Lie back and think of England

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The phrase lie back and think of England was an expression supposedly used in the United Kingdom during the Victorian Era. Traditionally, it was advice given to a woman - usually from a mother to her daughter about to be married - about having sexual intercourse with her husband.

The origins of the phrase are unclear, but it is generally attributed to Alice, Lady Hillingdon (1857-1940), writing in her journal in 1912:

I am happy now that George calls on my bedchamber less frequently than of old. As it is, I now endure but two calls a week, and when I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, open my legs and think of England.[1]

However, the journal's location is unknown and this attribution is therefore unverified, the stuff of urban legend.[2] It is also sometimes attributed to Queen Victoria, either as a description of childbirth or of sex, but no evidence exists for this attribution.

[edit] Explanation

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The phrase became popular some decades before the sexual revolution. The assumption was that women were not expected to view sex as pleasurable; instead, women were to view sex as a duty, performed essentially through passive availability.

Since women weren't expected to participate in sex in any meaningful way, or derive any special pleasure from sex, it would not be incongruous to think of something other than sex during sexual acts. Thinking of the continuity of the Empire, through conception and child-rearing, might even make the sexual act more pleasant. Another explanation is that women were encouraged to "think of England" because sex created more citizens, hence more soldiers--therefore, sex was a patriotic duty that women should consider before their own happiness.

The phrase can be used broadly as encouragement for either gender to do something unpalatable.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary gives Hillingdon's use of the phrase as quoted in Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy's Rise and Fall of the British Nanny (1972).
  2. ^ Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable (Sterling, 2002), ISBN 0304358711, p. 399.