Dominique Lagorgette, philologist: ‘Solidarity among women is the only way to win more rights’

The word “whore” is probably the most common insult hurled at women, and has been so for centuries, argues Dominique Lagorgette, a French professor of linguistics at the Université Savoie Mont Blanc in Burgundy. For more than two decades, the 58-year-old philologist has researched the evolution of the French language from the Middle Ages to the present, with a particular interest in verbal violence.

In Pute: Histoire d’un mot et d’un stigmate (or Whore: History of a word and a stigma) originally published in France two years ago and now translated into Spanish, Lagorgette reconstructs 11 centuries of history of one of the words most often used to discipline women. Drawing on literary texts, folk songs, dictionaries and court records, she shows that it was never only a term aimed at sex workers.

Question. While men’s sexual adventures are often seen as proof of virility, women’s are associated with impurity. What does that double standard tell us?

Answer. Men have been taught to see sexuality as proof of virility and power. So having sex outside marriage is a way of showing they have it, that they are powerful men. That explains the fascination with sex and with women who control sex, such as sex workers.

On the one hand, it’s useful for them to have women to have sex with. On the other, they punish them. They are in a kind of dynamic of aggression and fascination.

Q. In the book you say names like Margot came to be synonymous with prostitute in France. They were also almost always associated with poor women. Has the stigma of prostitution also been a class issue?

A. Gender and class both play a role. Men assumed any woman without a husband needed money. It was assumed she was not sufficiently educated or lacked the moral strength to control her sexuality according to Christian principles. Although we often say otherwise, in Europe the moral model remains largely Christian. Many people think religion has stopped shaping how we see the world, but it has not.

Social superiority made many men feel they could do what they wanted with a woman who did not belong to their class, and that logic has not disappeared. When a woman is poor, people still believe they can act with impunity because she will hardly be heard.

Now, thanks to the #MeToo movement, many women respond with “we believe you” when another woman reports a sexual assault. Yet excuses for the perpetrator are still sought: that the victim wore certain clothes or had been drinking.

Q. The word has survived for almost a thousand years while laws and women’s social roles have changed. Expressions like “son of a bitch” are even used admiringly. What does that persistence tell us?

A. “Son of a bitch” is one of the earliest insults to appear in medieval literature. The same stigmas were already present: a woman who does not conform to the ideal of monogamy deserves punishment. At heart, the insult conveys the idea that if you are a bad person, it is because you are the child of a bad woman. A woman bears responsibility for a man’s behavior—either the mother passed on bad conduct through upbringing or it was inherited biologically. For centuries people believed moral defects were passed from parents to children as if they were genetic traits.

At the same time, when someone says, “What a son of a bitch!” to celebrate a brilliant play or a clever remark, the insult stops being offensive. I call these “solidarity insults.” They express admiration and closeness. Using such a taboo word demonstrates the level of trust between speakers.

Q. Predominantly men named the prostitutes, wrote about them and made laws about them. Is the word also a response to who has had the power to define them?

A. Indeed. I think many men hide their extramarital activity that way. It’s enormous hypocrisy. The French state argues the 2016 model seeks to protect women. I am not speaking about victims of trafficking; I mean independent sex workers, who live in very difficult conditions and endure a constant stigma that is not perpetuated only by men.

Women also reproduce the prejudices because they fear what might happen to their daughters, sisters or friends. I believe the key word is respect. Solidarity among women is the only way to win more rights.

Q. And what is your view on abolitionist feminists?

A. I understand their reasoning. They want to protect women from the risks of a dangerous job. However, sex worker associations claim that criminalizing clients in France has increased attacks. They are forced to take greater risks because the reliable clients go away and they end up working in more isolated places. I understand the position, but the question is what we do about women who carry out sex work, because many consider it a job.

Q. You argue any woman can be called a whore. If they have many partners, they are whores; if they do not want sex, they are repressed; if they age, they are ridiculous. In short, no one can escape social judgment. Is that so?

A. Definitely. As a girl and a teenager, you are monitored to make sure you behave properly. If you are an unmarried woman, some partnered women may see you as a threat. And if you are married, there is suspicion that you might betray your husband. The most interesting case is old age. It was assumed that older women stopped being relevant because they could no longer have children and were no longer sexually attractive. But today’s generations of women in their 50s, 60s or 70s are enjoying their emotional and sexual lives, and that makes some people uncomfortable. There is strong hostility toward those who age without fitting the traditional role. Social control accompanies women at every stage of life. And when I talk about social control, I also mean political control.

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