Sex in Nursery Rhymes

            Who would have thought about nursery rhymes containing all types of perversion?  Do the writings and musings of long forgotten authors have hidden (and not so hidden) sexual overtones?  After reading the renderings from the children’s book, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, first published in Great Britain by Ernest Nister, I believe the answer is, yes.  A few of the rhymes, which I selected, have both immoral and subliminal messages imbedded within the text.  For example, one poem (only eight lines) entitled Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, (page 22) hinted about two women who lived together.  Could they be lesbians?  This is left up to the readers’ digression to decide.  Writing in this fashion appears to be the prevailing method.  That is, allude to the fact without coming out and stating the obvious.  Another example of sex in nursery rhymes is the little ditty entitled, As I was Going Up Pippen Hill (page 41).  The last verse states:      

 

Little Miss, pretty miss,

Blessing light upon you! 

If I had half-a crown a day,

I’d spend it all on you.  

          This sounds a lot like paying for sex.  Still yet another: Rub-A-Dub-Dub (page 89).  The very first line goes like this: Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Three men in a tub.  Really?  Hmm, makes you think.  How about enticing a “pretty girl” to take a ride?  “Forever”!  Yes, this happens in, Up at Piccadilly, Oh! (page 91)  

Up at Piccadilly, Oh!

The coachman takes his stand

And when he meets a pretty girl,

He takes her by the hand. 

Whip away for every, oh! 

Drive away so clever, oh!

All the way to Bristol, oh! 

He drives her four-in-hand.

One evil meaning of the poem cold be kidnapping of a “pretty girl” to do with her as he pleases.  This is despicable!  These are but a few examples which I located in the book of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.  To be sure, some of the rhymes are innocent; however, I think these few examples prove there is a reoccurring theme of sex in nursery rhymes.

Bond, B., (2008). Information-seeking practices during the sexual development of lesbian, gay, and   bisexual individuals.