Far from being sexless angels defined only by male desires victorian women openly enjoyed looking at and even dominating other women their friendships helped realize the ideal of companionate love between men and women celebrated by novels and their unions influenced politicians and social thinkers to reform marriage law. Marcus first turns to the study of female friendship drawing on a variety of life writings including letters diaries biographies and autobiographies she demonstrates that friendship between women was central to the lives of most victorian women female friendship was believed to prepare women for and complement heterosexual marriage. Far from being sexless angels defined only by male desires victorian women openly enjoyed looking at and even dominating other women their friendships helped realize the ideal of companionate love between men and women celebrated by novels and their unions influenced politicians and social thinkers to reform marriage law. This item between women friendship desire and marriage in victorian england by sharon marcus paperback 2239 available to ship in 1 2 days ships from and sold by amazoncom