What was the stereotypical Victorian society like?

Answer 1

Repressed, sexist, class-ist, hypocritical---a few "haves"; many more "have nots." Much surface gentility among the rich, however pornography, child abuse, and child labor flourished. Women married young and often had many children. Men kept mistresses. Not too different (in some ways) than 2006.

Answer 2

The stereotype was that of prudish, snobby, sexually repressed individuals who dressed funny.

Well, they certainly do dress funny but that was fashion back then. Some people may have been snobs. But as far as being prudish and sexually repressed are concerned, the Victorians were far from it. They were just as sexually active as our society is today.

Some families had scads of children due to the fact that birth control was non-existent. Queen Victoria herself had nine kids in her 20something year marriage to Prince Albert (her first cousin, of all people). Out of those nine kids came THIRTY grandkids. Because of this, Victoria was seen as sort of a matron of the royal houses of Europe because some of her kids and grandkids intermarried into different royal houses.

Although society seemed enlightened at the time, women were still second class citizens. Women were expected to be faithful to their husbands while, in turn, it was socially permissible for guys to cheat on their wives. It wasn't until the 1880s that women were allowed to have property rights after a divorce. Ironically, Queen Victoria disliked the idea of women's rights saying that they should just shut up and be thankful they have a livelihood (of course, this is coming from a queen who was born into priviledge).

One particular female author (I think it might be either Emily or Charlotte Bronte but I'm not sure) had some trouble getting her book published because of the male dominated society.

The Victorian era was also responsible for bringing more ideas of the arts and sciences to the forefront from Darwin to Faraday. Victoria also was a representation of "middle class" family values during that time as well.

So, it's really unfair to classify the Victorian period as being genteel and stuck up. A lot happened then. More industrialization, more ideas about science, a lot of novels and plays, etc.