As the period in which The Yellow Book emerged was a patriarchal society, it is surprising to note the lack of research done concerning the study of the fictional woman as a product that existed for males in late-nineteenth century magazines. The Victorian woman was destined for a specific natural role, that of motherhood or reproductive sexuality (Hughes 851). While the idea of the “New Woman Writer” was emerging at the time and went against this classical view of women’s role, often exploring ideas of active female desire (Hughes 851), it was not necessarily enough to fully challenge the passive female in works by males. At a time where effects of aestheticism were seen as destroying the masculine hetero-normal society, a research focus has been placed heavily on the cause and effects of this movement on males (Anderson 441). Despite The Yellow Book being progressive in the way of publishing multiple works created by females in the form of both art and text, the magazine was still often a male-dominated space, particularly in the first and final volumes (Hughes 850). While it was a space in which women participated, they had to petition for that right after the publication of the first as no women artists or authors existed in such (Hughes 853). Even after that first issue, the women characters within the magazine were often created by males, such as the chosen image (“Vanity” by D. Y. Cameron) and chosen text (“Sleeping Beauty” by Richard Le Gallienne) for the purpose of this exhibit.