List of prostitutes and courtesans
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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This is a list of famous persons who have engaged in prostitution, as well as pimping and courtesan work.
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Historical
- Air Force Amy legal prostitute in Nevada, pornographic actress, and adult model, considered one of the top earners in Nevada's legalized brothel business,and known as the star of the HBO television documentary series Cathouse: The Series. MSNBC has called her "a living legend in the world of sex."
- Polly Adler New York Madam, 1920s -1940s
- Aspasia, hetaera companion of Pericles
- Laura Bell, the "Queen of London whoredom"
- Theresa Berkeley, 19th-century dominatrix
- 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)
- Clara Ward, Princesse de Caraman-Chimay, daughter of a Michigan lumberman who spent most of her life in Europe
- Carol Leigh, a.k.a. Scarlot Harlot, coined the term "sex worker" <ref>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.</ref>
- 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 <ref>see, inter alia, Chelsea Whistle: A Memoir, by Michelle Tea, pp. 315-6. Seal Press, New York, 2002.</ref>
- 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
- Chris Beeman
In fiction and literature
- 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, Devdas
- Fanny Hill, Fanny Hill, by John Cleland
- Fantine, Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
- Lady Sally, a.k.a. Callahan's Lady
- Marguerite Gautier, from Alexandre Dumas, fils' work La Dame aux camélias, inspired by real life Marie Duplessis, 19th century courtesan.
- Inara Serra, Firefly by Joss Whedon
- Juliette, in the Marquis de Sade's Juliette
- Lozana, Portrait of Lozana by Francisco Delicado
- Molly Malone, Irish urban legend
- Sonya Marmeladova, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Nana, Nana, by Emile Zola
- Nancy, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
- 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
- Phedre no Delauny of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels.
- Pie 'Oh' Pah, from Imajica by Clive Barker
- Rahab, Biblical prostitute who assisted the Hebrews in capturing Jericho (Template:Bibleverse)
- Romulus, central character in The Romanian: Story of an Obsession by Bruce Benderson
- Elisabeth Rouset, Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant
- Satine, in Moulin Rouge! by Baz Luhrmann, a story based on the Paris nightclub of the same name.
- Tristessa, Tristessa by Jack Kerouac
- Talanta, La Talanta by Pietro Aretino
- 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".
- Vivian Ward, central character in Pretty Woman
- Suzie Wong, from The World of Suzie Wong
- Yumi Komagata, Rurouni Kenshin, by Nobuhiro Watsuki
- Zaza, Zaza by Pierre Berton and Charles Simon
Symbolic or allegorical prostitutes
- The Whore of Babylon
- Oholah and Oholibah
- The prostitute in The Harlot's Progress by William Hogarth
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
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "List of prostitutes and courtesans" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
