In Victorian culture, manliness was one of the most cherished values Probing into the gender dynamics of Victorian society confirms the suspicion that it had a strong need to emphasize masculinity In the same context, Charles Kingsley`s advocacy of athleticism and masculinity can be understood as an attempt at re-establishing the traditional gender roles and identities in the face of sexual and gender transgressions The famous controversy between Kingsley and Newman, which was started off by the former`s imputation of `perversion` to the latter, illustrates the hunting parson`s anxiety about the instability of gender (masculine in this case) roles. Although the controversy was clothed in a religious language, it actually evolved around Kingsley`s suspicions about Newman`s celibacy and effeminacy, which, as Oliver Buckton and others report, had a sexual connotation of male-male desire for Victorians. Kingsley`s sudden withdrawal of support for the women`s cause can also be attributed to a similar gender anxiety, that is, the parson`s shocking discovery of the `unwomanly` behavior of women activists. Placed in this context, Kingsley`s Westward Ho! yields a dimension that bears on the gender politics of his days. This historical novel, as the author made it clear, was meant to be a paean to the valor and masculinity of the British imperialists However, this racial narrative turns out to fulfill an unacknowledged mission of policing and re-configurating problematic sexualities. Especially the story about Ayacanora exorcises mid-Victorians` anxiety about the instability of gender identities by successfully re-inscribing a `correct` gender on the body of an `aberrant` female subject.
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