Through the Looking Glass with Lewis Carroll

2015

The main points of this article include:

One problem with some historians is that they judge the past by today's standards.

There's a problem in trying to describe a dead author's intention in what they did in the past.

Some people believe that Carroll's photos of nude children had an erotic context on purpose.

Carroll was born into a very religious family, many of his relatives were priests in the Anglican church, he attended a church college and he had various jobs there for 47 years.

In Victorian times children were seen as the epitome of innocence.

Childhood was a class-based condition. Rich ones had educations and lived in relative comfort. Poor ones had little food and often worked in factories or mines.

t>Of around 3000 photos he took around 30 were of nude or semi-nude children.

In Victorian times his photos were considered rather normal.

Girls from well-to-do families 'came out' at around 15 or 16 years of age.

He did not just take the photos of the nude or semi-nude girls. He negotiated with the parents first and things were agreed to such as when and where the photos would be taken and which costumes would be used (if any).

In his time the age of consent was 13.