Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

Finishing up this week’s theme of swearing in history, I turn now to the Victorian Age. In the 18th and 19th centuries, British and American elites became increasingly self-vigilant about avoiding words that might make them think about, you know, sex. And this took a lot of energy, so they ended up thinking about it all the time instead.

The image here is a mid19th century illustration of one of the most banned books of all time, _Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure_ written by John Cleland while he was in debtor’s prison in 1748. One of the things about _Fanny Hill_ is that it has no swear words. Nope, not with the flagellation scene, not with the homosexual encounters, and not even in the descriptions of the orgies. The body parts, verbs, and effluences are all assigned euphemisms. The Victorians thus managed to avoid obscene words even when they were deliberately making porn.

Melissa Mohr writes about three ways the Victorians went about referring to sex. First, they turned to Latin words, because Latin was the language of the Romans and allegedly they were classy. (A totally wrong impression, btw. But, spouting Latin could be a sign of education, so it could make a Victorian look classier.) Second, they used French words — this is the time when “lingerie,” for “underwear” came into use. And finally, they used indirect words. For instance, “leg” was too risque for some Americans in this age, so they would say “limb” instead.

The Victorians were so concerned about avoiding obscenity that they even developed a bunch of euphemisms for the concept of obscenity: inexpressibles, indescribables, etceras, unmentionables, ineffables, indispensables, innominables, inexplicables, and continuations. All this avoidance of sexy-talk shows that the Victorians were obsessed about you-know-what — but did it make them sexier? Puritanical religious movements show a similar focus, but all that covering up doesn’t necessarily lead to titillation.