Written by Abbie Teal
At what point in history did we start saying phrases like ‘don’t tell tales?’ Gossip, as we understand it today, can be defined as engaging in conversations which report on the actions of other people, and encouraging the gathering of information and making of moral judgements. It is a word widely regarded as having negative connotations, something we are encouraged to avoid. What is interesting however, is its use as a gendered word, predominantly regarded as something done by women. The cause of this can be traced back to the origins of the word itself.
Deriving from the Old English form ‘God-Sibb’ which translated literally means God parent, in the context of the Middle Ages, the word was used to describe a close female friend you would have present during childbirth. There were no negative connotations circulating the original noun, in fact, it was a benevolent word entirely loving in its usage to describe a strong female bond. However, God-sibbs did not escape the dramatic changes of the Early Modern period, and its usage was transformed and twisted to comply with the new agendas of the Church.
Something worthy of note is the role of women throughout history in the transmission of culture; the importance they played in maintaining the fabric of their communities by encouraging personal interactions. The strength and bond of a community relied on the amount and quality of these interactions. Whilst men contributed to their society in alternative ways, neighbourly communications to gather and share information was considered ‘women-talk’, and it continued to maintain an important role amongst societies throughout the Middle Ages as a way to protect and preserve the community. Sadly, over time these actions were undermined and villainised by both the Church and local authorities in an attempt to lessen their importance and influence.
Therefore, the original connotations of the word developed into an insult, in order to stereotype and diminish the dialogue shared between women and misrepresent the bonds created. Like so many of the changes that occurred during Europe’s Early Modern period, the Catholic and Protestant Church were at the root of this shift. The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation generated an atmosphere of increasing religious zeal, where close attention to biblical teachings was encouraged. Competition between the two churches motivated local authorities to prove the superiority of their church by promoting a godly society and punishing members of the public who threatened this, including women who showed independence in both their speech and collaboration. As the Bible explained, gossips were ‘all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice’ and therefore perhaps authorities believed they had to be punished as a display of religious compliance.
Any power and respect that women held within their communities began to deteriorate from the 1500s onwards, as their collaboration was increasingly perceived as a threat to those seeking to create a godly-society free from nonconformists. In 1547, a proclamation was announced in England to forbid women from meeting together to ‘babble and talk,’ and husbands were ordered to ‘keep their wives in their houses.’ Not only was this order encouraged, but it was also actively enforced. Contraptions such as the Scolds Bridle, a flat iron mask placed over the head, was approved by the Church in England during the 1500s and intended to ridicule any woman caught gossiping. Women were now punished for speaking altogether, with their speech devalued as mere ‘gossip’, and any culture of female agency was destroyed and the threat they posed diminished.
Is it a coincidence that the word gossip as we understand it today developed around the same time as the persecution of witchcraft increased? Federici remarks that ‘female friendships were one of the targets of the witch hunts,’ showing the correlation between the developing concept of gossip and the persecution of women, as those who displayed independence and agency threatened the religious aims of the period. The religious fear that provoked the witch trials is the same fear that changed the depiction of gossip to be something bitter and worthy of criticism. Gossip was a powerful and influential tool in a woman’s arsenal to utilise during a time when they had very little power within an overtly patriarchal society. By devaluing the dialogue shared between women, and the influence this had on communities, this valuable, sacred tool was stifled, along with any authority it bestowed upon its users.
Why the Church and authorities were so afraid of female agency during the 1500s is something we can answer by observing society today. Conversations between women continue to have power in identifying systematic abuses and providing the solidarity needed to stage resistance movements. For example, the MeToo Movement served to not only empower women in a continuously patriarchal world, but to protect them from predators – in essence, to follow the example of women from the Middle Ages and keep their community safe. Perhaps this is threatening to any group of people whose power relies on information remaining secret.
Whilst we differ in many ways from women of the past, this is an aspect of female culture which has remained the same. Women harbour the natural incentive to share our stories and experiences to protect the future of the community. It is unfortunate that with this comes the need to prove the dialogue is worthy of attention and record. Whether you believe the action of gossip is good or bad, it remains an interesting question to ponder why the voices of women have so anxiously and continuously been suppressed throughout history. Whether it is denying female education and ability to maintain written records or outrightly forbidding interfemale communication, as the Taliban have recently done in Afghanistan, it remains a question with no decisive answer. However, by paying attention to the inherent, almost embedded ways we have learnt to diminish female input in modern society, whether it is dismissing their views as too emotional or banning their contribution entirely, perhaps we can break the cycle and reclaim the idea of what it means to gossip.
Bibliography
Capp, Bernard. ‘When Gossips Meet: Women, Family, and Neighbourhood in Early Modern England’ 2003, Chapter 2.
Federici, Silvia. ‘How the demonization of gossip is used to break women’s solidarity’ In These Times, 2019. https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-subversive-feminist-power-of-gossip
McAndrew, Francis T. ’How “The Gossip” Became a Woman and How “Gossip” Became Her Weapon of Choice’ The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition, Oxford Library of Psychology 2017. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199376377.013.13,
Pashley, Tom. ‘History’s Gossip,’ New Histories, Vol. Issue 1. 2010. https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2009-10/volume-1/issue-1-conflict/historys-gossip
Featured image credit: The Friendly Gossips by Eugene de Blaas (1901). Accessed via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eugene_de_Blaas_The_Friendly_Gossips.jpg
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