I studied this in one of my history classes about sex . I took it a year ago so the information might be a bit fuzzy but the idea was this . I hope I ' m okay to write this out since it does deal with gender stereotypes . As women became more powerful in society ie gaining the ability to work , provide for themselves at a time when farms turned into cities , voting , education men began to question their masculinity and power as their gender roles and position in society had begun to shift radically . There was always a distinction between men and women . And female sexuality , especially promiscuity , was a scary concept to men because it leaves them wondering about where they belong . It threw men off balance . There was this idea that a woman ' s role was to keep her man in check . 19 th century Victorian morals constructed women as very pure and innocent . Religion and culture often depicts them as pure , virginal , and chaste . A mans sexuality was uncontrollable , and a man needed the sensibility and virtue of a woman to balance them out . Women were not like men and were not capable of having sexual desires . The idea of women having sex out of wedlock was explained as them being somehow tricked into it by men . Women were taught they weren ' t supposed to want sex , that it wasn ' t enjoyable , and the only purpose for it was to have children . Female sexuality meant liberation . Meant freedom . It meant a lot more than just being open about sex . It represented a shift in the stability in a society that emphasized their relationship only in relation to a man a wife , a daughter , a sister . Understanding that masturbation is a similar concept . It destroys the notion that a woman needs a man she doesn ' t need him for her own sexual pleasure and she doesn ' t need him to survive . It destroys the notion that sex is for reproduction . There is a stigma about it because women are not supposed to want to have sex outside of marriage because a woman is supposed to need a man . When women begin to become an individual , people believed they threatened nuclear families and the way society functioned as a whole . Change is slow . Some of these ideas are still around . There is a ton of stigma still about women wanting casual sex and gender roles .