An 1889 Magazine Asked Single Women Why They Aren’t Married and Ouch, The Replies
Men didn’t help with the housework back then, either
Ah, Victorian women. So delicate and genteel in their long, feminine gowns with cinched waists and petticoats. Prim and polite, morning to night. Right?
Well, no. Apparently not, as one magazine discovered when some man thought it was a good idea to ask single women why they’re not married.
I don’t say “some man” in a feminist snark manner. The editor of said magazine was George Newnes, Sherlock Holmes fan and son of a Congregational minister.
Despite that he was not born into a publishing family, Newnes inaugurated what would become known as “New Journalism,” an editorial strategy that included much less focus on political and parliamentary reporting and a strong focus on humor and human interest stories.
Tit-bits was a British weekly magazine. That’s how Brits say tidbits.
Basically, it was a rag-mag.
The kind of magazine that’s churned out every week on the cheapest newsprint available and filled with humor and “human interest” stories. It quickly surged to 400,000 and then 600,000 readers.
Like a mini-encyclopedia it…
