fallen women
Women of ill-repute
Fallen women is an old-fashioned term for women considered morally ruined through sexual impropriety—typically prostitutes, adulteresses, or unmarried mothers.
The phrase reflects Victorian-era morality that viewed female chastity as a height from which one could fall: The mission housed fallen women seeking redemption.
The term is now used only historically or ironically.
- tragic heroineFemale protagonist who suffers
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- scarlet letterMark of public shame
- forgivenessReleasing resentment toward offenders
- Victorian eraBritain under its longest-reigning queen
stigma · patriarchy · sin · charity · rescue mission · melodrama · social work · morality · purity culture · lost innocence · workhouses · double standard · virtue · reputation · scandal · ostracism · social outcast · redemption arc
- literary themesheroism, hero's journey, ennui, social realism, morals
- women in literaturefemale protagonists, female authors, feminist literature, female voices, female perspective
- Russian HeroinesAnna Karenina, Tatyana, Lara, Kitty, Olga
- Fictional CourtesansFantine, Camille, Nancy, courtesans, painted ladies
- Victorian literatureDickens, Charles Dickens, Victorian novel, Victorian literature, Victorian novels
- BalzacBeatrix, Lucien, The Black Sheep, recurring characters, French novel