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Etymology of Puttanesca Sauce (Eugenio Battaglia, Italy, 05/22/17 10:27 am)John Eipper (5 May) asked about puttanesca sauce.
In the good old days when officially state-regulated brothels were lawful, until 20 September 1958, nothing was more mannerly and friendly than these clean, medically checked and strictly controlled places.
Pasta alla puttanesca, however, according to one legend, is said to come from the dinners that were arranged in some places in the countryside around Naples. Customers would bring in any kind of stuff and the young ladies would cook.
The recipes, therefore, are varied. However, "puttanesca" will always be a sauce made with capers, olives, anchovies, garlic, tomatoes, hot pepper, marjoram and whatever you still want to add, such as parsley.
It is also said that late one evening, a restaurant had run out of food when a group of customers came in and asked for anything, even for a "Puttanata" of pasta. The cook mixed what was left and it was highly appreciated.
JE comments: I like the first explanation better, but either one is convincing. Folk etymologies are endlessly fascinating, and over the years, with enough reinforcement, they become "true."
Eugenio: what led to the closing of the legal brothels in 1958?
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Comments/Replies
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Buonismo and the End of the (Legal) Italian Brothel
(Eugenio Battaglia, Italy
05/23/17 9:56 AM)
John Eipper asked about Italy's proscription of legal and regulated prostitution in 1958. It was a result of the arrival of a democracy, "buonismo" (goodism?), one determined socialist lady, and perhaps some UN declaration against prostitution.
So now all the principal streets around Italy have open brothels with no checks at all and every possible type of crime, illness, and drugs.
JE comments: It's hard to argue against goodism in theory, but in practice?
WAIS doesn't shy away from frank discussions, but with a few exceptions we've never addressed comparative prostitution law. Some nations with legal or institutionalized prostitution surprise me: Turkey and Bangladesh are examples. (This is according to Wikipedia...not personal experience.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_law
From the above, it's clear that policies towards prostitution cannot be generalized along a left-right or liberal-conservative divide.
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"One Determined Socialist Lady": Lina Merlin
(Roy Domenico, USA
05/23/17 11:52 AM)
In answering JE's question on the criminalization of prostitution in Italy, Eugenio Battaglia (23 May) mentioned some factors that may have pushed for it--democracy and buonismo, the UN and "one determined socialist lady." That would have been Lina Merlin--a socialist deputy from the Veneto. She gave her name to the "Merlin Law," ending legal prostitution in 1958. For all her trouble, however, the Socialists purged her from the Party, not supporting her in a 1961 run.
She then moved over to support the Christian Democrats (DC) in their unsuccessful 1974 referendum to end divorce (which had become legal by 1970 parliamentary votes.) The DC preferred to leave these issues alone in the hope that they'd just go away. It would certainly be awkward for a Catholic party to support prostitution--although it had been legal in the papal states. Maybe better than others, the Holy Mother Church and the Christian Democracy understood weaknesses of the flesh and the sins they lead to--so in the fine Italian tradition: regulate it, turn away and hope for the best.
JE comments: I can see the criminalization of prostitution as a measure ostensibly in favor of women, but how could ending divorce be viewed that way? Wikipedia says nothing more than "La socialista Merlin fu una convinta antidivorzista." (There's no Wiki bio in English.) I see no indication that she ever married--perhaps that's why she was against divorce.
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Attitudes Towards Divorce in Italy, 1950s and '60s
(Roy Domenico, USA
05/24/17 5:11 PM)
I am literally writing on this topic--part of my manuscript on Catholic cultural politics in the 1950s and 1960s. So, if JE forgives me, I can strike here while the iron's hot.
As to the reasoning behind women's suspicion of divorce, a few issues. First, this is pre-feminist Italy. Most women were socially conservative. They followed Church teachings and voted Christian Democrat (DC). The two big arguments from the DC--often fronted by prominent DC women deputies--was that divorce victimized women by allowing the husbands to cut the ties and run; and it harmed the children. Remember, good Catholic wives were--ideally--mothers. All DC propaganda promoted "Mamma." In Italian mythology she's right up there with il Papa, San Francesco and Padre Pio.
When divorce went through at least the Catholics got a 5-year waiting period, later, I think, reduced to 3 in the 1980s. But still, divorce remains at pretty low levels in Italy, much lower than the US, and with a big stigma attached to it.
JE comments: Social causes can create unexpected bedfellows. We take it for granted that legal divorce is an issue of women's rights. But who are the "we"? Roy Domenico takes us to another time and place, in which an inviolable marriage was considered a good thing for women. The situation vis-à-vis divorce it Italy is somewhat parallel to the 19th-century feminist movement in the US, where prohibitionism was a goal almost as important as achieving the vote.
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Attitudes Towards Divorce in Italy, 1950s and '60s
(Roy Domenico, USA
05/24/17 5:11 PM)
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"One Determined Socialist Lady": Lina Merlin
(Roy Domenico, USA
05/23/17 11:52 AM)