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Call: 07899 700 700
SMS: 07899 700 700
Email: [email protected]
Open 7 Nights a week until 7am
Sex work is possibly the oldest profession in the world and spanning around the world. Since records began escorts have been recorded in them with different names and titles and job descriptions for different types of sex industries that all operate slightly different from many parts of the world.
So we thought we’d compile a fun short list of five types of sex workers throughout history. This list compromises of sex workers from Japan, India and Greece.
The first we are going to discuss is the Japanese:
World War II has always had an incredibly rich and exciting history. So much happened during the war, no matter how much you study and read about World War II, there is always something shocking to learn that was occurring at the time. From homicidal leaders trying to commit mass genocide to fake ghost armies and secret government mind control programmes, it seemed like World War II was a melting pot of comic book plots.
One of these bright ideas was Japanese ‘comfort women’. In 1932 the Japanese military decided to recruit women as ‘comfort women’ to take care of soldiers while they engaged in battle overseas. Over 200,000 women were recruited under the guise of a ‘job’. Some women were children as young as 11 and sadly many of them weren't told what this ‘job’ entailed. The women, mostly Koreans were placed in ‘comfort stations’ which were essentially brothels and many of the women didn’t live out their ordeal to make it home.
The government after the war apologised for this but did very little to redeem themselves or help the lives of the women they ruined. Today there are around 55 survivors from the ‘comfort women’ era.
India's Geisha, the Ganika is far from a shunned outcast of society with a bad stigma attached to her. The Ganika is the elite out of the 9 recognised types of escorts in India and is very well respected and renowned.
Ganikas cannot marry so, therefore, they avoid the Indian stigma of a widowed woman, who in their culture is considered back luck or even a bad omen. The superstition goes even further with widowed women at one point, being outlawed from appearing in public.
Ganika’s don’t have this worry and the connotations related to them are all positive with Ganika’s seen as positive omens, good luck charms and a sign that things are going to get better.
The Ganika is also a status to strive towards after all the name Ganika is a title. Similar to the way the Freemasons operate, after learning a number of skills and obtaining an amount of knowledge a degree is earned. Ganika is the highest honour, similar to the 33rd degree of Masonry. The Ganika has to learn all 64 skills required of her, once she has fully mastered all 64 skills she will earn the status of Ganika where she is given a place of honour in the royal courts and has songs and poems written about her beauty and grace. Ganika’s are more than escorts, they are a symbol of freedom and power, and their beauty is admired by everyone.
Temple escorts still spark many debates today about just what they were doing. In Ancient Rome it was common practice for there to be temple escorts, who dedicated both their lives and their bodies to the worship of their deity and believed, even when partaking in the act of sex within the temple, they were still worshipping their diety and doing it for them.
Girls younger than 14 were sometimes recruited to be temple escorts and because this was a sacred affair these women were seen as loyal servants to their all-powerful.
The debates spark over exactly what the role of these women was. While some historians argue that temple escorts were nothing more than women who were recruited to please men in the house of worship, under the guise of worship, or to sell their services to other men and make money for the temple.
Even this was still technically seen as serving the deity. In this scenario, the women are more akin to sex slaves than religious worshippers however other historians firmly believe these women held a hugely important role within the temple and were respected for their craft and seen as moral pillars of society. This notion of them is further backed up with the belief in sex goddesses such as Aphrodite showing that perhaps these women were in fact respected and important in the temple and were more than mere sex objects.
Similar to India’s Ganika’s, the Greek Auletrides were women who were noble and respected in society. Skilled in various performing arts such as playing the flute, dancing, acrobatics, juggling, fencing and of course, intercourse. Many of these women were popular street performers also and legend tells they were very popular children entertainers too as they could be hired for a number of services which included the ‘private parties’ where their skills in sexual encounters were properly utilised.
A Hetaira was an escort in ancient Athens, a rather confusing system, perhaps designed to protect it’s own meant that escorts were legal in Athens but a citizen could not be an escort which meant most were usually just slave women or poor women who didn't have parents born in Athens.
Unlike most sex workers around the world who operate behind closed doors, the Hetaira could often be seen working crowds and were forbidden from marrying any citizen of Athens. Although marriage was out of the questions a Hetaira could be bought by a citizen and then freed although not illegal this practice was frowned upon.
Instead, Hetairas were often made mistresses as many sex workers are, to powerful individuals where they would often pose for statues of ‘Aphrodite’ the sex goddess. Fitting for women of the sexual profession to pose for such a deity and these women, though not seen as citizens were often renowned for there beauty and elegance.
So there we have it, a short list of surprising sex work cultures from the past. As we've seen the sex industry isn't specific or subjective, it occurs all around the world, in many different cultures and religions, under different guises and practices but one thing is certain, It's one of the oldest professions in the world and will likely continue to operate in whatever manner it finds fitting.