I would like to add something to this if I may. I served in the Army
as a case contact interviewer for sexually transmitted diseases. I
was stationed in Germany, where women plied their trade work in the
basements of major buildings, where prostition was legal or semi
legal, and any man paying for the privelge had to where a condom and
that was law. I served in Vietnam where the army sponsored women
prostitutes for the American soldier, and they were checked out by
american doctors. I was in Korea, where prostitution is illegal, but
all women prostitutes were required by law to have a health card or
they went to jail, or even to jail for having a disease. I was in the
field often and watched mothers bring their daughters to the american
soldier for sex for the price of a c-ration or MRE. In Holland I had
the opportunity to visit the red Light district and see for myself
women sitting in windows advertising their bodies in scanty attire.
(or less) I went to Japan and will tell you they are far more liberal
in attitude towards prostitution than we Americans. Our Judeo-
outlook on this subject blinds us in many ways to the
realities of other countries and the survival of their citizens. I am
sorry if the concpt of weomen selling their bodies is offensive, but
most of the women in the poorer countries that I visited were in this
trade for survival of themselves and their children. Consider
Vietnam and the American soldier, many women lost husbands and sons
and the only way they could survive was to sell themselves or their
daughters. Sartar has been invaded, and many women have lost husbands
and sons, How will they survive? can they work the fields? Can they
hunt? Perhaps lift heavy loads. I'm sorry. I feel real strongly about
this because many of these women were very nice people and only did
what they had to to survive.
> Wulf :
>
> > I have some difficulty imagining a rural Heortling prostitute
though.
>
> Well I don't.
>
> Of course the Heortlings have prostitutes !
>
> > Would she be paid in cows (let's leave sheep out of this
> > conversation)?
>
> Well of course not, but she is unlikely to want them in the first
place.
> Probably, she will be after more portable wealth and/or food items,
clothing,
> and some form of protection from jealous wives and their agents.
>
> Male prostitutes another kettle of fish.
>
> > Professional prostitution relies to a degree on
> > portable, concealable (to hide illegality or unacceptability)
profit.
>
> C21 urban prostitution perhaps ; but is Heortling prostitution
> illegal/unacceptable in the first place ? (highly unlikely IMO) In
fact, most
> backwoods villages have at least one woman of loose morals ; that
everyone
> knows about ...
>
> > Of course there ARE such methods of payment, but where to
spend/use
> > them?
>
> Well, given that Heortling economics are based on a system of
barter,
> probably : in her mouth, over her skin, and above her head. Anyway,
> how many merchants have you ever met who'd refuse money ?
>
> Pointer : harsh Protestant morality and Glorantha don't mix well,
except in a
> few places of the West.
>
> > More likely any 'women of loose morals' making a living (partly
> > or wholy) from their activities would have to move on after
> > collecting a profit, in order that said profit not be visible &
> > obvious to the community from which it was earned.
>
> Rubbish.
>
> > And in that
> > position, moving from place to place, and relying to a part on
their
> > looks and persuasive talents would be... strolling players.
>
> Yes, 'low entertainment' and prostitution are historically linked.
Think 'flute
> players' in Ancient Greece, frex.
>
> > So we're
> > back at the Entertainers again. I cannot imagine anyone making a
> > living entirely from such activity, but it's the most relistic
> > version I can think of.
>
> Sorry, but this is rubbish. The most realistic version is : a
particular kind
> of disenchanted/lowly moralled woman making a day-to-day living
from
> unhappy/weak men, with tacit understanding from the community at
large (despite
> the attached blame), exists in most Heortling communities.
>
> Julian Lord
>
> PS Sorry about the harshness : no flame war please !