canary, or over a mouse that the cat haply had seized upon; or over the end of a novel, were it ever so stupid.” The last attribute of easily giving way to tears may be seen by some as negative, but Andelin encourages women to conform to sex stereotype in this way as in others.
Thackery writes that the sensitive Amelia “trembled when anyone was harsh.” Andelin believes that such weakness triggers appropriate feelings of protectiveness in men.
Andelin observes that one quality that is missing from these examples of ideal women from a man’s viewpoint is great beauty. Hugo and Thackery describe Deruchette and Amelia respectively as physically imperfect. Deruchette has “a mouth somewhat large.” Her fair skin is said to be freckled and freckles were regarded as blemishes in the Victorian age. Amelia is flawed by a short nose and “cheeks a good deal too round for a heroine,” indicating that she was fat. However, their specifically feminine qualities led men in these novels to find them fascinating.
Andelin points out that Amelia’s effect on women and men differed drastically, again supporting Andelin’s contention that the two genders often find opposite qualities attractive in women. She quotes Thackery as writing, “Those who formed the small circle of Amelia’s acquaintances were quite angry with the enthusiasm with which the other sex regarded her. For almost all men who came near her loved her; though no doubt they would be at a loss to tell you why. She was not brilliant, nor witty, nor wise overmuch, nor extraordinarily handsome. But wherever she went, she touched and charmed everyone of the male sex, as invariably as she awakened the scorn and incredulity of her own sisterhood. I think it was her ‘weakness’ which was her principle charm; a kind of ‘sweet submission’ and ‘softness’ which seemed to appeal to each man she met for his sympathy and protection.”
Although it is set in medieval times, The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade was first published in 1861. Andelin points out that Reade describes Margaret tying ribbons and that, when Margaret notices Gerard’s admiring gaze, Margaret lowers her eyes quickly and “colors all over.” Andelin uses this an example of timorousness that she defines as a “sudden self-conscious, pretty confusion.” She advises a woman to cultivate this quality by looking into a man’s face for a moment and then hastily lowering her eyes.
“Pedestal Shaking” in a 1945 Version of a Victorian Novel
In one part of The Fascinating Girl, Andelin suggests the reader learn, not from a work of the Victorian era, but from the way that work was interpreted in a 20th Century motion picture. Andelin writes, “At times a man may shake the woman’s pedestal, by suggesting she do something wrong.” She elaborates, “This is a crucial moment for them both. If she refuses his suggestion, his high estimation of her angelic character is reaffirmed. Remaining on the pedestal is further proof that she belongs. But, if she accepts his offer and falls from her pedestal, he can be painfully disillusioned.”
In citing an example of this, Andelin makes a mistake about the way a pivotal plot point altered from novel to film. The following passage from FG contains that mistake.
An impressive example of pedestal shaking is found in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, later made into a movie. Dorian was to be married to a sweet, angelic young woman but, just prior to their proposed marriage, he tested her by suggesting they have pre-marital sex. At first she was shocked, disappointed, then turned to walk away. As she reached the door she hesitated, through for a moment, then an intense fear seized her, a fear that if she refused him she may lose him. She turned around, came back to him, and yielded to his request. The next day Dorian expressed his great disappointment in her and his reluctance to marry her. He shook the pedestal and she fell from it. Rejected and heartbroken, she committed suicide.
Although Andelin was extremely well read, the above shows that she did not actually read The Picture of Dorian Gray. The pedestal shaking that she discusses took place not in the Victorian novel but in the 1945 film version of it.
What actually happened in the novel was that Dorian fell in love with actress Sybil Vane in large part because of her artistic talent. After Sybil falls in love with Dorian, she gets a part as the female lead in a production of Romeo and Juliet. Dorian expects to see her as an enthralling Juliet. To his horror, he sees her play the part in a manner flat, forced, and artificial. He is disappointed and dismayed. After the play ends, Dorian visits her backstage. Sybil informs him that she can no longer act love because real love has displaced acting for her. Dorian tells her, “You have killed my love.” He breaks off their relationship and she commits suicide.
Why did the filmmakers change the source of Dorian’s disillusionment to what Andelin calls “pedestal shaking”? Changing the source of Dorian’s disillusionment from Sybil’s unexpected failure as an actress to his successful seduction of the woman obscures one of the primary themes of the story—the uneasy relationship between art and reality. However, the expression of this theme through contrasting good and poor acting performances might have been difficult to translate from prose to the silver screen.
This is not the only time Andelin cites an example of Victorian era art as interpreted through mid-twentieth century art as something from her readers should learn. She writes in FG that the Victorian novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens gives “a wonderful example” of how a woman of high character can transform “a man from an inferior state to the hero of the entire story.” She also recommends women watch the 1935 motion picture version of A Tale of Two Cities. Andelin writes that Elizabeth Allan as Lucy plays “the finest example of femininity I have seen on screen. She is soft, sweet and tender with a caring angelic character. But with all of her gentleness she is a fine example of strong moral courage.”
“Woman is not undeveloped man, but something better.”
The Little Minister by Sir James Barrie was first published in 1891. Rev. Gavin Dishart, the minister of the title, dislikes a Gypsy woman named Babbie because he considers her wild. However, after he sees her display altruistic concern, he is impressed and considers her concern emblematic of the moral superiority of the female gender.
In the novel, Rev. Dishart and Dr. McQueen arrive at the cottage of the elderly, sickly Nanny Webster, intending to charitably take her to the poorhouse. Babbie arrives and Nanny cries between sobs, “They are taking me to the poorhouse. Dinna let them take me, dinna let them.” Babbie holds the weeping woman close. Barrie writes, “There are those who say that women cannot love each other, but it is not true. Woman is not undeveloped man, but something better, and Gavin and the doctor knew it as they saw Nanny clinging to her protector.”
The men assure Babbie that they mean to help Nanny. Babbie vows to help the woman live in her own home. Andelin observes that Gavin saw this as a degree of charity above his own.
Andelin believes that a principled man desires a woman he can place on a pedestal—one he can respect as better than himself. “He hopes that she will be kinder, more patient, forgiving, unselfish, and hold more valiantly to principle. If he is thoughtless, critical or weak, he can overlook these human frailties in himself. But he expects a woman, the more angelic creature of the human race, to be above such things.”
Of course, the concept of woman on the pedestal has dangers. Someone once observed that the problem with being on a pedestal is that when one takes a step—one crashes. It lends itself to the Madonna/whore dichotomy that automatically places women who are adventurous, particularly sexually, in the gutter. It also lends itself to society’s notorious double standard. Indeed, the double standard has a mathematical demon lurking inside it: If women are to be chaste and men experienced and adventurous (either pre-maritally or extra-maritally), with whom do the men get that experience?
Regardless of flaws or criticisms, the fact that FW continues to attract followers shows that the view of women as the more “angelic” gender continues to appeal to some people.
How Childlike Charm Derails Damage
Intimate relationships will inevitably include arguments and disputes. Unfortunately, arguments between boyfriends and girlfriends or husbands and wives too often escalate into bitter fights that, even if they don’t lead to actual physical violence, leave both parties emotionally wounded. Andelin believes that women should emulate the way children express anger. She points out that children often stamp their feet and a girl child frequently shakes her curls and pouts. She thinks that these feminine childlike expressions of anger are often seen as “cute” by men and, thus, can de-fuse conflicts. In a few cases, her descriptions of childlike tantrums come directly from Victorian novels.
She cites Dora’s expression of anger at David as a good example of childlike anger. David faulted Dora for failing to properly manage the hired help. He attributed the stealing of a gold watch to that failure. Andelin quotes Dickens as writing that Dora opened “her eyes wide” and exclaimed, “Oh, what an accusation! . . . Oh! Oh! you cruel fellow, to compare your affectionate wife to a transported page [hired boy]! Why didn’t you tell me your opinion of me before we were married? Why didn’t you say, you hard-hearted thing, that you were convinced that I was worse than a transported page? Oh, what a dreadful opinion to have of me! Oh, my goodness!” Andelin believes that Dora’s expression of anger was childlike in its use of strong adjectives and its exaggeration.
Many critics see FW as hopelessly stuck in the past. Those critics may use the Victorianisms in it as supporting this belief. However, research historian Julie Neuffer, who has devoted years to studying FW, observes that one of the most impressive aspects of FW is “Its endurance.” Neuffer remarks that up until Andelin’s death over four decades after her book’s publication, she was receiving “fan mail, book orders, and applications from women who want to teach classes.” Neuffer further noted that, “FW seems to cut across racial, cultural, geographic and social boundaries.”
Considering how much of the FW philosophy draws on Victorian works, FW may—like The Hatchet—be one of many examples of how the influence of the Victorian era lives on.
Works cited
Andelin, Helen. The Fascinating Girl. 1st Books Library. Bloomington, IN. 1970, 2002.
Andelin, Helne. Fascinating Womanhood. Pacific Press, 1963.
Keller, Mark. “What Quirks Do Men Find Attractive in Women?” eHow.com. http://www.ehow.com/info_8173127_quirks-do-men-attractive-women.html
“Research Historian.” Interview with Julie Neuffer. http://www.fascinatingwomanhood.net
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Modern Library Classics. 1890.
