Prostitutes and Main Characters

After reading Limyaael's [http://limyaael.livejournal.com/570326.html Rant on whores] again, I thought it would be interesting to see what others think of writing prostitution and/or main characters who are prostitutes in their work.

My main character is technically a Disposable Sex Worker in-story while she works as one - she, because she's not a Geisha or high-class courtesan, is disregarded by most. My setting is Medieval Japan, where prostitution placed one in a social class that can be best summarized as "outcast-through-potentially-reparable-social-transgression". In order to avoid a non-sequiter on my part, the resource I've gotten what little (credible) information I have is William E. Deal's Handbook To Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan.

I've enjoyed writing my main character as a sex-worker, because it has let me show her principle vice (Greed) and how it affects her main goal in life (to gain material comfort, power, and respect - all of which she thinks will bring her the stability that she really wants, at the heart of it all). She is largely unhappy in her job, has few friends, and must work hard to be good at the skills it requires. Although it is where she meets her mutual Love Interest, that relationship, and what both people want, creates tension on its own for both characters. I've basically tried to follow the advice in the rant; I can and will elaborate on my fanfiction's (Darth Wiki link is in my signature) Character Sheet.

Anyway, what do you think of writing prostitutes as a main character? Do you agree with Limyaael's rant, or not really? What do you look for, either positive or negative, in such a character? And, lastly, have you written any prostitute characters, male or female, and how has it affected you/affected that character?

In a whole, I only have one or two prostitutes in my entire writing multi-verse, and she's a one-off character who's offer is rejected. My works tend to not dive into that subject matter, due to me aiming for a Young Adult audience.

I personally don't feel comfortable writing about sex, the sex industry, or prostitutes. I know that my 3,000-year-old immortal has had personal concubines and has gone out with Disposable Sex Workers before, but I don't show it onscreen. And being 3,000 years old, he's lived in settings where it would've been weirder for him to abstain from prostitutes or not have concubines.

edited 6th May '11 5:32:32 AM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

There are stories where prostitutes don't belong, just as there are stories where giant battle robots don't belong. There are also stories where prostitutes do belong. How much depth you bring to their work depends on your market. How much depth you bring to these characters depends on your skill.

In my current book, there are two "comfort workers." There's also the madam, who is a key player in the story. It's that kind of story. If they weren't there, you would wonder why.

The oldest profession is a fact of life. When something is perceived as valuable, a market will form around it. It's not nice, it's not exciting, but it's there.

Under World. It rocks!

One of my series has several prostitute main characters. The first book introduces a trio of prostitutes who run an unofficial orphanage, and the main plot is one of the orphans getting turned into an Emotion Eater. The second book has a serial killer who targets DisposableSexWorkers kill off one of the trio, and one of the EmotionEaters decides to pose as a prostitute in order to catch him. She ends up staying in prostitution after he's caught, partly for economic reasons and partly because she likes feeding on sexual arousal.

edited 6th May '11 8:53:05 AM by Ettina

If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.

While my main character isn't a prostitute, some of the other characters treat her as one because she's so good looking. There's one point in the story where a pimp is hired by a high paying client for a "session" with her.

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What.

I don't want to tell you how to write your story, but that seems like a bad idea all around, for a number of reasons.

Thanks for the all fish!

How is that a bad thing? It's not like they're the only characters she is associated with. In fact, they only play a side part in the story.

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Prostitutes are not treated well... that's why. It is a dangerous life.

@ OP,

I do not know what it is was like in Medieval Japan, but today in most places around the world, prostitution is a very dangerous profession. One in which the person is usually forced, to eat or supply a drug habit, one of the two usually. Sometimes it is worse, to feed their kids. Unless otherwise in that time period on Japan, this could be something to keep in mind if you are going for drama.

Prostitutes are not just some "dirty whores" who do it because they love to, they do it out of necessity. If this is focused on her flaw, greed and its effects, then I would give attention to everyone's characterization, as it will be central to your theme.

as of the 2nd of Nov. has 6 weeks for a broken collar bone to heal and types 1 handed and slowly

I'm still not sure how having a few characters treat the main as a hooker when she isn't one is a bad thing. She never takes up their offers, she dresses appropriately, and while she knows she the hottest girl in town (and likes being the hottest girl in town) she's very modest about it.

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It is because you are implying that the women and men that have to prostitute themselves should be treated poorly solely beause of their profession. I don't know what you mean by having the other characters treat her that way, but it is just unfortunate implications all around.

Are you writing a comedy? Because I can't imagine any other type of story where people randomly going up to a woman and offering her money for sex isn't creepy. *

I usually associate that kind of action with harassment. I'm also puzzled that you think her being "good looking" is enough justification for people to treat her like she takes money for sex. Plus, I think it stretches credibility for men, even horny men, to see a girl who dresses modestly and think, "Oh, she's a hooker!" And then there's the fact, that's been mentioned by others, that treating someone "like a hooker" generally means treating them badly— it's not a nice profession. Just... lots of Unfortunate Implications.

Unless you were aiming for creepy... then the issue becomes the prostitution element being a bit cliche.

Thanks for the all fish!

Again, it's only a select few of the side characters who do that. Everyone else treats her normally. It's a complicated world the heroine lives in and her adventures take her all over the city so she is more than likely to come across a few people who want to take advantage of her.

♥♥II'GSJQGDvhhMKOmXunSrogZliLHGKVMhGVmNhBzGUPiXLYki'GRQhBITqQrrOIJKNWiXKO♥♥

Isn't beauty subjective?

Read my stories!

Only when the narrative wants it to be.

-*coughhelenoftroycough*

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

I always thought Helen of Troy got a raw deal in that story. Everyone's like, "Oh, that Helen, running off with Paris, caused the deaths of thousands of Greek and Trojans!" Dude, Paris abducted her, and even in the versions where he didn't, he courted her knowing full well she was married. Paris' and Aphrodite have a huge part in the blame, but they barely get any flak. And then, like, no one said Menelaus had to bring all Helen's suitors together to bring back his wife from Troy. He could have not had a full-scale war, you know? Just cut his losses and say "Fuckit, let him have her!" But noooooo, he had to attack a fortified city, and we all know what Sun Tzu says about fortified cities, and twenty years later all the greatest heroes are dead except Odysseus, and he has his own shit to worry about, and there's blood and tears and rape and murder, and everyone's like, "Helen, clearly YOU are the only at fault!"

/rant

Thanks for the all fish!

There's a story somewhere that mentioned that the war being about such a petty thing would set a precedent for all history that war didn't need to be justified with anything but the flimsiest pretexts.

I was going to say "I want to see a story set in a world constantly at war over Capture The Flag". Then I realized that It's Been Done with Team Fortress 2. Then I realized that even in TF 2, the "flag" means something, so it doesn't fulfill my requirement that the flag is ultimately meaningless except as a symbol.

At first I didn't realize I needed all this stuff...

Helen didn't actually cause the war. She was just an excuse, the war was actually economic in nature.

If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.

@ Sand Josieph You don't see how "Hey, you're hot. Clearly that means I am justified in propositioning you for sex" is an unsympathetic view for a character to take?

Be not afraid...

A picture is worth a thousand words, and they express clearly what I want to say.◊

as of the 2nd of Nov. has 6 weeks for a broken collar bone to heal and types 1 handed and slowly

@Jasonwill 2: In Medieval Japan, according to the few credible things I have managed to find on the subject (ironically, information on prostitution in modern Japan requires no effort whatever to obtain, even detailed information on where to go), prostitution was technically temporary. From the source I made mention of in my first post:

"On the other hand the life of most prostitutes was grim. They were controlled by the brothel owner and had typically been forced into prostitution as a result of poverty." (Deal, 117)

"In the Medieval period, there was a social class below that of peasant. These were the outcastes, usually known by the term eta {hereditary outcaste) or hinin (literally, "nonhuman," outcaste by occupation or social status)....Hinin were usually outcastes as a result of some social transgression, such as committing a crime, or who were engaged in activities deemed outside of proper social roles, such as actors and performers." (111)

"... In the early modern period, however, the government drew a very specific destinction between them: eta referred to those who were outcastes by birth, and hinin were outastes as a result of their occupation....The hinin worked in occupations that were considered outside of the fourfold social class system recognized by the shogunate. Such occuaptions were thought to contribute little if any value to society, and included those who were beggars, itinerant and street entertainers, prostitutes, and criminals. Hinin status was not hereditary as eta status was. It was rather a status that one fell into as a result of economic hardship or moral failing. Ironically, the warrior elites who dictated proper social values were also among those who frequented the pleasure quarters [what the red-light districts were known as; added] and enjoyed the various entertainments to be found there." (114-5)

That which I cited above constitutes the majority of the information I have to go on regarding prostitutes in Medieval Japan. Which, for someone like me who likes to know she's being as accurate as she can when she can be, is frustrating.

It was a dangerous profession then, too, because the prostitutes could very easily get sucked into ever-increasing debt to the brothel owner (because they had to buy all their clothes, accessories, etc. with money loaned to them by the aforementioned owner who would add interest - and they paid off that debt by working.) I haven't found information on drug habits of the time, so I'm not going to use them, but my main character does nurse an alcohol habit (she actually uses alcohol as a coping mechanism - which began during her job, and continued into her marriage) that costs her later when it becomes her only way to deal with being in a mutually-unhappy, abusive marriage.

For my prostitute character, her motivation is not to eat (she could do that by being a peasant farmer), but to get rich (her niavete in regards to how things work for prostitutes lead her to believe that they make a good deal of money, and can do so quickly in some cases - she was...wrong). I'll keep both of those in mind, though, thank you!

I'm very aware of that, and I have tried to portray prostitution in a morality-neutral light (it probably helps that my own view of the occupation isn't far off from morality-neutral and isn't the "dirty whores who love it" one.) I do try to do that, by showing that some other subsets of society (i.e. the Youkai civilization that lives largely separate from that of the humans in which her prostitution takes place - and includes her father, her elder brother, and her husband and his people) don't think it's okay, or that Akiko is necessarily blameless. In fact, it's enough of a stigma, compounded by the mutual Fantastic Racism exhibited by each race towards the other and both towards her Half-Human Hybrid kind, that she can't let it get out when she marries, because it will completely ruin her credibility and what little reputation she had managed to build within her husband's home. Essentially, it functions as her Dark Secret, and is used as a blackmail-threat by the resident villain when he accidentally discovers it. It also becomes something she worries about constantly - feeding into her drinking problem.

It's a problem for her love interest as well, but largely due to a different brand of social-class-problems that I wrote out here.

@ Loni Jay:

I don't see it as a problem because that viewpoint is counterbalanced by other characters acknowledging her attractiveness without even thinking about sex.

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^ Well, whoever assumes she's a prostitute is going to be a fairly unsympathetic character for many readers. But if you're going for that...

If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.

huh [I say that in an interested tone].

Though you lost me at fantastic Racism and half human, are you referring to a different work? I'm confused, this is a straight up historical fiction right?

as of the 2nd of Nov. has 6 weeks for a broken collar bone to heal and types 1 handed and slowly