History Main / BandOfBrothels

This is an organization that supervises, um, you know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Ladies of negotiable affection. Those in the oldest profession. Those who turn tricks for goods and/or money. They who walk certain streets. Soiled Doves. Women who follow camps. Girls who are on call. Courtesans. In groups: A Tray of Tarts, a Blazon of Strumpets, an Anthology of Pros. Or pick another [[HurricaneOfEuphemisms euphemism]]. In other words: ''[[BrutalHonesty Prostitutes.]]''

* SpiderRobinson's ''Callahan's Lady'' series is about a bar/brothel run by Lady Sally, wife of [[CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Mike Callahan]]. The working girls have generous benefits, are well taken care of, and the sex is consensual and mutually supportive.

*** It's amazing [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean what some people can do with a labial-palatal consonant]].

*** The temple prostitution of Ishtar is OlderThanDirt. Makes sense, as Ishtar was ''literally'' the goddess of sex.

* Spider Robinson's ''Callahan's Lady'' series is about a bar/brothel run by Lady Sally, wife of [[CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Mike Callahan]]. The working girls have generous benefits, are well taken care of, and the sex is consensual and mutually supportive.

*** So they're [[Discworld seamstresses]] (hem, hem)?

* Casca from ''{{Berserk}}'' was taken in the protection of a band of prostitutes in a refugee camp when she wandered away from the protection of the elf cave that Guts left her in. So protective are they of the wayward, insane girl that they bandaged Casca up as a syphilis victim in order to keep the lecherous eyes of men off of her, as they did not force her into prostitution due to her condition. The girls are led by Luca, [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold one of the few genuinely nice characters]] in the Berserkerverse, who acts much more as a [[TeamMom mother figure]] rather than a madame, splitting her shares evenly among the other girls and coming to their aid in the most dangerous of situations.

This is an organization that supervises, um, you know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Ladies of negotiable affection. Those in the oldest profession. Those who turn tricks for goods and/or money. They who walk certain streets. Soiled Doves. Women who follow camps. Girls who are on call. Courtesans. Or pick another [[HurricaneOfEuphemisms euphemism]]. In other words: ''[[BrutalHonesty Prostitutes.]]''

* Casca from ''{{Berserk}}'' was taken in the protection of a band of prostitutes in a refugee camp when she wandered away from the protection of the elf cave that Guts left her in. So protective are they of the wayward, insane girl that they bandaged Casca up as a syphilis victim in order to keep the lecherous eyes of men off of her, as they did not force her into prostitution due to her condition. The girls are led by [[TeamMom Luca]], [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold one of the few genuinely nice characters]] in the Berserkerverse.

[[folder:Comics]]
* The prostitutes of Old Town in ''SinCity'', who've banded together into an army to keep the police and pimps out of the district.

[[folder:FanFic]]
* In The Basalt City Chronicles, the Order of the Courtesan (basically a "saint" in the Smilodon religion) oversees baths and brothels. This creates some InUniverse ValuesDissonance, as in [[GeneCatlow Furriston]] brothels are illegal due to their tragic history.

* RobertAHeinlein novel ''Friday''. The California Confederacy has a hooker's union, which sponsored legislation to have the government train and license women who wanted to be prostitutes, then pay them a subsidy not to sell themselves. The union did this to reduce the total number of prostitutes so they could keep the union scale high and make more money themselves.

This is an organization that supervises, um, you know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Ladies of negotiable affection. Those in the oldest profession.[[hottip:*:[[DidNotDoTheResearch Not Witch Doctor. Or hunter. Or Gatherer. Or farmer.]] Or Flint Knapper.]] Those who turn tricks for goods and/or money. They who walk certain streets. Soiled Doves. Women who follow camps. Girls who are on call. Courtesans. Or pick another [[HurricaneOfEuphemisms euphemism]]. In other words: ''[[BrutalHonesty Prostitutes.]]''

* Religious institutions have often taken on the role of "supervisor of the brothels," typically maintaining standards of cleanliness of facilities and ensuring the welfare of the prostitutes. In some cases, this was because the religious authorities held a "better allowed, safe, and under our control than prohibited, dangerous, and out of our hands" attitudes; in other cases, this was because the prostitution was a religious ritual/duty.

* Religious institutions have often taken on the role of "supervisor of the brothels," typically maintaining standards of cleanliness of facilities and ensuring the welfare of the prostitutes.

* The Cult of Ashera mentioned in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, which used cult prostitutes to spread their metavirus.

* In 'Unforgiven' a band of bad cowboys badly injure a working girl. Her fellow ladies of the night pool their resources and put a bounty on the heads of the wrongdoers. Clint Eastwood's particular brand of badassery ensues.

** [[IncrediblyLamePun Hail Hydra!]]