Pornocracies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A political system where the ruling authority derives power largely from sexual exploitation and the commodification of sexuality
2. A governance model characterized by the intertwining of political authority with the control and privilege of sexual services
3. An administration influenced predominantly by the interests of those profiting from sexual labor and trade, often leading to moral and ethical controversies

Etymology: The most striking part of this word's history is the papacy it names. The "pornocracy" is the name historians give to a sixty-year stretch of the tenth century, beginning in 904 with the reign of Pope Sergius III. Sergius reputedly had his two immediate predecessors, Leo V and Christopher, murdered, and he was the only pope said to have fathered an illegitimate son who later became pope himself, John XI. The word itself is a modern coinage built from Ancient Greek. "Pórnē" meant "female prostitute," and "-kratía" meant "rule" or "government," so the plural names several regimes in which the sex trade is seen as shaping public power. It was probably borrowed from German "Pornokratie," first found in the writings of the Austrian-born Biblical scholar Alfred Edersheim (1825–1889). The roots are ancient, but the compound is not. Like many scientific and scholarly terms, it was assembled in the modern era from classical parts rather than inherited from the Greeks themselves.