Thread by @jessnevins

I'm loth to disagree with--let's call them a popular Tweeter--but the word "adventuress" had many meanings to Victorians, some positive & some negative. By the 1890s an "adventuress" could be a gold-digger, a lady explorer, a New Woman, a public mistress.... 1/?

There was definitely a pejorative tinge to the word in mid-century, but in the 1860s & 1870s, when flaunting your mistress in public became not just socially acceptable but a way to provide a role model for other women (seriously!), the meaning of "adventuress" began to change.

When Sherlock Holmes calls Irene Adler "the well-known adventuress," readers may have smirked, but they weren't predisposed to view her as evil, permanently soiled, or as someone w/out admirable traits.

So, writers, feel free to use "adventuress" in yr Victorian fictions! 3/?