 Although in his objections to Wilberforce 's 1786 bill Loughborough had noted that these women were dead long before they suffered the flames , many newspapers of the day made no such distinction . The Times incorrectly stated that Sullivan was burned alive , rhetoric which , in Dr Simon <unk> 's opinion , could be " rooted in the growing <unk> for domesticated womanhood " that might have been expected at the time . As many objections may also have been raised by the perceived <unk> of drawing and burning women for coining , whereas until 1783 , when the halting of executions at <unk> removed ritualistic dragging from public view , men were simply drawn and hanged . A widening gulf between the numbers of men and women <unk> in London ( during the <unk> , 393 men versus 47 women ) , which mirrors a similar decline in the sending of women to the <unk> , may also indicate an imposition of commonly @-@ held gender ideals on English penal practices . 
