“It is a Female Marriage!”

Lesbian Relationships in Victorian England

Abstract

Marriage in Victorian Era England was already a strict social expectation, and this paper explores the added complexity that came with queer identity for women during this time. Through a case study of Irish writer and philosopher Frances Power Cobbe and her wife, Mary Lloyd, lesbian relationships are compared and contrasted with heterosexual marriage. Additionally, exploration of the beginnings of the field of sexology help to illustrate the complex relationship between sexuality and gender within the context of Victorian society. Using primary texts in the genre of "lifewriting," this paper attempts to illustrate the realities of same-sex intimacy, the cult of domesticity, and the social requirement of marriage within the Victorian world.