A massive accumulation of detail earns Saxton the right to state her conclusion succinctly: fetishizing female chastity has been "one of the most enduring hindrances to women's equality." In this exhaustive and entertaining work, Saxton (Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography), a historian at Amherst College, studies women's morals in three settings: 17th-century Massachusetts, 18th-century Virginia and 19th-century St. Louis. While men's moral life included political and professional concerns, the overarching demands on white women, according to Saxton, were for sexual restraint and obedience. White women's behavior, in turn, was conflated with the survival of the republic. In contrast, Saxton says, a mythical salaciousness was ascribed to black women, which, as well as offering a comforting difference from supposed white chastity, justified men's sexual abuse of female slaves. Many of the letters, newspapers and court records Saxton has found give telling glimpses of old customs, e.g., the Puritan practice of sending even well-off girls to work as maids and the Virginian habit of describing runaway female slaves by their breast size and perceived "lusty" sexual behavior. Though she sticks close to the facts, Saxton draws out the occasional lesson for modern times, sharing her belief that, for instance, the early Virginian equation of prettiness with good behavior pushed women into a long-lasting and unhealthy concern with appearance. Although clunky at times, the book manages to simultaneously pile on information yet amuse. (Feb.)
Forecast:While a strong candidate to become a women's studies textbook, Saxton's work could also appeal to general readers perplexed by the self-contradictory aspects of today's sexual morality.
