| Male Ideal | Female Ideal | Major Features |
| Epic Male | Epic female | goddess beauty, helpless,
young: fragile, an object older: wit, control emotional, act spontaneously |
| Spiritual Male | Spiritual female | nuns: good women, reclusive,
virtuous, unmarried Sexual female seductress: bad women, non-spiritual, Earthy, practical |
| Chivalric Male | Chivalric female | wife or a nun: chaste, purity |
| Renaissance Male | Renaissance female | Courtesan, worldly, sexual
Wife, importance of family |
| Bourgeoise Male | Bourgeoise female | Class: lower class women are
sexually available (bad) upper class women available only for marriage (good) |
As we try to make a corresponding list of female and male ideals, we
note two things: 1) male are the norm and females made to correspond to
them; 2) women become divided into two types: good and bad. Those
who conform to male ideals and those who don't. This division rests
mainly on the woman's sexual availability or exclusivity. Later
social class becomes part of this definition.
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