The following is an excerpt from Stephan Zweig's The World of Yesterday (Evaluating the Evidence 22.2): "But even in those moral times, in Vienna in particular, the air was full of dangerous erotic infection, and a girl of good family had to live in a completely sterilized atmosphere, from the day of her birth until the day when she left the altar on her husband's arm. In order to protect young girls, they were not left alone for a single moment. . . . Every book which they read was inspected, and above all else, young girls were constantly kept busy to divert their attention from any possible dangerous thoughts."
What assumption underlay this effort to isolate young women from corrupting influences?

Question

The following is an excerpt from Stephan Zweig's The World of Yesterday (Evaluating the Evidence 22.2): "But even in those moral times, in Vienna in particular, the air was full of dangerous erotic infection, and a girl of good family had to live in a completely sterilized atmosphere, from the day of her birth until the day when she left the altar on her husband's arm. In order to protect young girls, they were not left alone for a single moment. . . . Every book which they read was inspected, and above all else, young girls were constantly kept busy to divert their attention from any possible dangerous thoughts."
What assumption underlay this effort to isolate young women from corrupting influences?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The assumption underlying the effort to isolate young women from corrupting influences was that women had no innate sexual desires. This belief was prevalent during the time period that Stephan Zweig is describing, in which women were expected to be chaste and pure until marriage. The strict measures taken to protect young girls from any possible dangerous thoughts suggest that there was a deep-seated fear of female sexuality and a belief that women could not control their own desires.

The Following Is an Excerpt from Stephan Zweig's the World