Trollop

We have (through a pretty convoluted set of relationships) got a passel of youngsters in the extended family (all in their teens or very early twenties) who seem intent on reproducing at a prodigious rate. There are four very young children who lay claim to this bunch as their "parents." Master tends to refer, sardonically, to the herd of offspring as "the little bastards." The birthing has been such a preoccupation that none of them have, seemingly, found the time to contemplate the possibility of marriage.



Last night, at dinner, we were talking about the newest infant to arrive on the scene, and Himself was trying to recall the name of the child's mother... Finally, He just gave up and resorted to "trollop." Old fashioned sort of word. One hardly ever hears it used these days. T and I both suggested that she wasn't a "trollop," and supplied the young woman's name. He simply responded she wasn't married and must therefore be "a trollop."



OK. That would be me. Too. Ouch.



Here's the pertinent definition --

trollop - a woman adulterer adulteress, fornicatress, hussy, loose woman, strumpet, slut, jade
adulterer, fornicator - someone who commits adultery or fornication



Now, there are "circumstances." Not a possibility for me to have this relationship, be here in this life, AND be married. He's clear with me that I am NOT a trollop -- that it is not the same thing at all. We all understand the legal constraints that keep us in the places where we are. We all know what would be different between us, if there were a legal opportunity to change that set of circumstances. But there it is -- the social bias that defines us by our marital status. The truth is, we can deny it, ignore it, refuse to be pigeon-holed in this fashion, but the bias remains as part of the very fabric of our culture.



swan