List of prostitutes and courtesans

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This list of prostitutes and courtesans includes famous persons who have engaged in prostitution and courtesan work.

Historical

Ancient world

Aphrodite of Cnidus. Phryne
was the model.
Further information: List of prostitutes and courtesans of antiquity

Early Modern era

Nell Gwyn
Madame du Barry

19th century

Famous nude painting of Emma Dupont by Jean-Léon Gérôme on his original canvas with scratches

20th century

Xaviera Hollander
  • Elizabeth Adams, (1933 or 1934–July 8, 1995), also known as Madam Alex, Hollywood madam
  • Polly Adler, New York madam, 1920s to 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
  • Caridad la Negra (María de la Caridad Norberta Pacheco Sánchez) Spanish prostitute and madam, early to mid-20th century
  • Sexy Cora, German former prostitute, pornographic actress and reality show participant
  • In God we trust
    in Florida school classrooms
  • Anette Dawn, make-up artist, ceramist and professional sex worker
  • Zahia Dehar, Algerian-French fashion and lingerie designer and model
  • Suzy Favor-Hamilton, 3 time Olympian for Track and Field, and the subject of intense publicity when her activities as an escort became public.[2]
  • 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
  • Gangubai Harjeevandas, a prostitute, an Indian social activist and madam of a brothel in the Kamathipura area of Mumbai during the 1960s
  • Xaviera Hollander, author of the memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story
  • La Macorina, Cuban courtesan, 1910s to 1930s
  • Carol Leigh, a.k.a. Scarlot Harlot, coined the term "sex worker"[3]
  • Molly Luft, German prostitute, brothel owner and television personality
  • 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
  • Domenica Niehoff, German prostitute, dominatrix, sex worker rights activist and television personality
  • Barbara Payton, American actress turned prostitute[4]
  • Charlotte Rose, an English sex worker, dominatrix, sexual trainer and political candidate
  • Liara Roux, American prostitute, sex worker rights activist and author in New York
  • Annie Sprinkle, American sex worker, porn star, and sex educator and writer
  • Margo St. James, activist and sex worker
  • Valérie Tasso, French author
  • Estella Marie Thompson, also known as Divine Brown, an American and former prostitute who gained public attention in 1995 when actor Hugh Grant was caught receiving oral sex from her in his car
  • 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

Fictional

In literature

Vasantasena from the Sanskrit play Mṛcchakatika

Film, television, and musical theater

Blanche Simmons (Louise Jameson), Dorothy Bennett (Veronica Roberts) and Maggie Thorpe (Lizzie Mickery) in Tenko are all to some degree prostitutes. Maggie is intended to be a replacement for Blanche as by the 3rd series of Tenko, Blanche dies offscreen as a result of beri-beri.

Symbolic or allegorical prostitutes

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[5]
  • Bebhinn
    (Celts of the British Isles) - the goddess of pleasure
  • 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[6]
  • Naamah (Hebrews) - an angel of prostitution, one of the succubus mates of the demon Samael in Zoharistic Qabalah
  • Rahab, Biblical prostitute who assisted the Hebrews in capturing Jericho (Joshua 2:1–7)
  • 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, and often associated with Korrigan whose worship involved sacred prostitution[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Commire, Anne, ed. (2002). "Jeanne Brécourt". Women in World History: A biographical encyclopedia.
  2. ^ Suzy Favor Hamilton
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ O'Dowd, John. "Hollywood Bad Girl Barbara Payton".
  5. ^ McNeill, Maggie (23 December 2010). "Whore Goddesses". The Honest Courtesan. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  6. ^ Filteau, Jerry "Scholars seek to correct Christian tradition on Mary Magdalene," Catholic News Service May 1, 2006. [1]
  7. ^ Ditmore, Melissa Hope (ed), Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work, Volume 1, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, pp.34-5.
  8. ^ Charles Squire Celtic Myth and Legend

Bibliography

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