Victorian society was borderline schizofrenic. There was a "public" view of what is right, and private behaviour. For example, indeed sex itself was frowned up

Victorian society was borderline schizofrenic. There was a "public" view of what is right, and private behaviour. For example, indeed sex itself was frowned upon from many angles, but prostitution was rampant in London. Same for drugs. And indeed it was often the same people holding the same views at the same time. I think there are similar themes in other historical settings. I remember reading that many of key drivers of US prohibitions were themselves major alcohol abusers. I think the hypocrisy itself isn't that unusual, but the scale of it (how widely the "public" beliefs were held and how large the gap between private and public was) was quite extreme, compared to similar cases. Not a historian, no sources.