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The literature of mysteries and morality plays belongs to a period of transition in which women still maintained a considerable degree of social power, but their social position in urban areas was increasingly under threat, as the guilds (that sponsored the production of the plays) were beginning to exclude them from their ranks and institute new
... See moreSilvia Federici for In These Times
The repeated attacks on ‘gossiping’, by preachers and satirists alike, reflected a widespread concern that unsupervised female sociability posed a threat to the order and values of patriarchal society.
Patriarchy and the World of Gossips
Bernard Capp
As Italian scholar Silvia Federici points out in her recent book Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women :
In many parts of the world, women have historically been seen as the weavers of memory — those who keep alive the voices of the past and the histories of the communities, who transmit them to the future generations and, in so doing, create a... See more
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Silvia Fedrici — Witches, Witch Hunting, and Women
Boehm (1999) proposes that gossip can serve as a “leveling mechanism” for neutralizing the dominance tendencies of others, making it a “stealthy activity by which other people’s moral dossiers are constantly reviewed”
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“Good Gossip” : Gossip can serve the interests of the group as a whole.
The recognition of its importance in maintaining group life makes acceptance of it a necessity, but its potential for advancing the interests of one individual at the expense of another poses a threat that must be contained if the group is to function effectively. Thus, paradoxically, gossip can serve as both a form of antisocial behavior and as a... See more
ResearchGate - Temporarily Unavailable
“Good Gossip” : Gossip can serve the interests of the group as a whole.
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.
Mandy Brown • Gather your gossips
aworkinglibrary
an example: mennonite women
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.
Mandy Brown • Gather your gossips
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
Mandy Brown • Gather your gossips
aworkinglibrary
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
Gather your gossips
aworkinglibrary
gossip — etymology