Moralists and men nervous of their virility have always been eager to suggest that sexual
feelings are weak or
non-existent in women. Perhaps the most famous physician to argue in such a way was Sir
William Acton who
wrote a number of sexological books in the nineteenth century - and who has been roundly
condemned by liberals
ever since. He wrote, for instance, that "the majority of women (happily for them) are not very
much troubled
with sexual feeling of any kind ... The best mothers, wives, and managers of households, know
little or nothing
of sexual indulgence. Love of home, children, and domestic duties, are the only passions they
feel. As a general
rule, a modest woman seldom desires any sexual gratification for herself. She submits to her
husband, but...
would far rather be relieved from his attentions ..." Acton also declared, in stronger terms, that
to impute sexual
feeling to a woman is a "vile aspersion," though he conceded that women of the lower classes
may have such
emotions.