List of prostitutes and courtesans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of famous persons who have engaged in prostitution, as well as pimping and courtesan work.
Contents |
[edit] Historical
- Polly Adler New York Madam, 1920s -1940s
- Aspasia, hetaera companion of Pericles
- Laura Bell, the "Queen of London whoredom"
- Theresa Berkeley, 19th-century dominatrix
- Georgina Beyer, Member of New Zealand Parliament
- Griselda Blanco, child prostitute who became the late 1970s to early 1980s Miami cocaine "Godmother".
- Lisa Crystal Carver, sex columnist
- Alice Chambers, 19th century Dodge City prostitute
- Annie Chapman, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Veronica Franco, Venetian courtesan and poet
- Jean Genet, French writer and political activist
- Raymond Gravel, Canadian member of Parliament
- Nell Gwynne, courtesan to Charles II of England
- Xaviera Hollander, former callgirl and madam, Author of "The Happy Hooker"
- Mary Jane Kelly, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Mata Hari (born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle)
- Carol Leigh, a.k.a. Scarlot Harlot, coined the term "sex worker" [1]
- Messalina (Roman)
- Gerda Munsinger, Soviet spy
- Mary Ann Nichols, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Barbara Payton, 1940s film starlet who turned to prostitution in the late 1950s after the end of her career and collapse of her marriage
- Cora Pearl, 19th century French courtesan
- Phryne, Greek hetaera
- Madame de Pompadour, courtesan to Louis XV of France.
- Grisélidis Réal, Swiss prostitute and writer
- Shady Sadie (Josephine Marcus) Courtesan who had an affair with Wyatt Earp
- Sally Stanford, Dean of San Francisco Madams, Restaurauter and Mayor of Sausalito, California
- Valerie Solanas, street prostitute turned attempted assassin
- Elizabeth Stride, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Michelle Tea, author, has written extensively about her experiences as a prostitute [2]
- Libby Thompson, "Squirrel Tooth Alice," madam of a brothel in Sweetwater, Texas
- Vasantsenaa, Courtesan of 3rd Century Magadh Empire, Indore, India.
- Su Xiaoxiao, Chinese courtesan of 5th century
- Martha Tabram, a possible victim of Jack the Ripper
- Thais, Greek hetaera who lived during the time of Alexander the Great
- Theodora, Empress of Byzantium
[edit] Found in fiction and literature
- Belle Watling, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Chandramukhi, Devdas
- Elisabeth Rouset, Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant
- Fanny Hill, Fanny Hill, by John Cleland
- Fantine, Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
- Inara Serra, Firefly by Joss Whedon
- Lozana, Portrait of Lozana by Francisco Delicado
- Molly Malone, Irish urban legend
- Nana, Nana, by Emile Zola
- Nancy, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
- Juliette, in the Marquis de Sade's "Juliette"
- Tra La La, Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby
- Mrs. Rosie Palm, brothel owner and president of the Guild of "Seamstresses" in various Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
- Sonya Marmeladova, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Rahab, Biblical prostitute who assisted the Hebrews in capturing Jericho (Joshua 2:1-7)
- Belle, "Ah, Wilderness!" by Eugene O'Neill
- Satine, in Moulin Rouge! by Baz Luhrmann a story of love based in the Paris nightclub of the same name.
- Tristessa, Tristessa by Jack Kerouac
- Talanta, La Talanta by Pietro Aretino
- Yumi Komagata, Rurouni Kenshin, by Nobuhiro Watsuki
- Zaza, Zaza by Pierre Berton and Charles Simon
- Suzie Wong, from The World of Suzie Wong
- Marguerite Gautier, from Alexandre Dumas, fils' work La Dame aux camélias, by real life Marie Duplessis, 19th century courtesan.
- Violetta, main character from the opera La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, is also inspired by Alexandre Dumas' La Dame aux camélias. "La Traviata" means "the reprobate."
- Romulus, central character in The Romanian: Story of an Obsession by Bruce Benderson
- Vivian Ward, central character in Pretty Woman
- Phedre no Delauny of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels.
[edit] Symbolic or allegorical prostitutes
- The Whore of Babylon
- Oholah and Oholibah
- The prostitute in The Harlot's Progress by William Hogarth
[edit] Mythical prostitutes
- Agatha - English prostitute, mother of Mother Shipton
- Basileia (Greek) In Pandemos, this goddess was mainly a goddess to prostitutes or courtesans.
- Bebhinn (British isles) Goddess of Pleasure
- Belili (Sumer, Babylon, Assyrian, Philistine, Canaanites) sacred prostitution
- The daughters in the Saint Nicolas legend (Asia Minor) - They were sold to a brothel by their father.
- Naamah - (Hebrew) an angel of prostitution, one of the succubus mates of the demon Samael in Zoharistic Qabalah
- Shamhat (Sumer/Babylon)
- Xochiquetzal (Aztec) goddess of prostitutes, pregnant women, dancing
[edit] Notes
- ^ Welcome to the World of Scarlot Harlot, her own web site, accessed 28 August 2006; Carol Leigh, Unrepentant Whore: Collected Works Of Scarlot Harlot, Last Gasp, 2004.
- ^ see, inter alia, Chelsea Whistle: A Memoir, by Michelle Tea, pp. 315-6. Seal Press, New York, 2002.
