pornocracyn.
/pɔːˈnɒkrəsi/, U.S. /pɔrˈnɑkrəsi/ Rule by prostitutes. Frequently used spec. of the government of Rome during the first half of the 10th cent. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > rule of any class or persons > [noun] > of harlots
strumpetocracy1818
pornocracy1860
1860 A. Edersheim tr. J. H. Kurtz Ch. Hist. ii. §126. 379 For half a century Theodora..and her equally infamous daughters,..filled the See of Peter with their paramours, their sons, and grandsons,..(the so-called Pornocracy).
1882 P. Schaff et al. Relig. Encycl. I. 484 A century of shameless intrigue and fighting—the period of the Pornocracy.
1900 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 5 697 In successive chapters it describes, both historically and in their present form, the politician,..pornocracy and scandals, [etc.].
1947 W. Lowrie Art in Early Church 148 In the Middle Ages..St. Paul was chosen with great political sagacity as the principal support of the imperial theocracy in its crusade against the ‘pornocracy’ of the papacy.
1988 Sunday Times 17 Apr. g5/1 It is a commonplace, indeed a cliché, to describe the 10th-century papacy as the age of pornocracy.
2004 Toronto Star (Nexis) 5 Apr. a15 These thugs function as ‘preachers’, daily conveying an unsanctified gospel of hedonism, pornocracy and lawlessness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1860