Sexuality at the Fair!!

As you can see, the fairs are a meeting place for men and women, where promiscuous behavior is expected. There are many people letting loose, dancing, drinking and ignoring the morality laws that typically govern the everyday behavior. Many of these people will eventually indulge in guiltless sexual behavior. Luckily, we are not at a hiring fair. Sexual promiscuity is never more prevalent than at hiring fairs because they attract servants and those of the lower class[1] .
     In London there are over 10,000 prostitutes, it seems like they line every street corner, sadly most of who are teenagers. So do expect to see many at the fairs while we continue our tour. Also, try to avoid the temptation. This scandals behavior has caused and continues to cause the spread of many venereal diseases [2].  "Mollies" and "queens" were both nicknames for prostitutes, as well as gay men. At the fairs homosexual behavior exists, however unlike prostitution, it is more latent. When the public becomes aware that someone is homosexual, they would ostracize that person. Many times when homosexuals proclaimed their sexuality, they lost their job and their reputations were forever tainted [3].
     This sexual behavior at the fairs is so commonplace, many authors and songwriters included such encounters in their novels and music collections. Many popular ballads and popular novels contained selections about the promiscuous behavior of fairgoers. If you listen closely, you can hear the man on the side of the road singing the "song on the 'Wrekington Hiring,'
… they danc't agyen till it was day,
An'then went hyem, but by the way,
There was some had rare fun they say,
An, found it nine months after-O…

For those of you that have readHenry Fielding's Joseph Andrews you understand what I am saying. There is a scene in Joseph Andrews where the chambermaid, Betty, was swept away at the fair. Author Henry Fielding wrote that Betty was "long deaf to all the sufferings of her lovers till one day, at the neighboring fair, the rhetoric of John the hostler, with a new straw hat and a pint of wine, made a second conquest over her." Some may claim Fielding is exaggerating this occurrence. Yet, I assure you I have seen such foul behavior with my own eyes [4].

 

Next Stop: Credits, Annotated Bibliography or the nearest fair!

Fairs Home  May Fair  Bartholomew Fair  Southwark Fair
ECE Home  Annotated Bibliography  Credits