Plural of bawdyhouse; multiple brothels or houses of prostitution.
Regular plural formation of bawdyhouse using -es. Medieval and early modern cities often had clusters of such establishments in designated areas, making the plural form common in records, literature, and legal documents of the period.
You can actually find lists of bawdyhouses in old city records and maps—historians use them to understand urban geography and social structures of centuries past! It's wild that something so informal got documented so officially.
Plural form carrying the same gendered moral judgment as 'bawdyhouse'; the term pathologizes the location rather than examining systemic coercion or economic desperation.
Use 'brothels' or 'sex work establishments' for neutral plural reference.
["brothels","sex work establishments"]
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