Obscene or indecent language, jokes, or behavior; the business or practice of prostitution.
From Middle English bawd (a woman in charge of a brothel), from Old French baud or a Germanic root meaning 'bold' or 'audacious.' The -ry suffix creates an abstract noun describing the behavior or trade itself. Shakespeare used this word frequently.
Bawdry was Shakespeare's favorite word for making jokes about sex without saying anything too directly—it let writers and audiences pretend to be shocked while actually enjoying the wordplay! It's a masterclass in how language lets us be proper while being improper.
Bawdy conduct, indecent speech, or the management of brothels. Historically coded as feminine because it associated with female sex workers and female-led spaces, yet men held equal or greater economic power in these systems.
Use neutrally for linguistic description. In historical texts, note asymmetric moral judgment: women's 'bawdry' was criminalized; men's profit from it was normalized.
Women who engaged in bawdy speech, managed brothels, or organized sex work wielded economic and social power within constrained systems. Language obscured their agency by framing the work as inherently female and immoral.
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