How the “Gossip” Became a Woman

by Alexander Rysman

The major.sin of “gossip” is to

develop social ties outside the
institutions of male dominance.

“Gossip” has developed from a positive term applied to both sexes into a
derogatory term applied to women. The idea of “gossip” as idle talk is relatively
recent. N o reference to that meaning for the noun was identified by the Oxford
English Dictionary (7) prior to the nineteenth century.
“Gossip” originally referred to an idea encompassing both god-parent and
family friend. It developed out of the Old English as a contraction of the phrase
“God sib” and referred to the relation a family would have with someone they
felt close enough to to make into a god-parent for one of their children. Just as
the “d” in “God’s spell” dropped to form the word “gospel,” so “God sib” be-
came “gossip.”
At the time when the majority of people lived in small rural settings and had
large families, friends and acquaintances as well as potential god-parents were
drawn from this relatively permanent small group. The god-parent relation was
not simply with the child alone but with the family as a whole. For example, the
Oxford Dictionary quotes a passage from Chaucer which identifies the relation
between a woman and her god-brother: “ A woman may in no less sin with her
gossip than with her fleshly brother.”’ Since families were large, a family might
potentially relate to a number of god-parents.
In small villages, the god-parents were also neighbors and there must have
been considerable talk among them, especially during the idle winter months
(11).The god-parent was not merely a formality; he or she was involved in a
pseudo-kin relation with the whole family in a society saturated with kin and
pseudo-kin relations. Just as feudalism and chivalry prescribed a set of pseudo-
kin relations for the nobility through the institution of vassalage, so the in-
’ I have translated Charicer into modern English. The Old English text reads: “ A woman may
in no lasse synne assemblen with hire godsib, than with hire owene flesshly brother” (7).
Alexander Rysman is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University.

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 How the “Gossip” Became a Woman

stitution of the god-parent relation allowed peasants to develop imaginary fami-

lial relations with their peers. For some analytical purposes, one can treat the
family and associated god-parents as a single, unitary group.
By the Elizabethan period, “gossip” had begun to be generalized from the
family relationship to an individual relationship. At least in the urban, literary
texts which have come down to us, gossip is an individual relation. Samuel
Johnson in his dictionary ( 5 ) identifies two newer meanings in addition to the
traditional one. Gossip could now be used to refer to “ a tippling (drinking)
companion.” Johnson quotes Shakespeare extolling the fellowship of alcohol in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
“And Sometimes lurk I in gossip’s bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And when the drink against her lips I Bob.”
But women also could have their individual relations. Johnson identifies a
female meaning and simultaneously relates the term to its origins: “One who
runs about tattling like women at a lying [birth].” Since hospital deliveries
were virtually unknown at the time, births were generally at home among
friends, family, and gossips. Since men were not allowed to attend birth, the

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journal of Communication, Winter 1977

people at home delivery were women. In a small community, therefore a home

delivery was a general coming-together of all of the women of the community.
Johnson’s definition shows the relation to the original god-parent meaning by
emphasizing birth and in the process gives the word a female cast
By 1600, Decker demonstrates the application to women by writing: “1
wonder what blind gossip this minx is that is so prodigal,” while Lily in 1579
conveys the stigma of the term: “ I will . . . bring . . . a visard on my face, for a
shameless gos4ip” ( 7 ) .
The word acquires its unfortunate connotations only after it starts to be
applied to women. It is not until the nineteenth century that the noun starts to
be a description for idle talk. The male meaning, “tippling companion,” carries
a feeling of warmth and good companionship while the female application is
more hostile. Women “run about” and women “tattle.”
By the twentieth century, the use of the male meaning of gossip has become
rare When used to describe a person, that person is female, or displaying a
female attribute. The meaning of idle talk emerged in the nineteenth century
and remains current, but when used as a derogatory term to apply to people, it is
usually applied to women.

Even when used in a derogatory manner

the meaning of the term gossip has retained
its implications of solidarity.

Withers, writing under the pseudonym of James West (lo), found gossiping
to be at the center of group standards in “Plainville,” the equally pseu-
donymous small town he studied in the early forties. Although there were only
two hundred seventy-five people in the entire town, there were numerous
groups of gossipers divided along the standard lines of age and sex. Withers
identifies loafing and gossiping as the main functions of these groups for their
members. Rut analyzing them on the group level, the various groups served as
nodes from which emanated particular standards and judgments; hence, With-
ers referred to various groupings as “gossip cells.” There were groups consisting
of old men, old women, young married women, a “wild set,” etc. But all of the
groups in “Plain~ille” had a gossiping aspect. The merchants worked long
hours, b u t only some of those hours were devoted to merchandising; most were
spent gossiping Coworkers, gamblers, congregations, and even the women’s
club melded together into separate, crosscutting cliques of gossipers.
The whole texture seemed to be conservative, with the various cells enforc-
ing traditional morality, even as that morality was crumbling and disappearing
in the larger society The old men were seen as suspicious of the young, but
were much more charitable than outsiders believed. The old women were
especially feared, but one wonders if Withers, as a male, was able to observe any

]ohnsim’~Dictioiimry is probably the most famous example. Since originality is not valued in
thr creation of dictionaries. much of his work was anticipated by prior dictionaries by less eminent
authors. i\lthorigh Skinner in 1668 (9) and Bailey ( 1 ) both reported only the old meaning of gossip as
godparent. b y 1730 Ihiley in a revised edition ( 2 ) gave the same female and derogatory mraning as
Johnson.
 How the “Gossip” Became a Woman

of their sessions where they “swapped the dirt.” To Withers, the most out-
standing element beside the vitality of the various gossip cells was the uniform-
ity with which various groups upheld the traditional standards of “ Plainville.”
In a survey of the literature on gossiping and scandal, Max Gluckman (4) has
argued that gossiping ties a group together. Gossip about the past is a way in
which a group thrusts its roots back into the past, creating a past history for the
members in relation to one another. Since gossiping is enjoyable and tends to
take place between friends, gossiping ties friends together. Since gossiping
tends to weave a complex tapestry of multitudinous scandals, it creates a kind of
badge of membership since any competent member must understand the group
scandals and the unwritten rules as to what constitutes legitimate gossiping. The
more exclusive a group, the greater its gossiping. Professional groups, such as
lawyers and social scientists, high status groups who wish to exclude parvenus,
and minority groups all gossip a great deal since their exclusiveness increases the
members’ motivation to preserve group unity.
While both Gluckman and Withers saw the relation between gossiping and
solidarity, neither went on to consider the negative effect applied to female
gossiping as a way of controlling female solidarity. Withers comes very close to
analyzing the inconsistency of application of the stereotype “gossip.” He com-
ments that there is a particular resentment toward the old women. Although he
himself comments that the role of the old women in gossiping is at least partly
mythical, he goes on to treat the stereotypes as if it were reality. Old women
who visit a great deal are described as “canvassing the town.” Withers suggests
that the old women are resented partially because there are so many of them
(twenty-one widows, less than 8 percent of the town). Yet he seems insensitive
to one of his own observations. Two of the most feared “gossips” did their
gossiping with no one but each other; according to his description, their most
hostile act was to spend long hours staring out the window. Clearly they could
not be a source of worry about spreading rumors since they gossiped almost
exclusively with one another. It is more plausible to argue that a patriarchal
society resents female s ~ l i d a r i t y . ~
The meaning of “gossip” lies in its inconsistent use. The noun is a negative
stereotype used against women. If two people engage in the same behavior,
talking too much, the woman is likely to be called a gossip, while the man will
not (3). Ironically, a man who talks too much is often called “an old woman,” a
phrase that manages to blame womankind for the man’s verbosity.

The attempt to control female solidarity

is especially strong in Chicano (Mexican-American) society.

Chicano women are, or a t least were, discouraged from associating with

other non-kin-related women. When Rube1 observed a small Texas city with
9,000 Chicanos in the early fifties, he discovered only two cases of regular

a Cluckman also almost discovers the inconsistency of usage. He notes the negative effect
applied to the term, but then uses that only in a mild little joke in his last paragraph; his analysis
remains untouched by the fact that he is dealing with a negative stereotype.

I 79
Journal of Communication, Winter 1977

visiting between female neighbors in a period of t w o years: both were social

isolates. For example, one was a widow with no friends and no family in the city;
the rules did not allow her to visit anyone; both women were negatively
sanctioned for their visiting (8). The connection between the “gossip’’ stereo-
type and the prevention of female solidarity comes out in the comments of an
informant in another Chicano community (6):
Sonic men cun‘t stand women to gossip. M y husband can’t stand another
woman to be in the house when he comes home, when he’s tired und
disgusted with the day’s work and he don’t feel like having anybody there.
Gossip they don’t like-they claini that’s what starts a j g h t with menfolks.
The Chicano lady summarizes the problem. Women together can make
trouble for men. Therefore Chicano women are discouraged from associating
with non-related women and are not to associate with any women when “he” is
home. Any relation between women (Chicano or non-Chicano) is subject to the
charge of being a gossip and hence any woman who relates to other women is
subject to stigmatization as a “gossip.” Thus for the “gossip” to develop social
ties outside of the institutions of male dominance becomes the major sin.

REFERENCES
I . Bail?).. Nathan. Dictionuriuni Rritainictrm. London: E. Bell. 1721.
2. Bailey, Nathan. Dictioiiuriunt Rritainicunt. London: T. Cox. 1730.
3. Blumc.nthal. Allwrt. Snlull Town Stiifl. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932.
4. Gluckman, Max. “Gossip and Scandal.” Current Anthropology 4, 1963, pp. 307-316.
5. Johnson, Samuel. A Dictioitury of the English Language. London: W. Strahan, 1755.
6. Kitsv, Ari. C,‘Itraritl~,ri.sitio.
New York: Free Press, 1968.
7. hlurry, James. Henry Bradley, W. A . Craigie, and C. T . Onions (Eds.)A New Dictionury ofthe
Eitglislr Lunguugc on Historical Principles. London: Oxford University Press. 1919.
8. Ruht.1, Arthur. “Concepts of Disease in Mexican-American Culture.” American Anthropologist
62. 1960, pp. 795-815.
9. Skinner, Stephtm. Etyniologicon Linguu Anglicunue. London: T. Roycroft, 1668.
10. West, James. Ylainoille, U.S.A. New York: Columbia University Press, 1945.
11. Wilensky, Harold-. “The Uneven Distribution of Leisure.” Social Problems 9,1961, pp. 321356.

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