An Ordinary Day In: The Life of a Victorian Chaperone

By Jennifer Linforth

You know that silly game of placing 'in bed' at the end of any fortune cookie fortune to completely alter its meaning? My husband and I have a game similar to that in terms of our four year old daughter. We call it 'things we don't want to hear on prom night.' Such as when she runs downstairs and says, "I can't get my panties off" or "I'm a naked baby!" or "You're not doing it right" or "May I have it now, please?"

You get the picture....

In imaging my daughter out on prom night I truly wish for Victorian times and the era of the chaperone. These women were usually Aunts, older married or widowed women and were tasked with supervising the innocence of the unwed Victorian lady. Their daily life involved overseeing all their charges did—and made sure no improper conduct occurred during courtship.

Daily the Victorian chaperone had to make sure etiquette was carried out to the utmost degree. They remained with their charges, for a woman was never to go anywhere with a gentleman especially without her mother’s permission and never late at night.

The chaperone may have taught her charge how to flirt with her fan, for that behavior was social acceptable to a degree. Flirting otherwise was not.

A single woman never walked alone. Her chaperone was with her. If she was at a point in courtship where she could walk out with a gentleman--a chaperone saw to it they walked apart and did not have any physical conduct. A gentleman could assist a lady over rough patches of ground but that contact was the only he was truly allowed with a woman not his fiancée.

The chaperone saw to it a proper woman did not ride alone in a closed carriage with a gentleman not her relative. She also saw that she did not receive a man at home if she was alone. The chaperone had to be present and if not her, then another family member.

I certainly think in 2011 society that a chaperone system would meet with wild protest. But what about the Victorian era? Do you think the youth protested it at all in some manner or was it so acceptable they just went with the flow?

Jennifer Linforth expands the classics by continuing The Phantom of the Opera. MADRIGAL and ABENDLIED are available now. Look for future books based on the classics, in addition to her unique historical romances. "Ms. Linforth's prose is phenomenally beautiful and hauntingly breathtaking." ~ Coffee Time Romance

Sports & Entertainment: Bundling

By Anna C. Bowling

Imagine tucking your teen or twentysomething daughter snugly into bed with her gentleman friend and wishing the couple a good night while the rest of the family goes on with the rest of the evening's entertainments as usual. Perhaps you sit down to a spirited game of cards with your spouse, help your younger children with schoolwork, or regale the family with the newest song you've taught your caged canary or discuss the merits or flaws in last week's sermon--interrupted, of course, by shooing away any curious family members who might try to listen at the bedroom door.

Daughter and her friend need their privacy, and even the most inquisitive family members need to respect that. The younger children may want such privacy of their own someday, and the older family members were young once, too. Everybody back to business. How about that sermon, hmm? If the couple want to share any highlights before the gentleman returns home tomorrow, they'll do so.

Where and when would such a scenario take place? In a modern, metropolitan American household? Possibly. But this practice, called bundling, was also a common scenario for colonials of Dutch, German or British extraction during the eighteenth century, and could provide a good deal of entertainment for all involved--not just the bundled pair.


During warmer months, courting couples would spend most of their time alone walking out, which is exactly what it sounds like; taking a stroll outdoors, likely in sight of some older family member of one of the pair. What's the same couple to do, though, when the temperature drops, flakes fly, and a fellow can't be sure it's quite safe to traverse the icy roads after paying court to his lady fair? Pack themselves off to bed, of course, and no, not necessarily for what first comes to mind.

Though of course the actual practice varied, depending on the individuals and societies involved, the couple would climb into bed together, fully dressed, often separated by a bundling board, a long piece of wood down the middle of the bed. (In my colonial historical romance, My Outcast Heart, my hero and heroine substitute a rolled quilt for the board.) A chaperon may or may not be present, and sexual activity was not expected or encouraged for the bundlers. They would be expected to converse and get a taste of what it might be like to spend time in solely each other's company in close quarters.

While this could make for a perfect setup for romantic scenes for any genre from inspirational to erotic, the couple did have other distractions than merely being a hair's breadth from their beloved. Remember all those relatives mentioned above? Remember all their activities? Add in the chatter of several generations of relatives, children with clackety wooden toys, a musical instrument or two, and that noisy canary, not to mention assorted individuals trying to listen or peek, or concerned older relatives "just checking" on them, the mood was not always the most romantic. Nevertheless, bundling did often lead to a wedding--and sometimes a rather hasty one.

Modern bundling board photo courtesy of: The Benchmark Inn, Provincetown, MA

The Love Cycle: The Struggle Buggy

By Delia DeLeest

The automobile changed more than the way Americans traveled. When it became something more than a toy for the rich, but a common means of transportation for the masses, society's morals and mores changed along with it.

Previously, when a young man came courting, he would arrive at a young lady's house and sit chastely in the parlor under her parent's watchful eye. Maybe they'd play a game of charades or sing songs around the piano. Due to the restraints of horse and buggy, night travel was dangerous. The roads were dark and unreliable. Nice young ladies would never risk their reputations being alone with a man in such conditions.

Then the automobile roared onto the scene. All it took was the spin of a crank and a car came to life, a turn of a key and it was off. No longer did a horse's needs and demands come first. A Studebaker didn't mind sitting alone in the dark for hours on end, it could travel many more miles than a horse...and it had a backseat.

The post World War I modern girl experienced a much different life than her mother before her. In many cases, she worked outside the home earning her own money, sometimes actually leaving home to live in the city. She didn't have to report her whereabouts to her father and, as a "modern," she took advantage of that fact.

She would roll her scandalous, flesh-colored stockings down below her knees, perm her hair and rouge her cheeks, all in preparation for a night on the town with her sheik at a gin joint to down a little coffin varnish, all the while puffing on a ciggy. Before you knew it, she'd be in a car, many times behind the wheel--she was a modern girl, remember. A car was commonly called a struggle buggy because of the activity that went on inside, something a horse would never stand still for. Neither would the girl's daddy, if he only knew. But he didn't. A car took young people to places they never could have gone to otherwise. Ballgames, dances and picnics in the park were all easily accomplished if you had a Lincoln or a Model "T" at your disposal.

The automobile gave unmarried people a freedom previously unheard of in modern society. Society would never be the same.

The Love Cycle: The Sexual Sequence

By Michelle Styles

When I first started writing romance, I became aware that there were certain behaviours endemic to all cultures and time periods.

I knew that one of the patterns of behaviour had to do with courtship ritual and the way people behaved when they were attracted to each other, so I went in search of body language. In Peoplewatching by Desmond Morris, I found my answer.

There is indeed a sexual sequence that people display when courting. The length of time spent on each step depends on the culture. For some very conservative cultures, weeks or months may be spent in the first few steps; for other cultures, the first steps may last a matter of minutes. But unless it is a case of rape or prostitution, people do not go directly from the first step to the 12th step.

The sexual sequence is important for the writer because if she starts missing out steps, the relationship can fill off some how. At each stage of intimacy, partners can abandon the courtship if they so choose. If they are not allowed the choice (implicitly or explicitly), the later stages can feel forced and can leave a nasty taste in some readers' minds.

Equally, depending on the sort of story one is writing, the knowledge of the sequence can enable the writer to concentrate on certain aspects. For example, a writer of sweet romance will probably be writing sensual scenes that mainly deal with the first six steps of the sequence, while the writer of a spicy romance will perhaps concentrate more on the last few steps.

Couples can agree to forego certain steps, but this generally happens when they are known to each other and have experienced the entire sexual sequence before with that partner.

So here are the steps:
1. Eye to body: This means seeing the person, but it also means seeing the warm or open gesture that that person makes. People use body language to show that they like someone or are receptive to advances.
2. Eye to eye
3. Voice to voice: The tone can be important.
4. Hand to hand: This is an important step as it is the point of first physical contact. It is also can be disguised as a supoort, directional guidance or body protection. In other words, it does not have to be overt.
5. Arm to shoulder: This can be simply the helping on of a coat but bodies are closer.
6. Arm to waist: Closer still and the hands are now nearer to the sexual regions.
7. Mouth to mouth: The first kiss.
8. Hand to head caress
9. Hand to body
10. Mouth to breast: This implies that the couple are now in skin to skin contact and are exploring each other's body.
11. Hand to genital
12. Genital to genital

You can see the sexual sequence allows for a wide scope of variation and that couples can choose to linger at certain stages or even retreat back to other stages, but ultimately the most successful romances will show a progression through the stages.

For more on body languages and its use in cultural behaviour, I do really recommend reading Peoplewatching.