Etiquette Masks Double Standards

The same ladies have announced a ball, and twenty ladies of the beau mondé have asked permission to attend, so masked as not to be recognized, as they have an insatiable curiosity to see how such an affair is conducted by those who are not trammeled by the ordinary rules of etiquette and pay no attention to respectability. Some of the journals are much shocked that ladies of the “best society” should so demean themselves... Why should it be so very proper for men of the “best society,” and so improper for women?

Fancy Doings

The ladies of the demi mondé gave a supper a few evenings since, or rather invited all the world to a supper, but when the hour arrived for champagne and oysters, these and all other viands were lacking. The restaurants which were to furnish the repast, assert that there was some flaw in the contract, and the ladies accuse them of non-fulfillment. So they have appealed to the law, and a son of Baron Rothschild is to make his maiden speech on the occasion, not on behalf of the ladies, but in behalf of the supper defaulters. 

The same ladies have announced a ball, and twenty ladies of the beau mondé have asked permission to attend, so masked as not to be recognized, as they have an insatiable curiosity to see how such an affair is conducted by those who are not trammeled by the ordinary rules of etiquette and pay no attention to respectability. Some of the journals are much shocked that ladies of the “best society” should so demean themselves, while others think it is very well for them to go where they will be sure to meet their husbands, brothers and cousins, who are not thought by the world to be doing anything criminal, to support one of these pariahs, besides supporting their wives and daughters. Why should it be so very proper for men of the “best society,” and so improper for women? – Letter from Paris, 1866

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