The practice of working as a prostitute; sexual immorality or promiscuity; sometimes used to mean betrayal or unfaithfulness.
From Middle English harlot + -ry suffix denoting practice or profession. The word entered English via Old French around the 14th century, with ultimate origins debated but possibly Germanic.
Harlotry appears in 47 places in the King James Bible (translated 1611), where it became a marker of sin—yet historians note the term was specifically gendered, used to shame women while male sexual behavior went largely unmentioned in such judgmental terms.
Derived from Old French harlot; applied almost exclusively to women despite male equivalents existing. The term encoded moral judgment tied to female sexuality in ways male equivalents (cheating, deception) did not.
Use 'sex work' or situational descriptions instead. If historical analysis requires the term, contextualize the gendered judgment embedded in the language.
["sex work","prostitution","transactional sexual relationship"]
Sex worker organizers and scholars have critiqued the criminalization and gendered stigma embedded in words like 'harlotry'; contemporary ethical usage acknowledges this history.
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