“Se la violenza è inferta al corpo della meretrice”. Una controversia dottrinale tra tardo medioevo e prima età moderna (appunti per una discussione sui gender troubles)

Under the centuries-old system of ius commune, the whore is considered unworthy of the law. But what should we do if she suf-fers sexual violence? Should the attacker be punished? Does the exposure of the body in the area of the public market force her to provide sexual services?This contribution aims to draw attention to some of the so-lutions that jurists, between the late Middle Ages and the early modern age, have given to these questions.In particular, it intends to highlight how the idea of self-ow-nership/property of one’s own body referring to the prostitute – linked to the old patriarchal world and male hegemony, and abo-ve all not yet artificially separated by theological premises – has played an important strategic and inclusive role. Close to being fully elaborated as an open and non-sexualised category, self-ownership has made it possible – in response to the specific demands of this long season, therefore without any egali-tarian intent – to set aside the “natural” and biological conception of women’s behaviour, and to attribute to women an identity and a possibility of affirmation almost always denied elsewhere.