Jasmyn -> Whores..what say you? (8/10/2006 10:06:44 PM)
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Whores ...Glorious Whores ... all this talk of whores, got me reminisicing some of my uni studies ... From an assignment on women and gender in society A sexual double standard is a moral view that aggressive sexual behaviours are acceptable in one gender (men) but not the other (female) and manifests itself in men been rewarded for their virility while women are vilified. Men were seen to be ‘sowing their wild oats’ while traditionally, as stated by Bullough & Bundage (1994) in Sexual Practices & The Medieval Church, “Modesty was the true glory of women” and thus by implication an “immodest woman, one who was sexually desirous and ardent, was a whore at heart. (pg 37)” Thus the category of prostitute (or whore; meretrices), included more than just women who took money for sex. Or as succinctly put in Phillips & Reay, (2002) “Those who had sex for money were a recognised group: but because of the way of whoredom or prostitution was defined, any woman who was sexually deviant, or any women who was not under the control of man, could be placed in that group as well. The classification of sexually independent women as meretrices could thus be used as a warning, a tool to control all women” (pg 94). [Thus whoredom] as prostitution was intimately tied up with femininity and chastity in women become a tool of oppression. “In this way [the] whore [became] the extreme case of what all women could be, and any woman risked classification as a whore if she stepped out of line.” (Phillips & Reay, 2002, pg 94) Reference Bullough, V., & Bundage, J. (Eds.).(1994). Sexual Practices & The Medieval Church Prometheus Books Phillips, K & Reay, B. (Eds.).(2002). Sexualities in History Routledge & something else to consider The etamology of the word 'virgin' ...was not 'virgin' as it is perceived today...but a 'woman not under a male's control' ... Also ... Meretrices were the pro doms of the Roman era .. they were by and large highly educated, sexually unihibited, and were oft times treated better and regarded more highly, than the wives of the men they allowed to visit with them. Discuss [:D]
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