E X T E N S I O N THE CONCEPTION OF GENDER IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND The exact nature of sex-differentiation and its psychic accompaniment was the subject of intense, though inconclusive debate in the Victorian period. For decades, until the early 1900 s, scientists connected sex chromosomes to the characteristics linked to sex. What exactly differentiated men from women and why the species evolved into the two sexes unsurprisingly puzzled Victorian theorists such as Herbert Spencer and Patrick Geddes. Thus, they and other specialists constructed a stereotypical dyadic model: a dichotomy of temperaments defined feminine and masculine. Other than attributing the difference between the two sexes to distinct physical characteristics, men (having a katabolic nature which released energy) were considered active agents, who expended energy while women (having an anabolic nature which nurtured) were sedentary, storing and conserving energy. Victorian theories of evolution believed that these feminine and masculine attributes could be traced back to the lowest forms of life. Such beliefs laid the groundwork for, or rather arose from, the separation of spheres for men and women. According to the model, since men only concerned themselves with fertilization, they could also spend energies in other arenas, allowing as Spencer said the male capacity for abstract reason along with an attachment to the idea of abstract justice [which] was a sign of highly-evolved life. On the other hand, women s heavy role in pregnancy, menstruation (considered a time of illness, debilitation, and temporary insanity) and child-rearing left very little energy for other activities. As a result, a woman s position in society came from biological evolution; she had to stay at home in order to conserve her energy, while the man could and needed to go out and hunt or forage. The phrase the angel in the house became a well-known description for the role expected of a woman in the Victorian period. Moreover, this evolutionary reasoning provided justification for the emotional and mental differences between men and women. Conway showed how the logic led Geddes to believe that Male intelligence was greater than female, men had greater independence and courage than women, and men were able to expend energy in sustained bursts of physical or cerebral activity Women on the other hand were superior to men in constancy of affection and sympathetic imagination [they had] greater patience, more open-mindedness, greater appreciation of subtle details, and consequently what we call more rapid intuition. 27