Olive Schreiner: 19th Century: The Men and Women's Club

The Men and Women's Club was a discussion group which challenged the norms for male and female relationships as well as the ideas of sexuality (Edwardian Promenade). Karl Pearson, a barrister, formed this club to have more focused discussions based on all subjects important to both sexes. The group formally started in 1885 with the aim for men and women to discuss subjects openly and freely (Ruth and Scott 146). Discussions regarding sexuality in Victorian England were very radical for the time, especially since these conversations were shared by men and women together. The culture of the Victorian time “refused middle-class women knowledge about their bodies while stigmatizing the prostitute as being 'outside' society” (Ruth and Scott 146). The club wanted to bring men and women together by finding an alternative split “between 'animal' and 'human' that characterised the dominant mid- and late- Victorian attitudes to sexual passion” (Ruth and Scott 146).

The club's first paper was from Pearson called “The Woman Question”, which was later reprinted, with changes, “in a collection of essays entitled The Ethic of Freethought” (Ruth and Scott 149). In the paper he focused on changes that would happen if women received access to education, professions and political representation (Edwardian Promenade).

Olive Schreiner, daughter of a missionary, was one of the most well-known female members of the group. Schreiner and Bryan Donkin joined the Men and Women's Club during the first year of it starting. They were more interested in the “non-recognition of female sexuality as a whole” (Ruth and Scott 150).

Schreiner was open in her “challenge of commonly-held conceptions of women sexuality” and argued against the notion that women have a weaker sexual instinct than men, observing that it was difficult to judge the 'days when women are under such control'” (Edwardian Promenade; First and Scott 150). Donkin on the other hand saw that Pearson “underestimated women's 'sexual passion' and overestimated the maternal instinct” (Ruth and Scott 150).

Schreiner's openness classified her as a 'free' woman, although she was pinpointed as having neurosis, which in Victorian times was a condition of a “woman seeking a sort of sexual freedom by denying her sexuality” (Ruth and Scott 151). Schreiner wanted to look for a theory of sexual evolution for women and in her personal relationship with Pearson was a way to show that she wanted freedom from sex or “the risk of being considered and treated as a sexual object” (Ruth and Scott 151-152).

One of the core issues of the Men and Women's Club was prostitution and they would probably have read literature about different Acts relating to prostitution (Ruth and Scott 157). The Contagious Diseases Acts, required that prostitutes in certain garrison towns and ports go for a full physical examination and detention in 'lock' hospitals (Ruth and Scott 157). The Club, however, struggled to fully define what a prostitute is but Schreiner felt that individual relationships sullied around prostitution (Ruth and Scott 157).

Topics discussed by the Men and Women’s Club were revolutionary and radical for the late 19^th century, during this time “long-held assumptions and social norms” were challenged by both men and women (Edwardian Promenade).

Works Cited:

First, Ruth, and Ann Scott. Olive Schreiner: A Biography. London: André Deutsch, 1980. Print.

Holland, Evangeline. Edwardian Promenade, 13 Dec.2009. Web. 2 March 2016.

Further Reading:

Edwardian Promenade

http://www.edwardianpromenade.com/love/the-men-and-womens-club/

The Olive Schreiner Letters Online

https://www.oliveschreiner.org/vre?page=295