Comments on: My Trouble With Courtesans

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By: Monday Morning Stepback: Auto vs. Buddy Blogging, and a few more Pics « Racy Romance Reviews

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:35:07 +0000

[...] article I missed was My Trouble With Courtesans, by Lynn over at AAR. Good reading, and yet another version of the “it’s just fantasy [...]

By: Magdalen

Magdalen — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:04:02 +0000

I completely agree with JMM that women’s choices were few, and disaster lurked down every avenue they might take. An attentive suitor might turn out to be abusive (a fate still suffered by some women today), marriage might prove lonelier than being single did, their financial security almost always relied on the financial security (and stability) of a man, whether it was a father, brother, or husband.

Sexual chastity was a given for an unmarried woman in the 19th century. We read romances set in that century with a modern eye, though, and the plots tend to reflect our 21st century notions of women and their sexual and intellectual lives. We want heroines in a “modern historical romance” (if you see what I mean) to be smart about their own sexual satisfaction and financial security and, of course, have an HEA.

I’ve never read a modern historical romance where the heroine gives up her virginity so quickly and for insufficient reason. Here, I agree with Janet: that just sounds like a bad book! And I have read romances with courtesan heroines who seemed smart and sensible about their own financial and sexual choices. But I’ve also read modern historical romances where the decision by the heroine to have sex seemed acceptably motivated and not at all stupid.

Last thought: the DH presented me with a biography of Jane Austen he just happened to have lying around. Jane wrote letters to her niece about whether to marry someone the niece wasn’t sure she loved enough. Jane advocates a sensible match for all the sensible reasons, but also notes that marrying without love could result in love without marriage. What she was thinking of was marrying for the financial security but then falling love with someone else! And as we all know: that’s no HEA. So even back then, and without sex being an issue, Jane Austen was fully aware that marriage was not a guarantee of happiness.

By: Janet W

Janet W — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:27:41 +0000

P.S. arrrrrrrrrgh rhistorical –> historical and omance is romance! AAR, how’s abouta edit function?

By: Janet W

Janet W — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:44:13 +0000

Goodness @JMM — the plots you’re describing (“… hikes up her skirt for the hero five minutes after meeting him” have me tossing the book at the wall or labelling it a DNF or more likely, not picking up in the first place. What are reviews for if not to warn the unsuspecting reader about bosh and tosh like this.

For my tastes, Jane in Balogh’s More Than a Mistress had control. Of her life, her destiny and her sexual choices. I don’t read historical romances without a heady dose of disbelief but let’s agree to disagree now. That lives were tough for many many women back then (wives or courtesans) is probably undeniable. But I’m reading romance and I have been able to find women in rhistorical omance that are virginal (or not) and intelligent and decide how and when to give it up for the Duke of Slut (joke, haha).

By: JMM

JMM — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:35:04 +0000

I’d rather see a (historical) heroine who chooses to be a mistress than another “supposedly pure and decent virgin who falls on her back and hikes up her skirt for the hero five minutes after meeting him”. Please. A genteel, sheltered girl of good reputation just tossing it away – “Oh, I hope he gets me pregnant so I will have something to remember him by!”

In the end, IMHO, it’s more about CONTROL. A heroine (in most romance genres) who takes control of her life in any sense seems to make many readers upset. They seem to want the heroine to be in a miserable situation so she can be rescued by the hero.

And yes, I’m sure a lot of courtesans had bad lives. A lot of “Good Girls” who did the right thing had miserable lives, too. Beaten by their husbands, imprisoned, abandoned, having their children taken away… life for women sucked back then.

By: Janet W

Janet W — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:55:02 +0000

http://mrsgiggles00.livejournal.com/77145.html … Mrs. Giggles continues the convo over on her live journal site … interesting stuff altho her perspective seems skewed to me. I don’t think the life of whore in brothel up to top of the trees courtesan was undertaken by most of the women involved by anything other than economic reasons. From what I’ve read, it was a way to support themselves. No condemnation here, of course, but also not agreeing w/Mrs. Giggles that the historical virgins were the real sluts and the prostitutes were the gals with all the sexual freedom and choice yadda yadda.

I know Mrs. Giggles is not terribly fond of Mary Balogh, and I am, but you would think she would admire Jane in More Than a Mistress — Jane wrote up a lucrative financial contract (with an exit strategy) and had her duke’s sleazy love nest redecorated before she gave it up: AND she enjoyed the sex. LOL

By: Tracy Grant

Tracy Grant — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:59:41 +0000

Thanks for a fascinating post, Lynn, and also for your kind mention of my books. I tend to like books with courtesan or prostitute heroines, particularly in an historical setting. It can make for wonderful conflict, and I like characters with emotional baggage and tangled pasts. As others have said, I think it’s all in the execution. I do see the risks of glamorizing prostitution. I tried to be sensitive to that in writing Mélanie Fraser. Her attitude toward her years as a prostitute, and the lack of power she felt (at one point she thinks of it as “soul destroying”), is very different from her attitude toward her years as a spy who had sex in the course of her work. I also agree there’s a difference between a courtesan, who controlled her fate and earned her own money, and a prostitute in a brothel. It’s also worth remembering that in many historical eras one’s dealing with a society in which marriage was a largely financial contract in which the man had power over the woman’s body. In fact, one could argue that legally a courtesan had more control over her life and whom she had sex with than a wife did.

Cheers,
Tracy

By: Victoria S

Victoria S — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:48:25 +0000

Don’t we have to live firmly in Suspending Disbelief Land (thanks Sandy, great phrase) to even read and enjoy historicals!? I would never have been admitted to the ton, but that does not mean I cannot enjoy reading about the life under the hand of a well-crafted story-teller. In “To Beguile A Beast”, the mistress of a powerful duke has to flee the country and accept a job as a housekeeper, in order to keep her “protector”, a powerful duke, from taking her children. The children, even though illeigetimate, are the father’s “property”, and she has no legal recourse available to her. She gets her HEA and I was thrilled.
In Mary Balogh’s “More Than A Mistress” Lady Jane goes from gentle woman, to seamstress to nurse to mistress to wife of a duke! And under Ms. Balogh’s talented hands, YES, I did believe it and love it!
Yes, I know that the women who work the sed-trade in the real world are abused, drugged and brutalized in order to keep them in line, but I read historical romance because it’s NOT the real world.
I find it hard to even consider comparing historicals to the real world, as this period ,people,culture are so far outside my realm, all I can do is go along for the ride.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:34:02 +0000

This is a very interesting blog. Thanks for posting on this.

I recently Netflixed this very interesting Australian Showtime show called “Satisfaction” that is about a modern-day brothel in Sydney. I was really surprised at how realistic it all seemed. And it made me have a lot more compassion for women who choose to get into the sex trade young and then feel they can do nothing else. There are a lot of discussions about the whole show and the sex trade, as well. If anyone is interested in the topic, I would highly suggest watching this show.

I definitely want to read that Mary Balogh book, now.

Great post!