Outraged: Exploring Social Perceptions of the Female Rape Victim and Her Assailant in Liverpool c.1880 to 1910

This research project aims to investigate the social perceptions surrounding female victims of sexual violence and their representations in both the courts and newspapers in Liverpool between 1880 and 1910. The research will explore how the public perceived and understood these victims, taking into account societal ideals of Victorian sexuality and the prominent concept of respectability. Theoretical frameworks such as gender history and masculinities studies will be utilised to examine the existing societal attitudes towards female victims of sexual violence during this period. Specifically, this research project seeks to explore the ways female victims were portrayed in contemporary newspapers and how these portrayals may have impacted the public’s perception of female victims of sexual violence. Additionally, this project will look to examine how the publics sympathy, or lack of, impacted the conviction rates of crimes of sexual violence in Liverpool throughout this period. As well as examining criminal court records, this project looks to examine cases in the civil courts (primarily divorce petitions) in which incidents of sexual violence have been referenced and have been used as grounds for divorce. Overall, this research project aims to examine whether there were any notable changes or shifts in the social perceptions and representations of female victims of sexual violence moving from the Victorian to the Edwardian era, and if so, how prominent ideals of gender, sexuality and class may have contributed to these changes.