Victorian Women Savagely Dumped Their Lovers For Unusual Reasons
Victorian women may have had a reputation as being prim and proper, but they still had some pretty stringent standards when it came to their suitors. Back then, the grounds for rejection were downright bizarre, too. Single women of the era detailed their breakups in a magazine column called “Why Am I A Spinster?” And the brutal justifications they gave for dumping their partners are seriously savage, to say the least.
1. No animals allowed
In the Victorian age, man’s best friend was also woman’s best friend. And in some cases, animals even took the place of men. One spinster proclaimed she would never include a guy in her menagerie, explaining, “Man [is] less docile than a dog, less affectionate than a cat, and less amusing than a monkey.” Savage burn.
2. Closing up shop
Maude M. Kilbride had hoped to pull in a fine suitor, but no one had seemed interested in making any deals. It’s not like she needed a man anyway, as her embroidery business brought her more than enough money to survive. And in the end, she cut off her relationship ties just as easily as she would a piece of thread.
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3. It’s in his kiss
When it comes to relationships, the chemistry has to feel right. And that’s why E. J. L. Simpson claimed she never really stayed with a man for that long. For her, it came down to one thing: the kiss. That had to be top-drawer. Basically, if the fireworks weren’t there, then she was not staying.
4. Superficial spinster
First impressions matter for sure, but they aren’t everything. Unless you’re Lizzie Moore! She judged all of her boyfriends on their faces alone. She wrote, “My reason for being a spinster is answered in a quotation from The Taming of the Shrew: ‘Of all the men alive I never yet beheld that special face which I could fancy more than any other.’”
