The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Hot and Heavy in 19th-century England Victorian slang is, even by today's standards, versatile, colorful, and covert. Sexual slang was especially clandestine so that gentlemen could discuss taboo matters without drawing undue attention. Since sex in general was a touchy subject, Victorian people got quite creative when devising these terms. Some of those very words still linger in our vernacular today. So just how much did Victorians beat around the bush? Keep in mind that these were the people who arranged a nuanced form of communication based on flowers. They used “floriography” in order to express feelings that they would have otherwise hidden from society. These are the people who referred to lady parts as the “fruitful vine” because supposedly, they both fruited every nine months and “flowered” on a monthly basis. The only “flowers” I think of in reference to a vagina are orchids (for obvious reasons). I got a whole bouquet of them from my relatives when I got my first period. The world of Victorian prostitutes was a generous segment of the population and therefore ripe with slang. An estimated one out of every twelve women was directly involved in prostitution, a statistic that only applies to unmarried, pubescent women. Much like today, prostitution was multi-leveled. There were the common punks who walked the streets and rich courtesans alike. If a rich man wanted to have sex with a woman who wasn’t his “lawful blanket”(legal wife), he would pursue sexual asylum in a “wife in water colors” or mistress, a “prostitute” whom only serviced one man. If the man was rich enough, he could provide her with housing, mostly for his own convenience. Why was a mistress painted in water colors? Because their “engagements easily dissolved” like water paint. The metaphor is very telling; I can see how some relationships come in water colors. While I don’t believe that it’s right to devalue or condemn sex workers, especially with implicit references to what society perceives as being of a “lesser value” than those who aren’t sex workers. That’s strange. It’s wrong for someone to quantify and monetize certain relationships, but it’s okay for polite society to dehumanize sex workers based on their allegedly intrinsic value? It was messed up then and it’s messed up now. Somewhere inside their hearts, there is a colorless place. Do you ever wonder where the term "blow job" comes from? Well, the Victorian era. The term “blow job” doesn’t make much sense at first glance, given the more common usage of the word “blow." But upon further examination, it does make sense. Like the term “punk," “blowsy” was one of the many names for a prostitute because part of her “job” was to deal with “blow”—or sperm. To think that these words are rooted in Victorian times is contrary to the media's romanticized portrayal of the era. In modern books and movies, the Victorians are all tea parties, good manners, and puffy costumes. But sex tweaks the equation. Enter the eerie contemplation of the Ghost of Cultures’ Past that simultaneously scorns sex, fetishizes it, and medicalized it on what is considered bahumbug to the modern world. How totally unlike today. Ha. #Real #VictorianSexualSlang #VictorianSex #OldenDaySlang #SexThroughTheAges #SexThenAndNow #VictorianCulture Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. CommentsComments are closed.
|
|