I have a reoccurring character in my story, who willingly became part of a brothel. He is a high class courtsan. But I have no idea how he got in. Do you just go in and say "I'd like to become one of your courtesans?" like you'd apply for an ordinary job? Or is their a process. The setting is Edo period Japan. Also this charcter is a married man (the wife is okay with him doing his duties, need to think of a reason why he'd do this)
I'll field this question. I really have no idea, and if anyone says otherwise, they're lying. But if I had to guess, I'd say they probably just apply. Or maybe he has a friend who does that line of work and makes introductions.
You can find very much information about subject by studying data about human trafficing and sexual slavery. Same patterns seems to be quite universaL. 1. Someone sells some poor kid to trafficers. 2. If she is very young virgin, she will be sold/hired with very high price first time. 3. After that there might be some high price customers. 4. Quite soon she will be violently gang raped. The purpose is to break her will and self esteem so that she can't value herself enough to try to escape. 5. When she gets pregnant, they do an abortion in very primitive ways. 6. When she loses her market value, she will be sold to lower class brothels. 7. When se loses all her market value, she will die. There have been variations. Arabs used to burn wombs of their female sex slaves so that they can't become pregnant & castrate male slaves so that they can't make anyone pregnant. In many places close relatives, even parents sell kids to sex slavery. It has always been violence and fear based slavery when it has been organised. If you think that someone is doing it willingly, you really, really should do very much research. Start with human trafficing, sex slavery, slavery, third world prostitution... Even Internet and Google can help you. Youtube is easy start.
I don't think it diminishes the horrors of non-consensual sex slavery to acknowledge that there are sex workers who voluntarily enter the trade and stay in the trade. In the words of one of these workers: "Sex workers have for too long been seen as something less than fully human, our work seen as unskilled, as a “high-risk lifestyle” rather than a job." - https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/selling-sex-experience-advocacy-and-research-on-sex-work-in-canada For a less first-hand, more academic view, see: "People enter the sex industry for a wide array of reasons. Although periods of financial need or outright poverty are often key drivers, these are not the only ones. Many choose this work for the autonomy and flexibility it affords – that is, the ability to choose when and where to work, who they work with, and how much money they earn each week. Still others see the sex industry as an opportunity to explore their sexuality, to validate their desirability, and to be a part of something that defies social-sexual norms and values." http://www.safersexwork.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/PEERS-Peoplewhosellsexualservices-25June2014.pdf And from the same source: "Some of the more common myths are that all sex workers are victims, all sex workers are drug addicts, all sex workers are survivors of sexual abuse, and sex work is inherently violent." So, absolutely, there are prostitutes who are trafficked and forced into the life and the conditions they live under are horrific. But there are also adult, consenting sex workers. OP, I'd believe it if your courtesan just went and applied. I'd also believe it if he was recruited. I think this choice is an important characterization tool for you - is he forthright and open about his sexuality/financial needs, or is he more passive/reticent and would never have pursued this avenue on his own? Either can work if you make it work!
To the OP, so is this character is performing as a male prostitute in a high class brothel? Is he doing for opposite or same or both genders? like is he bisexual? You may do a secret brothel that is exclusive for orgy parties for rich married couples to have sex with different spouses. You could make it more interesting that he was recruited for being married and knowing the right connections. When I was over seas, people talked about married couples actually doing this.
Thank you for all the sites you sent me! The setting is a Naruto fanfiction. (If you aren't familiar with that fandom, characters have one of two roles. Ninja or not ninja) I made a fictional clan that mostly consist of not ninjas, that work in the super expensive brothel. And their gimmick is that they all specialize in some sort of divination or spiritual practice. With this character in particular, he is really into astrology. His reason for becoming a courtesan was because the stars said he wasn't meant to be a ninja and he wasn't good at anything other than sex. However, he made this decision after he had gotten married. His wife, the first woman whom he ever had sex with, convinced him into sex work. Thus, he willingly tried it and enjoyed it. As for his financial status, I didn't really put that in consideration. Now I have to think about that. Do you have any links on a salary a high class sex worker makes? Hm..this character is a minor character in the story, so I never really decided on his sexual orientation either. I'm going to say bisexual becuase I can imagine this charcter getting into some crazy orgies.
I think the Edo Japan aspect kind of interferes with the ability to find meaningful links about income levels... knowing what a high-class sex worker makes today wouldn't say much about it in Edo Japan... I'd say you've probably got some flexibility, though. If you want him to have lots of money, give him many rich and enamoured clients who will pay anything to be with him. If you want him to be struggling, say the clients are fickle and always after the newest face and he's faded out of novelty, or whatever.
Check out Memoirs of a Geisha (the book, not the movie). It's not Edo Japan, and the MC is a girl, but it'll give you some insight into the water trade in Japan. ETA: I hate to say "google it," but I just did. "sex work in Edo period Japan" without the quotes, and:
Given this is Naroto fanfiction (that makes my answer very different)... "I was interested in... you know, getting away from the hustle and bustle of Orochimaru, the longevity of the Leaf Village, and all that crap. So I decided to take a boat to Japan since apparently there's actually a whole 'nother world besides the Five Great Nations. Welp, I decided to take my family with me since... I dunno, might as well go all-in am I right? Sure the boat could be attacked by pirates, the captain might be a touch insane, Japan might be a figment of our imaginations, Naruto could be pulling an elaborate prank on us... But screw it. I wanted to do something I couldn't do in the Village, so I'm gonna do it! ... ... .. After crashing into Japan, some lovely gentlemen with curved swords decided to take me to some nice room where we would be detained until the local warlord could figure out "what the Hell just happened? Who are these bozos? are they at all related to those Nanban? Do they speak Portuguese, Dutch, English, or what?!" As it turned out, we actually spoke the same language. Once I managed to get a word out, the local goons were actually pretty amiable. Since we were still seen as suspicious outsiders, we were transported to their capital, Edo, where the Shogun himself wanted to... check us out, if you know what I mean ... What, my wife and kids? Ha-ha! Well, as it so happened, somebody let loose a Rasengan because --would you know it-- we shipwrecked into a lovely town called "Hamamatsu", and apparently they had just what I was looking for! I stepped inside and introduced myself the clerk who wondered how she could service me. "Baby, you got that backwards: what can I do to service you...?" After some awkward chuckling, the madam came out and I decided to use my Sexy Jutsu to show just how serious I was. Needless to say, I was hired immediately! Now I'm a full-time prostitute--capable of shifting into any body and any fetish! I just hope I don't get some weirdo looking to make the ninpo with an attack helicopter or something..." In any other circumstances: somebody who wanted to be a prostitute would seek out the local pimp or madam, and basically ask for "protection" in exchange for a cut of the profits. Assuming a legal (or semi-legal) establishment, it really could be as simple as a job interview (maybe with a "test") and from there... use your imagination!
This is amazing, LOL. This gives me an idea actually. But for more context, the main heroine of the story (not the escort), Sandara, goes to her uncle (who is also her father figure since her parents are dead), the escort. Sandara is just finding out about the birds and the bees and she eventually finds out that her uncle does sex work. She is curious why he chose to do it, was his wife jealous, and whats it like? Fuck, now I can't stop thinking about Orochimaru and how hot he is, now that you've mentioned that. This is supposed to be a OC x Itachi fic. XD
' "You see my little one, Uncle Heihachi loves him some honey and Auntie Kiku just can't give it to him. He's a lazy bum who'd rather get paid to get laid than actually do an honest day's work. Since the Tokugawa temporarily allowed us prostitutes to get our toots in a hoot, we decided 'why not? With Sexy Jutsu, Shadow Clone Jutsu, and Striking Shadow Snake, we can make any bizarre kink come true!'. Unfortunately, little one, that was a really bad idea... Now, I'm lucky if I can pee brown. Most times it's pink... don't ask why. Auntie used to really like Uncle, before he... well, why the Hell am I telling a little girl about Uncle and Auntie's personal relations? Shoo!" As it turned out, Uncle was a sex-maniac and Auntie kinda liked it at first but apparently after a while her parts were utterly wrecked by the Striking Shadow Snakes and Uncle found himself having far more fun making money for the honey rather than simply giving honey for free. I had no idea what in the world they were doing... and when I decided to find out, I met some strange Nanban who came from the seem world Uncle came from..."
Well, it was the first thing that came to mind and what better way to answer a prompt than to ghostwrite lol.
