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In her article “The Power of Women’s Networks”, Mary P. Ryan argues that women played a large role in the shaping the sex/gender system of the 19th century. She describes the various ways this power was manifested in Oneida County in the 1830s and shows how these networks gave direction to the future of their sex. She also delves into one of the great ironies of feminist history: that women had direct involvement with the creation of the Victorian gender code, which demanded extreme sexual repression on their part.
It is important to note that this movement was specific to its place and time. The demographic and religious climate of the area before Victorian times allowed for networks of women to flourish. The revivalist Presbyterian church provided them with the framework to build their own associations and the pre-industrial economy made a population density more conducive to a more even distribution of influence. (74-5) As Ryan tells us, the flame of moral reform flickered out after a steam textile mill opened, and the town was flooded with new immigrants.
The women went from wanting to reform the whole of society to wanting to reform their own families, as the case in Victorian America. One could look at Angelina Grimke’s outlook on marriage to see how the move to the Victorian gender code and the cult of domesticity was really just a move to combine the public and private lives of women. (Henry) She wrote that it was “absolutely necessary that we should know that we are not ruined as domestic characters” because of leading a public life. (Henry)