List of prostitutes and courtesans
This list of prostitutes and courtesans includes famous persons who have engaged in prostitution, pimping and courtesan work.
Historical
Ancient world
- Aspasia, Greek hetaera, companion of Pericles
- Gomer, a prostitute whom God commanded Hosea to marry in the biblical Book of Hosea.
- Mary Magdalene was supposed to have been a prostitute by those who identified her with the sinful woman in Luke 7:36–50, an identification now generally abandoned.[1]
- Phryne, Greek hetaera
- Rahab, biblical prostitute who assisted the Hebrews in capturing Jericho (Joshua 2:1-7)
- Thaïs, Greek hetaera who lived during the time of Alexander the Great
- Theodora, Empress of Byzantium
- Su Xiaoxiao, Chinese courtesan of the 5th century
Early Modern era
- Imperia Cognati, the “first courtesan”
- Isabella de Luna, Italian (originally Spanish) courtesan of Renaissance-era Rome.
- Chica da Silva, famous eighteenth-century slave courtesan in Brazil, subject of the movie Xica
- Madame du Barry, mistress to Louis XV of France
- Veronica Franco, Venetian courtesan and poet
- Nell Gwyn, courtesan to Charles II of England
19th-century
- Laura Bell, the "Queen of London whoredom"
- Theresa Berkeley, 19th-century dominatrix
- Jeanne Brécourt, born 1837, one of France's most notorious courtesans[2]
- Annie Chapman, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Mary Jane Kelly, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Lizzie Lape, mid-Ohio madam, operator of multiple bordellos, 1880s-1900s
- Mary Ann Nichols, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Shady Sadie (Josephine Marcus) Courtesan who had an affair with Wyatt Earp
- Elizabeth Stride, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
- Martha Tabram, a possible victim of Jack the Ripper
- Libby Thompson, "Squirrel Tooth Alice," madam of a brothel in Sweetwater, Texas
Modern era
- Polly Adler, New York madam, 1920s - 1940s
- Air Force Amy, a legal prostitute in Nevada, pornographic actress, and adult model, who starred in the HBO television documentary series Cathouse: The Series. MSNBC has called her "a living legend in the world of sex."
- Josie Arlington, madam in Storyville, New Orleans
- Suzy Favor-Hamilton, 3 time Olympian for Track and Field, and the subject of intense publicity when her activities as an escort became public.[3]
- Heidi Fleiss, a.k.a. the "Hollywood Madam", ran an upscale prostitution ring based in Los Angeles during the 1990s
- Mata Hari (born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle), Dutch spy
- Xaviera Hollander, author of the memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.
- Carol Leigh, a.k.a. Scarlot Harlot, coined the term "sex worker"[4]
- Brooke Magnanti, blogger and scientist who wrote as Belle de Jour and was the inspiration for Billie Piper's character in Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
- Barbara Payton, American actress turned prostitute[5]
- Charlotte Rose, an English sex worker, dominatrix, sexual trainer and political candidate.
- Annie Sprinkle, American sex worker, porn star, and sex educator and writer
- Valérie Tasso, French author
- Sheila Vogel-Coupe, at 85+ the oldest prostitute in the United Kingdom and, possibly, the world.
- Clara Ward, Princesse de Caraman-Chimay, daughter of a Michigan lumberman who spent most of her life in Europe
- Lulu White, madam in Storyville, New Orleans
In literature
- Bella Cohen, Florry, & Zoe, in Ulysses by James Joyce
- Belle, Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O'Neill
- Belle Watling, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Candy, in Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction by Luke Davies
- Candy, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
- Chandramukhi, in Devdas by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
- Eccentrica Gallumbits, "The Triple-Breasted Whore of Eroticon Six" in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- Elisabeth Rouset, in "Boule de Suif", a short story by Guy de Maupassant
- Fanny Hill, in Fanny Hill by John Cleland
- Fantine, in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
- Marguerite Gautier, from Alexandre Dumas, fils' work La Dame aux camélias, inspired by real life Marie Duplessis, 19th century courtesan
- Jenny Smith, in Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Threepenny Opera
- Juliette, in the Marquis de Sade's Juliette
- Kamala, in Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- Lady Sally, in Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson
- Lozana, Portrait of Lozana by Francisco Delicado
- Lulu, in Frank Wedekind's plays and Alban Berg's opera of the same name
- Mamie Stover, The Revolt of Mamie Stover by William Bradford Huie
- Mistress Overdone, manager of a bordello in Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
- Moll Flanders, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
- Molly Malone, Irish urban legend
- Mother Goose, in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress
- Nana, Nana, by Émile Zola
- Nancy, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
- Odette, in Marcel Proust's Un amour de Swann
- Phedre no Delauny of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels
- Pie 'Oh' Pah, from Imajica by Clive Barker
- Romulus, central character in The Romanian: Story of an Obsession by Bruce Benderson
- Mrs. Rosie Palm, brothel owner and president of the Guild of "Seamstresses" in various Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
- Satine, in Moulin Rouge! by Baz Luhrmann, a story based on the Paris nightclub of the same name
- Séverine Serizy, in the 1928 novel Belle de Jour and the 1967 film based on it
- Sonya Marmeladova, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Suzie Wong, from The World of Suzie Wong by Richard Mason
- Talanta, La Talanta by Pietro Aretino
- Thúy Kiều, The Tale of Kieu by Nguyễn Du
- Tra La La, Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby
- Tristessa, Tristessa by Jack Kerouac
- Vasantsenaa, a Nagarvadhu, or wealthy courtesan, in Śudraka's Sanskrit play Mṛcchakatika
- 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".
- Yumi Komagata, in Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki
- Zaza, in Zaza by Pierre Berton and Charles Simon
In film, television, and musical theater
- Belle the Sleeping Car, train in Starlight Express by Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Christine/Chelsea, central character in The Girlfriend Experience
- Inara Serra, Firefly by Joss Whedon
- Ai Nu (Lily Ho) in Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972) by Chor Yuen (Hong Kong) (Mandarin) (Action, Drama)
- Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda) in Klute (1971) by Alan J. Pakula (USA) (English) (Crime, Mystery, Thriller)
- Cabiria (Giulietta Masina) in Nights of Cabiria (1957) by Federico Fellini (Italy, France) (Italian) (Drama)
- Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit) in Devdas (2002) by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (India) (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali) (Drama, Musical, Romance); from novella by Saratchandra Chatterjee
- Chiyo Sakamoto (Ziyi Zhang) in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) by Rob Marshall (USA) (English, Japanese) (Drama, Romance); from novel by Arthur Golden
- Claire Reine / Garance (Arletty) in Children of Paradise (1945) by Marcel Carné (France) (French) (Drama, Romance)
- Constance Miller (Julie Christie) in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) by Robert Altman (USA) (English) (Drama, Western); from novel by Edmund Naughton
- Doris (Barbra Streisand) in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) by Herbert Ross (USA) (English) (Comedy, Romance); from play by Bill Manhoff
- Eréndira (Claudia Ohana) in Eréndira (1983) by Ruy Guerra (France, Mexico, West Germany) (Portuguese, Spanish) (Drama); from novel by Gabriel García Márquez
- Fanny Hill (Letícia Román) in Fanny Hill (1964) by Russ Meyer (USA, West Germany) (English, German) (Comedy); from novel by John Cleland
- Fleur (Anita Mui) in Rouge (1988) by Stanley Kwan (Hong Kong) (Cantonese) (Drama, Fantasy, Music, Mystery, Romance); from novel by Lillian Lee
- Gigi (Leslie Caron) in Gigi (1958) by Vincente Minnelli (USA) (English, French) (); from novella by Colette
- Gloria Wandrous (Elizabeth Taylor) in BUtterfield 8 (1960) by Daniel Mann (USA) (English) (Drama); from novel by John O'Hara
- Hattie (Susan Sarandon) in Pretty Baby (1978) by Louis Malle (USA) (English) (Drama)
- Ilya (Melina Mercouri) in Never on Sunday (1960) by Jules Dassin (Greece, USA) (English, Greek, Russian) (Comedy, Drama, Romance)
- Iris (Jodie Foster) in Taxi Driver (1976) by Martin Scorsese (USA) (English, Spanish) (Crime, Drama)
- Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine) in Irma la Douce (1963) by Billy Wilder (USA) (English) (Comedy, Romance); from play by Alexandre Breffort
- Isabelle (Marine Vacth) in Young & Beautiful (2013) by François Ozon (France) (French, German) (Drama, Romance)
- Liz (Theresa Russell) in Whore (1991) by Ken Russell (USA) (USA, UK) (Drama); from play by David Hines
- Lorena Wood (Diane Lane) in Lonesome Dove (1989) by Simon Wincer (USA) (English) (Adventure, Drama, Western); from novel by Larry McMurtry
- Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) in L.A. Confidential (1997) by Curtis Hanson (USA) (English) (Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller); from novel by James Ellroy
- Marguerite Gautier (Greta Garbo) in Camille (1936) by George Cukor (USA) (English) (Drama, Romance); from novel & play by Alexandre Dumas
- Maya (Indira Varma) in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1997) by Mira Nair (USA, India, UK, Japan, Germany) (English, Italian) (Crime, Drama, History, Romance)
- Nana (Catherine Hessling) in Nana (1926) by Jean Renoir (France) (French) (Drama, Romance); from novel by Émile Zola
- Otsuya (Ayako Wakao) in Irezumi (1966) by Yasuzô Masumura (Japan) (Japanese) (Drama); from novel by Jun'ichirô Tanizaki
- Sahibjaan (Meena Kumari) in Pakeezah (1972) by Kamal Amrohi (India) (Urdu) (Musical, Romance, Drama)
- Satine (Nicole Kidman) in Moulin Rouge! (2001) by Baz Luhrmann (Australia, USA) (English, French, Spanish) (Drama, Musical, Romance)
- Seol-ji (Kim Ok-bin) in The Accidental Gangster and the Mistaken Courtesan (2008) by Yeo Kyun-dong (South Korea) (Korean) (Action, Adventure, Comedy)
- Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve) in Belle de Jour (1967) by Luis Buñuel (France, Italy) (French, Spanish) (Drama); from novel by Joseph Kessel
- Suzie Wong (Nancy Kwan) in The World of Suzie Wong (1960) by Richard Quine (UK, USA) (English, Cantonese) (Drama, Romance); from novel by Richard Mason
- Tereza Batista (Patrícia França) in Tereza Batista: Home from the Wars (1992) by Paulo Afonso Grisolli (Brazil) (Portuguese) (Drama); from novel by Jorge Amado
- Umrao Jaan (Aishwariya Rai) in Umrao Jaan (2006) by J.P. Dutta (India) (Urdu, Hindi) (Drama, Romance); from novel by Mirza Haadi Ruswa
- Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) in Dangerous Beauty (1998) by Marshall Herskovitz (USA) (English) (Biography, Drama, Romance); from biography by Margaret Rosenthal
- Violet (Brooke Shields) in Pretty Baby (1978) by Louis Malle (USA) (English) (Drama)
- Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) in Pretty Woman (1990) by Garry Marshall (USA) (English) (Comedy, Romance)
- Zoe (Julie Delpy) in Killing Zoe (1993) by Roger Avary (France, USA) (English, French) (Crime, Thriller)
Symbolic or allegorical prostitutes
- The Whore of Babylon
- Oholah and Oholibah
- Moll Hackabout, the prostitute in The Harlot's Progress by William Hogarth
Prostitutes in myth and legend
- Agatha - English prostitute, mother of Mother Shipton
- Basileia (Ancient Greece) - in Pandemos, this goddess was mainly a goddess for prostitutes or courtesans[6]
- Bebhinn (Celts of the British Isles) - the goddess of pleasure
- Belili (Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Philistines, & Canaanites) - her worship required sacred prostitution
- Naamah (Hebrews) - an angel of prostitution, one of the succubus mates of the demon Samael in Zoharistic Qabalah
- Shamhat (Sumer/Babylon)[7]
- Xochiquetzal (Aztecs) - the goddess of prostitutes, pregnant women, & dancing
- Alexandra Dé Broussehan (Irish Celts) - a woman turned spirit of prostitution, caused a war between the Callahan and Lawlor Clans. Often associated with Korrigan whose worship involved sacred prostitution[8]
References
- ↑ Filteau, Jerry "Scholars seek to correct Christian tradition on Mary Magdalene," Catholic News Service May 1, 2006.
- ↑ Commire, Anne, ed. (2002). Women in World History: A biographical encyclopedia.
- ↑ Suzy Favor Hamilton
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ O'Dowd, John. "Hollywood Bad Girl Barbara Payton".
- ↑ McNeill, Maggie (23 December 2010). "Whore Goddesses". The Honest Courtesan. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
- ↑ Ditmore, Melissa Hope (ed), Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work, Volume 1, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, pp.34-5.
- ↑ Charles Squire Celtic Myth and Legend
Bibliography
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