Bad Reputation Essay

Who Really Cared About a Bad Reputation? Joan Jett’s song Bad Reputation started controversy relating to the behavior of women, an issue that has been around long before the twentieth century. During the Medieval Ages, a person’s reputation, gender, and social status all determined their place in society. One’s position then determined their possibility of acquittal by jury. The question is, why? Why was the value of one’s reputation placed so high by society and what were the effects it had on different types of people? In most instances, reputation only became an issue when it came to conviction. Verdicts of jury trials didn’t necessarily represent guilt or innocence of the accused, but rather the degree to which the community felt threatened by the accused (Hanawalt (4)). A person accused of a crime was more likely to be exonerated if he or she was of noble reputation. This being said, anyone of ill reputation, or anyone who has committed a previous crime, has a higher possibility of being convicted or punished. To put into simpler terms, the bad guy goes to jail if he had a previous offense on record. If someone was accused of a crime but had no other proven offenses, then they would be acquitted

However, in medieval times it was an essential part of everyday life. Social class and gender satisfy the question of why reputation was so important. In order for a man to progress through society and maintain social status, a good reputation was imperative. For a woman, a good reputation was only necessary to uphold the man’s reputation. If a woman were given a label of ill reputation then the reputation of the man would lower considerably. Reputation was significant in society as to ensure a greater chance of acquittal in a trial by jury. Men with a higher social standing and a good reputation were more likely absolve any accusations than men of low class or a