{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.molly-house","code":"thing-q2918369","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q2918369/","name":"molly house","alternateNames":[],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.2.0-wave.4","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Physical world and living systems","entryKind":"thing","plane":"PHY","domain":["PHY.BLT"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"A tavern, coffee house or private room in 18th-century England, especially London, where men who had sex with men met socially, drank, danced and formed relationships, the best known being Mother Clap s in Holborn, which was raided in 1726 leading to trials and executions; molly houses are studied as early sites of a distinct urban subculture and are described here from historical scholarship.","purpose":"Let an agent explain molly houses and their historical context, relay evidence, raids and trials from historical scholarship with attribution, describe their significance for the history of sexuality, and distinguish molly houses from later gay bars, from brothels and from the term molly as a slur of the period.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Early subculture","London focus","Persecution and trials","Historical scholarship"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"understand","name":"Understand","description":"What a molly house was.","layers":[{"id":"definition","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","findings":[{"id":"definition-finding","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","questions":[{"text":"What was a molly house, and how does it differ from a gay bar, a brothel and the slur molly?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Is the question about history, a specific house or the history of sexuality?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"examples","name":"Examples","description":"Examples.","findings":[{"id":"examples-finding","name":"Examples","description":"Examples.","questions":[{"text":"What is known about Mother Clap s and other molly houses?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific house?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"history","name":"History","description":"History.","layers":[{"id":"life","name":"Life","description":"Social life.","findings":[{"id":"life-finding","name":"Life","description":"Life.","questions":[{"text":"What do sources reveal about social life, rituals and language in molly houses, as historians interpret them?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which references are standard?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"persecution","name":"Persecution","description":"Raids and trials.","findings":[{"id":"persecution-finding","name":"Persecution","description":"Persecution.","questions":[{"text":"How did the Society for the Reformation of Manners and the courts act against molly houses, and what were the consequences?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which sources are cited?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"significance","name":"Significance","description":"Significance.","layers":[{"id":"subculture","name":"Subculture","description":"Subculture debate.","findings":[{"id":"subculture-finding","name":"Subculture","description":"Subculture.","questions":[{"text":"What do historians such as Trumbach and Norton argue about molly houses and the emergence of a subculture, with positions attributed?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Is the presentation attributed and free of anachronism?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"terminology","name":"Terminology","description":"Terminology.","findings":[{"id":"terminology-finding","name":"Terminology","description":"Terminology.","questions":[{"text":"What did molly mean in the period, and how should it be used today?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits LGBT slang history?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"context","name":"Context","description":"Legacy and culture.","layers":[{"id":"legacy","name":"Legacy","description":"Legacy.","findings":[{"id":"legacy-finding","name":"Legacy","description":"Legacy.","questions":[{"text":"How do molly houses figure in LGBT history and memory?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits LGBT history in the United Kingdom?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"culture","name":"Culture","description":"Culture.","findings":[{"id":"culture-finding","name":"Culture","description":"Culture.","questions":[{"text":"How have molly houses been depicted in theatre and fiction, such as Mother Clap s Molly House by Ravenhill?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific work?","kind":"action"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Describe molly houses as places of social life for men who loved men in 18th-century England, from historical sources.","Explain the 1726 raid and trials with care for the people persecuted."],"mustNot":["Sensationalise or moralise about the people who met there.","Use the period slur as a neutral modern term.","Apply modern identity labels to historical people as certain.","Name living descendants or link people to the history without evidence."],"requiresHuman":["Publishing names of individuals from trial records in new popular content."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Men who met there were raided, imprisoned and executed for who they loved.","The history matters to LGBT communities as part of their heritage."],"affectedParties":["LGBT communities","The people persecuted","Historians"]},"owners":{"steward":"Nobody: historical places; archives and historians keep the records.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q41176","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"building","type":"related","note":"in registry terms"},{"target":"Mother Clap s molly house","type":"related","note":"raided in 1726"},{"target":"history of sexuality","type":"related"},{"target":"gay bar","type":"related","note":"a modern venue"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.molly-house","Wikidata: Q2918369 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2918369)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"required","items":["Mother Clap s raid: 1726 year","period: late 17th to 18th century note","sources: Old Bailey proceedings, Society for the Reformation of Manners records list"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"required","items":["18th-century meeting places of men who had sex with men","Mother Clap s molly house, 1726 raids","Gay bars are modern; brothels sold sex; molly was a period slur","Not a visible object; historical taverns and rooms."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["explain the phenomenon","relay evidence and events","describe significance","distinguish related places and terms"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Sensationalising or moralising","Anachronistic identity labels","Using the period slur as a neutral term"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["No regulation; historical laws such as the Buggery Act of 1533 under which men were prosecuted"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Not applicable; a historical meeting place.","molly houses in taverns and coffee houses","private molly houses in lodgings","Mother Clap s and other named houses","raids and trials of the 1690s and 1720s"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q2918369: molly house","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2918369","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Molly house","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_house","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should Mother Clap s molly house be a separate entry?","How should historical scholarship be linked?","How should period terminology be recorded?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q2918369/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q2918369/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-13T14:10:43Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"filled","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-06T19:51:58+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass"},"score":1.0}}