I suspect that, as a teen who had no interest in fashion, that I was completely oblivious to that undercurrent - I remember being quite down on the fancy dress.
And yes, while I did think that the uncle had lots of good ideas, it was very patronising, all about how on earth would a woman know what was appropriate in bringing up the Right Kind of Girl. Sadly, still the way that things are - that the message gets across better when it comes from a man than a woman, even when it is about womens' experiences. I do wonder whether Alcott wrote it that way unconsiously (as a product of her times), or whether it was a trend that she was well aware of and was exploiting as a method to get her message across.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-02-12 06:59 am (UTC)And yes, while I did think that the uncle had lots of good ideas, it was very patronising, all about how on earth would a woman know what was appropriate in bringing up the Right Kind of Girl. Sadly, still the way that things are - that the message gets across better when it comes from a man than a woman, even when it is about womens' experiences. I do wonder whether Alcott wrote it that way unconsiously (as a product of her times), or whether it was a trend that she was well aware of and was exploiting as a method to get her message across.