History Main / BandOfBrothels

Certainly a WeirdTradeUnion. Sometimes the HookerWithAHeartOfGold will be a member; there's sure to be at least one MissKitty, possibly running the whole thing.

* The creation of an association of this kind is the main plot in MarioVargasLlosa's novel ''Pantaleon y las Visitadoras'' (known in English as "''CaptainPantojaAndTheSpecialService''").

** Nandi's brothel is rather bizarre, because while on one hand it's a standard brothel run by a madam, it's also something of a mutual-aid society (given Nandi's training).

This is an organization that supervises, um, you know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Women 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.]]''

*** [[FunWithAcronyms Is CGEL pronounced "kegel"?]]

** [[MarvelComics . . . you know what, I don't even want to know.]]

*** The term devadasi originally described a Hindu religious practice in which girls were "married" and dedicated to a deity (deva or devi). In addition to taking care of the temple, and performing rituals they learned and practiced Bharatanatyam and other classical Indian arts traditions, and enjoyed a high social status. Over time, the institution became identified with prostitution.

* The Sex Workers Outreach Project USA protested against VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto's use of DisposableSexWorker.

** Wait...how can you be ''sexually'' erudite?
*** It's amazing what some people can do with a labial-palatal consonant.
*** Or [[http://xkcd.com/853/ consecutive vowels]].

* ''IslandsInTheNet'' by Bruce Sterling has The Church of Ishtar along these lines.

* The German equivalent is called Hydra e.V.[[note]]''eingetragener Verein'', "Registered Association"]]

* The German equivalent is called Hydra e.V.

* The Sex Workers Outreach Project USA protested against GrandTheftAuto's use of DisposableSexWorker.

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', there's the [[UnusualEuphemism Seamstresses' Guild]]. "Hem Hem." Let's just say that they don't sew a lot.
** Except that, in ''Night Watch'', we find out that some of them do.
*** The latter are called needlewomen and present for convenience's sake, there to cater to the kind of people who make the mistake of going to a "massage parlour" for an actual massage.
*** There's a British English expression (a bit dated now I think): "plain sewing" which refers to a sexual service... arguably, a form of massage.
** Seattle in the 1800s used the same term. Their motto was "A stitch in time will cost you a dime. All night alterations for a dollar."
*** Makes some sense, given that in those days sewing was an acceptable form of self-employment for women, so many women who actually engaged in less legitimate activities would put that on any legal forms as their job.

** Makes some sense, given that in those days sewing was an acceptable form of self-employment for women, so many women who actually engaged in less legitimate activities would put that on any legal forms as their job.

* In ''{{Discworld}}'', there's the [[UnusualEuphemism Seamstresses' Guild]]. "Hem Hem." Let's just say that they don't sew a lot.

* The creation of an association of this kind is the main plot in MarioVargasLlosa's novel ''Pantaleon y las Visitadoras'' (known in English as "''{{Captain Pantoja and the Special Service}}''").

* ''{{Islands in the Net}}'' by Bruce Sterling has The Church of Ishtar along these lines.

* Some {{Warhammer40000}} novels imply that institutionalized prostitution is relatively common.

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

----

* The creation of an association of this kind is the main plot in MarioVargasLlosa's novel ''Pantaleon y las Visitadoras'' (known in English as "''Captain Pantoja and the Special Service''").

* ''Islands in the Net'' by Bruce Sterling has The Church of Ishtar along these lines.

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

There are some particular benefits of unionisation in the World's Oldest Profession; they might provide daycare for a young SonOfAWhore, or [[WifeBasherBasher security against unruly customers.]]

Certainly a WeirdTradeUnion. Sometimes the HookerWithAHeartOfGold will be a member.

This is an organization that supervises, um, you know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Women 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.]]''

* 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 Berserkverse, 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.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Buck Godot|Zap Gun for Hire}}'' stories by PhilFoglio, Buck's friend Louisa dem Five runs a brothel, the Velvet Fist -- and has established, as of the "Gallimaufry" arc, a Velvet Fist franchise on the title SpaceStation.

[[folder:FanFic]]

* In ''{{Film/Unforgiven}}'' two 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.

* KushielsLegacy by Jacqueline Carey: Prostitution is a sacred profession; there is no shame in it whatsoever, and the prostitutes (male and female) are all [[HighClassCallGirl erudite and intelligent]]. There is a system of houses, each [[FloralThemeNaming named after a flower]] and specializing in an...aspect of sexuality (though, in this world, [[EveryoneIsBi alternative couples are common]]); for example, Valerian specializes in prostitutes who [[TooKinkyToTorture like pain]], to put it delicately, and Cereus house is famed for its particularly erudite (verbally and sexually) servants.

* RobertAHeinlein novel ''{{Literature/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.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Old World of Darkness}}'' game ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' has the Aethera Inamorata, a faction within the Children of Gaia [[{{Splat}} tribe]] composed of sexual healers. They're all about the spirituality of sex and maintains the tribe's close ties to the Cult of Ecstacy tradition of Mages. They were originally known as "Houris" and/or "The Hours," and claim that agents of the game's EldritchAbomination mutated that name into "whore" and turned sex into something seen as dirty and shameful by society.

** In London the brothels of Southwark were owned by the Bishop of Winchester.

** Slightly further in the past, most of the..."quality" prostitutes were found in temples.
*** The term devadasi originally described a Hindu religious practice in which girls were "married" and dedicated to a deity (deva or devi). In addition to taking care of the temple, and performing rituals they learned and practiced Bharatanatyam and other classical Indian arts traditions, and enjoyed a high social status. Over time, the institution became identified with prostitution.

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* {{Vorkosigan Saga}}'s Beta Colony has its [=LPSTs=]: Licensed Professional Sexual Therapists. The hermaphrodite ones are especially popular.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Old World of Darkness}}'' game ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' has the Aethera Inamorata, a faction within the Children of Gaia [[{{Splat}} tribe]] composed of sexual healers. They're all about the spirituality of sex and maintains the tribe's close ties to the Cult of Ecstacy tradition of Mages. They were originally known as "Houris" and/or "The Hours," and claim that agents of the game's CosmicHorror mutated that name into "whore" and turned sex into something seen as dirty and shameful by society.

* In the ''BuckGodot'' stories by PhilFoglio, Buck's friend Louisa dem Five runs a brothel, the Velvet Fist -- and has established, as of the "Gallimaufry" arc, a Velvet Fist franchise on the title SpaceStation.

* 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.

->[[AC:Often Licked, Never Beaten]]\\
-- One of the mottos of the [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Guild of Seamstresses]].

* The creation of an association of this kind is the main plot in Mario Vargas Llosa's novel ''Pantaleon y las Visitadoras'' (known in English as "''Captain Pantoja and the Special Service''").

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Old World of Darkness}}'' game ''TabletopGame/{{Werewolf: The Apocalypse}}'' has the Aethera Inamorata, a faction within the Children of Gaia [[{{Splat}} tribe]] composed of sexual healers. They're all about the spirituality of sex and maintains the tribe's close ties to the Cult of Ecstacy tradition of Mages. They were originally known as "Houris" and/or "The Hours," and claim that agents of the game's CosmicHorror mutated that name into "whore" and turned sex into something seen as dirty and shameful by society.

-- One of the mottos of the [[{{Discworld}} Guild of Seamstresses]].

* The Forgotten Realms setting of ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has an unconventional take on this: the church of Sharess is mostly ''composed'' of prostitutes of all ends of the spectrum, including males, and while Sharess is only a demipower, the church has powerful allies and more influence in certain quarters than one would expect. Completely [[JustifiedTrope understandable]] in that Sharess is the goddess of pleasure (And going by her [[WhipItGood favored weapon]], [[{{Rule 36}} all flavors thereof]]).

* The ''{{World of Darkness}}'' game ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' has the Aethera Inamorata, a faction within the Children of Gaia [[{{Splat}} tribe]] composed of sexual healers. They're all about the spirituality of sex and maintains the tribe's close ties to the Cult of Ecstacy tradition of Mages. They were originally known as "Houris" and/or "The Hours," and claim that agents of the game's CosmicHorror mutated that name into "whore" and turned sex into something seen as dirty and shameful by society.