ABSTRACT
This chapter constructs the narrative of a young man's growing awareness of his sexual identity and his transition from boyhood to adult sexuality. It examines the novels to decipher Trollope's codes to describe behaviour that is beyond the pale and discovers him granting considerable leeway to some young men in their interaction with young women. Young men in the normal course of things may feel the first stirrings of sexual passion, interpreted as love, at 17 or 18, as Lord Carstairs is when he proposes to Mary Wortle while still a schoolboy, in Dr Worries School. That mothers should wish young men to be given the opportunities to flirt with these 'nicest girls' exposes the double standard, for while it is seen as desirable that men should have experience of courtship, a young woman's first encounter with sexual passion should come with the first embrace of betrothal.
