I am reminded here of Miriam Toews’ extraordinary novel, Women Talking. In it, a group of Mennonite women gather to talk about what to do with the revelation that the men of their village have been drugging and assaulting them for years.

To gossip, then, isn’t to malign or spread false rumors; it’s to share information and wisdom, to cultivate fellowship, to acknowledge that we are all equals, that we are all in this—this life, this work, this planet—together. That is, to gossip is an act of solidarity, even, at times, of love.

Wives especially were expected to be quiet, “obey their husband without question” and “stand in awe of them.” Above all they were instructed to make their husbands and their homes the center of their attentions and not spend time at the window or at the door. They were even discouraged from paying too many visits to their families after marriage,... See more

Deriving from Old English terms God and sibb (akin), “gossip” originally meant “god-parent,” one who stands in a spiritual relation to the child to be baptized. In time, however, the term was used with a broader meaning. In early modern England the word “gossip” referred to companions in childbirth not limited to the midwife. It also became a term... See more