I know that there were times when women were prohibited from appearing on stage, followed by a time when a woman on the stage was considered to be of less than sterling character. When did it become accepted by most of society that a woman should appear on the stage, and she wouldn't be automatically assumed to be loose?
Edit: By appear on the stage, I mean acting in non-musical plays.
I think you have to specify that question a little more. For example it depended very much on WHAT the woman in question was doing on stage. A musician like let's say Clara Schumann in the middle of the 19th century was definitely not judged as a loose woman. The same goes for famous opera singers of that period like e.g. Pauline Viardot. On the other hand members of the corps de ballet or actors in the theaters of the entertainment corner, like the Gaiety in London, had a reputation like that pretty much all the way to World War one. So there were huge differences, basically the more "serious" her art was believed to be the less loose she was thought to be.