Re: Re: Orlanthi Prostitution

From: Graham Robinson <gjr_at_...>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:21:02 +0000 (GMT)


On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 TTrotsky_at_... wrote:

> Gareth Martin:
>
> << > (unlike medieval Europeans, or indeed, Malkioni) have no
> > taboos against sex
> > before marriage anyway, which makes prostitution are less
> > commercially viable
> > career path.
>
> I don't think that's quite the clientele they would be catering for; its
> much more a case of sex DURING marriage.>>
>
> I'm not sure how you'd get away with performing such a heinous sin on a
> regular basis in a small rural community, though. By abusing a bond which has
> been divinely instituted by the gods, I think you'd be letting yourself in
> for a lot of trouble - especially if you follow an aspect of one of those
> gods, as female entertainers apparently do...
>
> <<Maybe this is just bad luck, but there is a historical strand in which
> women in entertainment are assumed to be prostitutes, sometimes legitimately.
> >>
>
> Could be the case in the West, I'll grant you. Or in Dara Happa, come to
> that. It just doesn't sound Heortling though IMO.
>

I find it difficult to believe that prostitution doesn't occur among the Heortlings - its far too pervasive in the real world for it not to occur. Certainly the permissiveness of our society has done nothing to stop the trade.

Having said that, I agree with Trotsky that a small community cannot support such people. Especially if they are breaking taboos. They would either be confined to the larger, more urban centres, or would travel seeking clients. In many cases clients would be those who were either unhappily married and willing to take the risk, or who were unable to form a relationship otherwise.

As for divine retribution, in the real world prostitutes and their clients are more prone to a variety of nasty conditions, some of them effecting fertility. This hasn't stopped the trade, and would seem a direct parallel of the sort of retribution Ernalda especially might make.

Cheers,
Graham

-- 
Graham Robinson			The Stableyard - Internet Solutions
gjr_at_...		http://www.thestableyard.net

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