Reboot: W is for Whore
Dr Bisbey is ill with the flu, so please enjoy this reboot of: W is for Whore
Hi everyone! Welcome to the A to Z of Sex. I’m Dr Lori Beth and I am your host. We are working our way through the erotic alphabet one letter at a time. Just a reminder this podcast deals with adult content, so if you don’t have total privacy, you might want to put on your headphones. Today the letter is W and W is for Whores.
At present, the word whore refers both to a sex worker and is the most popular insult to hurl at a woman who is too independent, taking too much charge of her sexuality and her life.
This week I am happy to be joined by and expert on the history of the term whore, and whores and sex workers themselves. Dr. Kate Lister is a researcher at Leeds Trinity University in historical attitudes to sexuality and sex work. She has published on the history of media narratives around sex work, the history of menstruation and sexual violence in historical dramas. She is the curator of the online research project whoresofyore.com which archives the work of sex workers, activists, academics and artists, and bring the message of sexual positivity to an even wider audience. The project has over 95,000 followers on Twitter.
Kate is on the board of the international sex work research hub, is a columnist for the independent and has worked as a historical consultant for Channel Five's upcoming "My Sexual Fantasy".
We started by talking about the history of the word whore and then the history of the word cunt. Kate told us that cunt is the oldest word and that in the middle ages, this was the word for female genitalia. She also highlighted that entomylogically, vagina means sheath. So the word we now use for our genitals means sheath.
We spoke about the use of the word cunt in the UK and how in Scotland it can be used casually with a man calling another man a ‘wee cunt’. She said that it is still considered the strongest insult and is on a par with the ‘N’ word. We looked at the comparison – that one word highlights some of the biggest atrocities that have been done to human beings and the other word is the word for female genitalia and we wondered how it was that these became comparable and that we view female genitalia with such shame and disgust.
We spoke about how sex workers view the word whore and whether it is even appropriate for non-sex workers to use the word. Kate talked about the more general use of the word whore meaning she who desires which was the original meaning that was proposed. She said the word is ancient.
We spoke about the wide variety of sex workers and the fact that women use sex workers often as well. Kate spoke about going for a tantric yoni massage and that the experience was extremely profound. She recommends this to all women to have the opportunity to step out of sexual scripts and just receive. We spoke about how rare it is to have a safe space in which women are not expected to perform (and that men also have scripts) and to have a space where you are only expected to receive. We spoke about how petrifying this can be but how cathartic the experience can be as well.
If you want to find Dr Kate Lister, follow her on twitter @whoresofyore
Or the website:
Kate also mentioned that there is a section on the website for people to share their sexual experiences and have their sexual voice heard. She said you can be completely anonymous and that there is editing available if you have concerns about your spelling and grammar.
Thanks for joining me for the A to Z of Sex.
Write to me with suggestions for the show, questions you want answered at drloribeth@atozofsex.com , follow me on twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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