FEMALE ETIQUETTE

 FEMALE ETIQUETTE - 

Florence Hartley's The Ladies' Book of Etiquette (1860) advised that a series of preparatory exercises were required to achieve a correct, upright posture. She advised that a young lady should
successively learn to stand flat and firm upon both her feet, with her limbs quite straight, and the whole person perfectly upright, but not stiff; then to lift one foot from the ground, and to keep it so for some time without moving any part of her body.

The young lady was then advised to replace her foot on the ground, and to raise the other in the same manner. These actions were to be repeated until young women were quite familiar with them.
They were then directed to keep the body quite erect, but not stiff, and bearing firmly upon one leg, to raise the other from the ground, gradually and slowly, by bending the upper joint of the limb, at the same time making the knee straight, and putting the toe to its proper extent, but no more.
In this way, these young women were trained to move and walk in an upright and dignified way: there was to be no slouching or leaning.

Finishing schools trained the daughters of the world's social elites for entrance into society. An upright posture with a straight back was synonymous with well-bred femininity, and photographs survive of women learning to walk with books on their heads in order to achieve the correct posture.

Of course precept was not the same as practice: just because women were told to act this way did not mean that they did so.

Source ~ ‘History of Unexpected’ Sam Willis and James Daybell

Image  A woman balancing a book on her head during deportment classes

A woman balancing a book on her head during deportment classes. October 1952. (Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)