Everything about Ribald totally explained
Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to vulgar. It is a third, and somewhat neglected, genre of sexual entertainment. It is often confused with
pornography and
erotica. It is also referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry".
Unlike either pornography or erotica, which play
sexual intercourse or
sexual fetishes "straight", ribaldry aims at
humor. Sexual situations and titillation are presented in ribald material more for the purpose of poking fun at the foibles and weaknesses that manifest themselves in
human sexuality, rather than to present sexual stimulation either excitingly or artistically. Also, ribaldry may use sex as a
metaphor to illustrate some non-sexual concern, in which case ribaldry may verge on the territory of
satire.
Like any humour, ribaldry may be read as conventional or
subversive. Ribaldry typically depends on a shared background of sexual conventions and values, and its
comedy generally depends on seeing those conventions broken. Depending on their attitude, viewers can perceive this either as poking fun on the poor souls who suffer the consequences of breaking the
taboos, or as flouting the taboos themselves.
The ritual taboo-breaking that's a usual counterpart of ribaldry underlies its controversial nature and explains why ribaldry is frequently a subject of
censorship. Ribaldry, whose usual aim is
not "merely" to be sexually stimulating, often does address larger concerns than mere sexual appetite. However, being presented in the form of comedy, these larger concerns seem to censors to be un-serious. Moreover, the presence of satirical content in ribaldry tends to arouse the wrath of authorities, who may overlook more explicit sexual entertainments in order to prosecute comedians whom they perceive as attacking conventions they wish to maintain.
Examples
An example of an ongoing (approx. 400 years) tension between censorship and ribaldry can be seen in the continuing story of the
De Brevitate Vitae, a ribald song which, in many European and UK-influenced universities, is both a student beer-drinking song and an anthem sung by official university choirs at public graduation ceremonies. The private and public versions of the song contain vastly different words.
Ribaldry has likely been around for the whole history of the human race, and is present to some degree in every culture. Works like
Aristophanes'
Lysistrata, the
Menaechmi by
Plautus, the
Cena Trimalchionis by
Petronius, and the
Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass of
Apuleius are ribald classics from ancient
Europe.
Geoffrey Chaucer's "
The Miller's Tale" from his
Canterbury Tales is a classic medieval example.
François Rabelais showed himself to be a master of ribaldry (technically called
grotesque body) in his
Gargantua.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by
Laurence Sterne and
The Lady's Dressing Room by
Jonathan Swift.
Mark Twain's long-suppressed
1601 certainly falls in this category.
More recent works like
Candy,
Barbarella,
L'Infermiera, the comedic works of
Russ Meyer, and
Little Annie Fanny are probably better classified as ribaldry than as either pornography or erotica.
Bawdy song
A
Bawdy song is a humorous song which emphasis the physical song of sexual relationships. Historically these songs tend to be confined to groups of young males, either as students or in an environment where alcohol of flowing freely. An early collection was "
Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy" published between 1698 and 1720. Sailor's songs tend to quite frank about the exploitative nature of the relationship between men and women. There are many examples of folk songs in which a man encounters a woman in the countryside. This is followed by a short conversation, and then intercourse. Neither side demonstrates any shame or regret. If the woman becomes pregnant, the man goes back to sea.
Rugby songs are often bawdy. Examples of bawdy folk songs are: "
Seventeen Come Sunday" and "
The Ballad of Eskimo Nell". In 1892 "The Scottish Students Song Book" (ed by
John Stuart Blackie) was published, containing 200 songs. Many were saucy. In modern times
Hash House Harriers have taken on the role of tradition-bearers for this kind of song.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ribald'.
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