Bashfulness as a bulwark against “impurity” in 19th-century society

Abstract

Bashfulness was that inner sense that was supposed to enable each individual to meet the strict demands of morality. It was also the sense that should create a distance from “forbidden feelings”, the threshold at which man would start to feel discomfort and disgust. Bashfulness therefore had to ensure fear of God, of society and of other authorities. What formed a heavy burden on the minds of Christian moralists in Slovenia was the fact that bashfulness was spread unevenly among people of different social strata and also that it was not mandatory. Ever greater circulation of modern-world conveniences, like, for example, increased mobility because of the railway, higher literacy and easier access to newspapers and literature, resulted in a general concern about the morals of the rural population. An important turn in the public debate (or the lack thereof) about sexuality in Slovene newspapers is closely related to the strained relations between the two political parties. The liberals were particularly keen to attack the proverbial moral purity of the Catholic party and its members.