Final answer:
In the Victorian era, a moral panic around sexuality led to social norms and laws aimed at repressing behaviors such as homosexuality and prostitution due to their perceived moral threat to society.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the Victorian period, a moral panic over concern with sexuality spread, leading to the creation of social norms that prevented the practice. The era was marked by a complex combination of morality, public health concerns, and legal actions designed to regulate behavior deemed inappropriate or harmful. Laws against homosexuality, for example, were common, and the moral evaluation of personal behavior extended into many areas of life, including the controlling of sexually transmitted diseases through measures like the Contagious Diseases Acts. These acts subjected prostitutes to mandatory gynecological inspections, reflecting the prevailing social efforts to control not just public health, but morality too. Overall, the Victorian era was characterized by efforts to regulate and often repress behaviors that were seen as threats to the moral fabric of society, such as prostitution and non-conforming sexual orientations, leading to the systemic stigmatization of certain groups and activities.