Respondents to the Violence Against Women survey were asked about the socio-demographic characteristics of current partners only . . .

The child was a charge of the nanny.

It was precisely this labor of performing ladyhood that allowed the dictionary definition of lady to shift from primarily meaning “a woman of high social position” to a “woman who behaves in a polite way.” The shift from position to behavior did not completely unmoor “lady” from race and class hierarchies, but it did require a different set of behaviors and rituals of ladyness in order to maintain those hierarchies.

Now they can no more hear thy ghittern's tune, / For venturing syllables that ill beseem / The quiet glooms of such a piteous theme.