Weighing Scandal as Complex Phenomenon

I recently posted this video on Google+, and saw it as very unfortunate, even tragic circumstances for these women:

Caroline Norton, Harriet Mordaunt, and Josephine Butler "helped shape new legislation and attitudes towards women in 19th century" England.

I bristle at labeling them as scandalous, which suggests that they were fundamentally at fault, which indeed is precisely how 19th century England saw them (also rf. Scandalous women in British history).  But in fact their actions and circumstances were more complex than such a label suggests: Scandal as a phenomenon is a product of culture, era and discrimination (i.e. context) as well as of gender, personality and determination (i.e. individual).  So certainly these women were agents in shaping circumstances, but they were also victims of conniving powerful figures.  In the end, agent or victim notwithstanding, they helped evolve views and policies toward greater equality between men and women.