Abstract:

In the first half of the twentieth century, there were few lifestyles available to women outside of limited types of work, religious vocation, marriage, and spinsterhood. One of the exceptions to this, was the possibility for Boston marriages among more financially secure women. In a society where women’s sexuality was denied, romantic friendship was made possible. Romantic friendship was not seen as an aberration, and has a prominent place in early twentieth century literature. This began to change in the 1920s due to information about sexology and women’s sexuality that was becoming a part of the medical discourse in the western world. Although this change did not happen uniformly, and hit North America later than it did Europe, it still changed the ability for both men and women to outwardly profess same sex love. Moving past the 1920s, some women were able to carry on romantic friendships and even Boston marriages in Canada, like Charlotte Whitton and Margaret Grier. While society’s acceptance of the nature of female same sex relationships was becoming limited, the potential for women to have more economic autonomy was increasing. Women like Aunt May were able to support themselves, to support each other, and to live on their own. Romantic friendship was mostly devalued as a socially acceptable behaviour by Aunt May’s adult life, but close female relationships were of course permitted to continue through familial relationships. While romantic friendship was becoming an exiguous and ostracized behaviour, work and real estate opportunities that would have made Boston marriages possible for women outside of the upper class became available: the phenomenon of romantic friendship died just as it became possible for a larger number of people.