Subject Of Gossip And Scandal example essay topic

In what ways can a focus on sex and scandal extend and illuminate the study of past societies and cultures? What are the limitations of such an approach to history? To answer this question it is important to define what constitutes as a scandal. That is, how a piece of information about some body becomes sensationalized and thrown into the realm of scandal. It is also important to realise that all scandal is culturally and historically situated.

Heilmann describes scandal as being both the action and the process of talking about that action. The process of talking about a scandal could also be described as gossip. Gossip can be three things simultaneously. It is the talk, that is the action of discussion, the information or the subject being talked about and the person talking (Heilmann 1976 cited in Russell's lecture 13.7. 2000, Sydney University). Gluckman describes gossip as a form of exchange and reciprocity and uses the Maka h Indians as an example of the way in which gossip functions as a binding mechanism for the group, even if the talk is negative.

To be gossiped about does not define an outsider, quite the opposite is true, one that is not talked about, is considered to be an outsider. Gluckman goes on to say that morals and ethical behaviour is articulated through gossip and defined by it. Gossip is about public figures and the policing of moral standards, it defines what is (and conversely, is not) acceptable. Turner's study of Social Drama is also useful when discussing the subject of gossip and scandal. Turner suggests that there are four stages of Social Drama. This includes, the Breach, that is when someone behaves badly (shakes the standard norm, custom or etiquette), Mounting Crisis, that being when the seeming peace becomes disrupted, the Adjust ive and Repressive mechanisms; the methods that are employed to deal with the disruption and finally Reintegration or perhaps denial of access to the group, depending upon the outcome of the afore mentioned mechanisms.

Scandal is useful in studying cultural history as is serves as a peephole into the past. The significance of any particular scandal at any point in history can be beneficial in our study of society's role in policing the private realm in any given society, whether it be Victorian Europe or Ancient Rome. The study of scandal allows us to examine the values and assumptions that separate past societies from modern ones. This is why the study of sex has been of particular interest to many historians because it has usually carried with it a sense of privacy and ambiguity. However it is important to realise that historians face a number of limitations when using examples gossip and scandal to illuminate past societies.

One of the problematic features of gossip for the historian is that gossip is largely an oral discourse so it is ephemeral. The historian often only has limited resources to refer to such as court records that are often riddled with hearsay and bias. Throughout history, understandings of sex and sexuality have changed. There has been a shifting interpretation of masculine and feminine identity.

Historians have relied heavily on the medical, religious and law discourses, as these discourses are critical to the social understandings of sexuality. Sex was once viewed as natural and necessary by the medical profession in the 2nd and 3rd centuries through to the modernisation of sexuality in the 18th and 19th centuries. It could be argued that the sexual revolution has been brought about by urbanisation resulting in many women getting married younger due to earlier pregnancy, coupled with rise of Industrial capitalism, resulted in a larger separation between the world of work and the world of the home. This rise in capitalism viewed production as the ultimate goal, so this concept crept its way into the bedroom with the 'production' of children being the ultimate goal in the private sphere (Russell lecture 17.7.

2000). When somebody breaches the social norm, especially with regards to sex and sexuality a scandal is usually created, whether or not this scandal makes it into the public sphere of the media and the court is often dependent on the celebrity of the people involved in the scandal. A quick examination of a case study reveals how gossip and scandal provides an interesting window (or peephole) into the past. The Shaming of Margaret Knowsley is an interesting case of a woman who was shamed for making public, in the patriarchal sphere of Nantwich politics, information, opinions and judgements which were deemed fit only for the private, more feminine, sphere of knitting and laundry, of water-fetching and hay-raking. This case is an interesting case to examine the vested interest that each group has, for instance, the members of the church who obviously wanted to maintain their reputation and so supported Jerome (who had been accused of forcing himself Knowsley) and then there are the women who Margaret Knowsley had confided in. This case provides the historian with a sample of the attitudes that existed in 17th Century England, however it is not without its problems.

It is assumed that Margaret Knowsley is illiterate, although there was a well-articulated petition supposedly written by her, or at least words that came from her mouth, so the historian is forced to ask who wrote this document? Furthermore, beside the petition, Knowsley remains fairly voiceless throughout the whole ordeal so the historian has no real access to her thoughts. So one must take into account who has the power in these cases. Another case in 19th Century America involving famous people is interesting in the way the media was used to manipulate the scandal. Richard Wightman Fox's article Intimacy on Trial examines the cultural meanings attached to the Beecher-Tilton affair. Fox uses this case to examine how it illuminates the culture in which it took place and how it may also have helped shape the development of American culture.

The case involved the Tilton (a married couple) and a preacher named Henry Ward Beecher. Tilton accused Beecher of having an affair with his wife. Again the woman involved remains fairly voiceless and it is never determined by the court whether or not the affair actually took place. Fox poses the question, if they could not decide at the time of the trial a guilty or innocent verdict, how are we meant to come up with a conclusion? The element of celebrity is interesting in this scandal because the media was heavily involved in reporting the scandal. The use of facsimile copies of the letters between Beecher and Tilton's wife are printed in the paper in an age where handwriting is used to determine a person's personality type.

The Beecher-Tilton affair brought drastic changes to many individual lives, but it also helped detach American culture from its familiar mooring and set it on a new course no contemporary navigator could chart (Fox 1993 p. 132). Whether or not a scandal is "true" is insignificant, the historian's aim should be to examine the affect that this scandal has on the culture concerned and how the historian is able to read into the scandal to examine how the culture functioned that is of importance. Claudia Pantschenko HASTY 2029 - Sex & Scandal.

Bibliography

Heilmann, S.C. Synagogue Life: A Study in Symbolic Action Chicago, 1976.
Gluckman, Max, 'Gossip and Scandal' Current Anthropology 4, 1963 Russell, P.
Lecture 17.7. 2000 at The University of Sydney.
Handle, Steve 'The Shaming of Margaret Knowsley', Continuity and Change 9, 1994 Fox, Richard Wightman 'Intimacy on Trial: Cultural Meanings of the Beecher-Tilton Affair in The Power of Culture: Critical Essays in American History.
Chicago & London 1993.