It hath evermore been the notorious badge of prostituted strumpets and the lewdest harlots to ramble abroad to plays, to playhouses; whither no sober girls or women, but only branded whores and infamous adulteresses, did usually resort in ancient times. – William Prynne
Sometimes the idea for a column rattles around in my brain for a long time before I get to it; last month’s “The Profumo Affair” was suggested by regular reader Marla almost a year before I actually wrote it, and today’s derives from an October 16th, 2010 comment by Sailor Barsoom: “When I saw the title, “Playing the Harlot”, I thought this was going to be about all the actresses who have ever played prostitutes (i.e. pretty much all of them). I don’t think Elle Fanning has (yet), but Shirley Temple did, at age four.” I suspect he’s referring to her performance as “La Belle Diaperina” in the one-reel comedy short “Glad Rags to Riches”. In truth, he’s not much exaggerating; if we extend the term “prostitute” to include all sex workers, halfway whores and gold-diggers, and include bit parts, I think we’d be hard-pressed to find an actress with more than three films to her credit who hasn’t played one. But that would make a very long column indeed, so I’m not going to go there; instead I’m limiting this to those who have played a full-on professional whore in an important role. Strippers, fortune-hunters and the like aren’t included, nor minor characters, nor is any role which is more of a MacGuffin than a character, such as the whores in Unforgiven or Doctor Detroit. And for TV shows, I only included regular characters; tracking one-episode appearances would take a whole website. Finally, I’m going to skip the extremely famous whores Nell Gwyn, the Madame de Pompadour and Valeria Messalina except to provide these links for their many film portrayals.
This column is more than just an interesting list; in my column of one year ago yesterday I pointed out that “making money off of whores without giving them anything in return…is as good a working definition of ‘pimp’ as I can imagine.” All of these actresses have made money off of us by playing members of our profession; some of them have made considerable sums. Yet none of them with the exception of Dolly Parton have ever as much as breathed a word in public to defend out rights, and some (such as Mira Sorvino) are actively anti-prostitute. None of them want to acknowledge the fact that up until the late 19th century our professions were indistinguishable; in the case of actresses who do nude and/or love scenes and that segment of whores who have sex on camera, they are still indistinguishable (just ask Sasha Grey or Traci Lords).
Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra in Firefly (2002)
Monica Bellucci as Malèna Scordia in Malèna (2000) & Mary Magdalene in The Passion of The Christ (2004)
Karen Black as Elizabeth Lucy in The Pyx (1973)
Amanda Blake as Miss Kitty in Gunsmoke (1955)
Mae Clarke as Myra Deauville in Waterloo Bridge (1931)
Jamie Lee Curtis as Ophelia in Trading Places (1983)
Rosario Dawson as Gail in Sin City (2005)
Rebecca De Mornay as Lana in Risky Business (1983)
Catherine Deneuve as Séverine Serizy in Belle de Jour (1967)
Doris Dowling as Gloria in The Lost Weekend (1945)
Britt Ekland as Willow in The Wicker Man (1973)
Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
Jane Fonda as Bree Daniels in Klute (1971)
Jodie Foster as Iris in Taxi Driver (1976)
Greta Garbo as Mata Hari in Mata Hari (1931) and as Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1936)
Janet Gaynor as Angela in Street Angel (1928)
Sasha Grey as Chelsea in The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
Melanie Griffith as V in Milk Money (1994)
Helen Hayes as Madelon Claudet in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)
Susan Hayward as Barbara Graham in I Want To Live! (1958)
Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) and as Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady (1964)
Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Miriam Hopkins as Ivy Pearson in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Madeleine Kahn as Lili von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles (1974)
Jaime King as Goldie and Wendy in Sin City (2005)
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Tralala in Last Exit To Brooklyn (1989)
Vivien Leigh as Myra Deauville in Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Shelley Long as Belinda Keaton in Night Shift (1982)
Sophia Loren as Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (1972)
Shirley MacLaine as Irma la Douce in Irma la Douce (1963)
Colette Marchand as Marie Charlet in Moulin Rouge (1952)
Giulietta Masina as Maria Ceccarelli in Nights of Cabiria (1957)
Marsha Mason as Maggie Paul in Cinderella Liberty (1973)
Catherine McCormack as Veronica Franco in Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Melina Mercouri as Ilya in Never On Sunday (1960)
Patty Mullen as Elizabeth Shelley in Frankenhooker (1990)
Ona Munson as Belle Watling in Gone With the Wind (1939)
Alla Nazimova as Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1921)
Kim Novak as Mildred Rogers in Of Human Bondage (1964)
Dolly Parton as Mona Stangley in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
Lynn Redgrave as Xaviera Hollander in The Happy Hooker (1975)
Donna Reed as Alma “Lorene” Burke in From Here To Eternity (1953)
Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman (1990)
Maya Rudolph as Rita in Idiocracy (2006)
Theresa Russell as Liz in Whore (1991)
Susan Sarandon as Hattie in Pretty Baby (1978)
Brooke Shields as Violet in Pretty Baby (1978)
Elisabeth Shue as Sera in Leaving Las Vegas (1985)
Mira Sorvino as Linda Ash in Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Barbara Stanwyk as Lily Powers in Baby Face (1933)
Sharon Stone as Ginger McKenna in Casino (1995)
Norma Talmadge as Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1926)
Elizabeth Taylor as Gloria Wandrous in BUtterfield 8 (1960)
Leigh Taylor-Young as Shirl in Soylent Green (1973)
Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003)
Rachel Ticotin as Melina in Total Recall (1990)
Kathleen Turner as China Blue in Crimes of Passion (1984)
Mae West as Ruby Carter in Belle of the Nineties (1934)
Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler in Scandal (1989)
Shelley Winters as Polly Adler in A House Is Not a Home (1964)
These were all the ones I could come up with from memory, rereading my “Filmography” page and searching IMDb, but I’m sure there are plenty of others I haven’t thought of. Readers, please suggest your favorites in the comments, keeping in mind the criteria in the first paragraph; I’ll edit the column to add those that fit. Incidentally, you’ll notice something strange going on in the comments below; I moved all the comments from “Filmography” here so I could close them there without losing them. That’s why some are so old and/or suggest films already in the list.
May I respectfully add my favorite hooker movie of all time? Never on Sunday
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054198/
Ilya personifies the very best of prostitution, yet is completely real.
XX
There are so many I have to add, I despair of ever getting to all of them!
Maggie, I wanted to ask you a question. As someone who neither is a prostitute nor has ever hired one, my views of prostitutes, no matter how much I tried to avoid social prejudices, were probably influenced/formed by second-hand, not-always-truthful sources. So I’m a little surprised to see you say here that most prostitutes are not streetwalkers and don’t have pimps. Is that really so? Do you have any stats/data that you could direct me to? (My expectation was that poor, exploited streetwalkers would be a majority, simply because poor, exploited people tend in general to outnumber middle-class or rich, non-exploited people.)
You’ve probably already written a post here somewhere about this topic — the real profile of real-world prostitutes — so you could, if you prefer, simply direct me to it. Thanks in advance!
Streetwalkers here, pimps here.
Oh, I love your list! May I just add a few of my favourites? Well here they are:
“Priceless” or “Hors de prix”:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482088
And “Jade”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113451
“Hors de prix” is not about courtesans or “whores” in the obvious sense (there is never mentionened any exchange of money – only goods…) but nevertheless I personally think this film is hitting a nerve. (Being a courtesan myself).
Thank you, Anna; I wasn’t familiar with either of those. 🙂
I feel that I have to mention Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It is interesting in that it depicts both a male and female prostitute that fall in love. Most people whom I’ve talked to also don’t even realize that Holly Golightly is a prostitute despite her having no job and admitting to being paid by men to ‘go to the powder room’. It also attempts to depict the difficult economic choice that she had to make after being forced into a marriage at an early age.
Interesting site Maggie. I wanted to add one to the list.
Snatch (with Brad Pitt as a gypsy)
That may sound like an odd one to list. But hear me out.
To begin with, ‘public opinion’ of prostitution has wavered throughout our history. We are not the only species on the planet that have sex for pleasure, however, we are probably the only species that trades sex for pleasure, or warp sexuality the way we have.
Our society has created a warped sense of sexuality. We teach our daughters that their sexuality is a ‘prize’ of some sort, and we teach our sons that women are a ‘prize’ to obtain. I know I am over generalizing here, but I think my point is clear. Because of the constraints and stigmas we place on our own sexuality, we have turned a completely natural act into a commodity.
And there it is. By making it a commodity, we attach a value. Want to have sex with a partner who is stunningly attractive, simple, pay. We do the same with all sorts of skills/objects. If you need legal help, you pay more for a skilled lawyer. Does it cost anything to have a buddy give you legal advice? In a way, we all ‘prostitute’ ourselves. If we make a living of any sort, we are selling a commodity, our skill set.
Ironically, many skills we have can be a commodity, and can be given away freely. For example, if you are skilled computer person, you may have a company pay you for your work, yet, if a friend or relative needs some help, do you charge them the same rate, for using the same skills?
So back to my movie suggestion. It’s a gritty movie that shows what people will do in the quest for money, and what people are willing to pay money to have done. Most importantly, the central object of the movie, a small object, composed of distinctly formed carbon atoms, has no more real value then our sexuality. But the perceived value drives people to do some crazy things……
Drew, I would have to disagree that humans “make” sex into a commodity; economics is a fact of all animal life, and males ALWAYS compete for female attention in every species. Mating is not a “right” for males in any species; it is granted by a female after the male fulfills whatever condition her instinct (in the case of prehuman animals) or she herself (in the case of human ones) sets. Females ARE a prize to be obtained, whether we like it or not; that fact arises from biology and is present throughout the animal kingdon, not from anything humans “teach” our children. Prostitution is therefore NOT warped in any way; it’s the most natural thing in the world, which is one of the primary reasons it should be decriminalized. And humans aren’t the only animals who practice it, either.
Actually, I didn’t state, nor do I think, that prostitution is warped. I said that our view of sexuality is warped. For example, portions of our society see homosexuality as an abomination, yet there are other species on this planet that show homosexual behavior, especially in over populated conditions. It’s nature’s way of saying ‘stop having kids’. Take a male and female high school student. In our society, if the male has sex with multiple partners, he’s considered a ‘stud’, yet, the same criteria for a female, and she’s considered a ‘slut’.
A minor correction to my original post, at the end of the first paragraph I said ‘that trades sex for pleasure’, I meant to say ‘that trades for sexual pleasure’. Your link about animals practicing prostitution was a good read. There is a distinction between mating and sexual pleasure, however. Most species have a biological imperative to procreate. A lot of species receive pleasure from intercourse (both male and female). I had actually heard about the penguin ‘pebble trade’ thing, but had forgotten about that. So I was wrong in saying we were the only species to trade for sexual pleasure. However, I should point out that the trading is not always male trading for pleasure from a female. While the proportion of human women vying for male prostitutes is dwarfed by the opposite, it still exists.
A quote from one of my favorite books, The Lucifer Principle, is ‘Men are built for short, violent lives. Women are built for long, miserable ones.’. Testosterone provides male aggression and physical strength, yet at the same time, it weakens our immune system. Truly, if a male wants to live longer, he should castrate himself. In the same book (same chapter I think too, I think it was called the ‘expendability of males’), it stated that if there were only 100 men, and one woman left on the planet, that our species would probably die out. Where as if there were 100 women, and one man, that the species would continue. Probably true.
But back to human sexuality becoming a commodity. To say that females are a ‘prize’ is a perception. A perception perpetuated by social values and stigmas. There is a species of gorillas (I think, may be monkeys), where when a rival tribe attacks, when the battle is over, the children are killed so that the ‘victorious’ males can mate with the ‘captured’ females. In that species, once a female has birthed children, she is no longer interested in other males. By killing their offspring, the females will mate again. A true image of a female being a ‘prize’. Is that how humans should perceive their sexuality? Admittedly, a major role in the perpetuation of prostitution is the perceived imbalance of desire and attraction. Men are a major player in the continuation of this perceived imbalance, mainly because, in general, we are morons when it comes to sexuality. (A quote from Robin Williams, god gave men a brain and a penis, but only enough blood to use one at a time. LOL)
The value of ANYTHING is a perception. What is an ounce of gold worth? Sure, you could look up the daily fluctuating commodities market value, but on a personal level, what is it worth? To some, it is a shiny, pretty metal that displays influence and status. To others, it is simply another element on the periodic table. This was the point of my movie recommendation, the value of perception.
On a personal level, I also feel that prostitution should be decriminalized. I just think that the same perceptions which drive the profession are perceptions that make the profession a social ‘outcast’, and drive the social outcry for criminalization in the first place, a self perpetuating cycle.
Sorry – but you have bought into a myth there.
There are TWO downsides of testosterone …
1. You think about sex all the time and this can interfere with shit you have to get done. With a little discipline (and a good woman around to tell you when you’re losing that discipline) – you can overcome this.
2. You tend to crave a more dangerous lifestyle (or you could say “adventurous”) and, THIS can get you killed (if you’re not disciplined enough to control this). I don’t even count “anger issues” or “violence” into the testosterone equation because I don’t think they are caused by high testosterone. I have never once had an anger issue or lost control of myself – and the last time I hit someone I was in high school and that was because the guy hit a friend of mine who was half his size.
Everything else – IS AN “UPSIDE”.
No – it doesn’t depress your immune system. I have had high testosterone pretty much all my life and, I’m 50 and my last test six months ago was 950 ng/ml (total) and 34 ng/ml (free) … on the LabCorp scale the max spec’s for those are 850 ng/ml and 24 ng/ml respectively so my free and total test is considerably higher than a lot of men. And another “myth” is that men go through some kind of “andropause” like women do when they get old. That is bullshit. Men lose their test levels because they live the “western lifestyle” and buy into the hype of high-fiber diets and rabbit food. They also tend to DRINK and SMOKE. I don’t do either and I laugh my ass off at modern medicine’s attempts to legitimize drinking by pushing the benefits of drinking wine. You can get the health benefits of wine from other sources and you don’t have to consume alcohol, which is hormonally suppressive.
Last time I got sick, I got pneumonia in 2003 and that is because I was in the war zone and experienced a minor bought of “anxiety” and that is when the doc put me on Xanax. It tanked my hormones and shot my estrogen through the roof. Not only did I feel mentally confused and unsure of myself (all the time) – but I felt physically weak and contracted pneumonia. I got rid of the Xanax and after a month or so I was back to normal.
I get an “anthrax” booster every year and LOVE THEM! Never make me sick. I don’t do flu shots and don’t get the flu. However, I do have a 1984 Honda V65 Motorcycle that I rebuilt three years ago and it runs 150 mph without breaking a sweat. Sometimes I’ll be on the interstate with it redlined for ten miles before I realize how fast I’m going and that I really should slow the fuck down.
I would venture to say that most men with depression have low test levels. I’m NEVER depressed and always feel “spunky”. 😀
Don’t forget “Night Shift”, starring Michael Keaton, Henry Winkler, and Shelly Long. I imagine that’s a wild mischaracterization, since it’s a comedy. But I’ll have to plead ignorance, as the limit of my knowledge of prostitution is related to research I did for a college speech class in which I was proposing legalization (I’m a member of the Libertarian party, and we’re opposed to government interference with consensual contracts between private individuals). I only really recall a few things from that research (done in 1981), and it’s a result of reading someone else’s professional research.
One was that some women in New York city would work for “escort services” in order to supplement their income so that they could afford to continue to live in Manhattan. Some were married; I mention this because if you work full time, and your spouse works full time, and you still cannot afford to live there – wherever there may be – without an additional job, you either need to move, improve your skill set, or change the local laws to make rents more affordable – in NY, that means eliminate rent control, which makes all other apartments more expensive; but enough from the soap box.
The other was that there were legal businesses that would share their credit card machine with nearby “houses of prostitution” in return for a cut of the business. One I recall was an expensive restaurant that did it. So that $300 charge on your company credit card was easy to pass off as a “business lunch”. The restaurant got 10%.
Why not Unforgiven?
I recommend “Scandal,” a superb movie starring Joanne Whalley, Bridget Fonda and John Hurt.
Pedro Almodovar’s “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” has the best positive, funny neighbor who’s a prostitute. It’s in Spanish with English subtitles, but a riot.
Just a tip: Malena starring Monica Belluci is a great movie.
It is about a beautifull Italian woman in world war 2 who becomse a prostitute due to circumstances all seen through the eyes of a boy who loves her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4C0szpgokQ
and of course Moulin Rouge.
Hi Maggie – just stumbled into your excellent site via Satoshi Kanazawa’s Psychology Today article (Are All Women Essentially Prostitutes? http://ow.ly/4pU2F ).
Enjoyed reading your take on the above films and would love t hear what your thought of Crimes of Passion (1984, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087100/), Ken Russell’s ‘other’ whore movie?
Kathleen Turner is incandescent as China Blue, Anthony Perkins as a deranged priest trying to ‘save’ her by killing her. If you haven’t seen, whack it on your list!
Keep on keepin’ it real!
This was a great movie that i don’t believe is on your list.
It stars Catherine Deveuve.
(I really enjoyed Pretty Woman and didn’t worry about it not being realistic either.)
I have no idea if Belle de Jour is “realistic” either but it’s a good movie (probably many a housewife’s fantasy) and the actress has always been a favorite of mine. For some of us the fantasy is more fun because it’s not based on reality.
I copied the quoted part from Wikipedia
“Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour (1967), – as the ‘ haut-bourgeois housewife who achieves sexual satisfaction working in a Parisian brothel.”
I’d like to suggest “Trading Places” with Jamie Lee Curtis? Confident sexy woman working as a street walker, in a silly 80’s movie. Don’t remember the details, but I do remember her character as a smart woman in control of her own destiny.
“Leaving Las Vegas” surely deserves a mention …
Thought I’d throw this on the pile: the excellent BBC series “I, Claudius”. The woman from the guild of prostitutes who competes with Messallina is presented as professional, witty and intelligent. But the real treasure is the unashamed prostitute Calpurnia, who is probably the most decent person in the entire series and the only one worthy of Claudius’ trust.
It seems like a good place to ask: Some years ago i ran across this film on TCM, about a prostitute that falls in love with a guy, and this guy later on dresses up as someone else, going to her as one of her clients – but i have no idea why or what or who, i seem to recall it was an english or american film that was places in France….I know i’m not giving you much, but any ideas? Thanks
You’re obviously thinking of Irma La Douce.
As a total nerd, these actresses came to mind 🙂
All three star in SF films or series. (Piper in Doctor Who for those who don’t watch the series.)
Milla Jovovich – as Dakota Burns (He Got Game)
Jessica Biel – as Melina (Total Recall [remake])
Billie Piper – as Belle (Secret Diary of a Call Girl-TV)
Wasn’t Jessica a part-time hooker in “Powder Blue” as well? I haven’t seen that in a while so my memory is a little blurry.
Bit dubious about this:
Lara Pulfer as Irene Adler — “The Woman” — in the BBC remake Sherlock. Only in one episode, but it’s 90 minutes long.
In this version of Sherlock, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, so still a sex worker despite some dommes’ arguments to the contrary. In the original Sherlock novels, Irene Adler was a courtesan, based on a combination of “Spanish” courtesan Lola Montez and American actress Lillie Langtry.
And that was an awesome episode! 🙂
That’s a freakin’ long list and I don’t know how I thought of something that isn’t up there and, maybe it is but here goes …
Amanda Seyfried in Cloe (2009)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1352824/
It also has Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore in it – and it’s Julianne that I’m always interested in. Think I’ve seen everything she’s done except the Sarah Palin movie.
There is some DAMN HOT girl / girl in this between Julianne and Amanda.
This is YouTube – but it might not be necessarily “safe for work”
Marlene Dietrich – “Destry Rides Again”
I think one of the main reasons why Puritans originally objected to the theatre was because actresses (and actors who would have been doubly damnned anyway) were often moonlighting as whores, as a way of earning more money and prestige for later use.
Emily Watson as Bess in “Breaking the Waves” — a strange film.
Katherine Kath as Colette in Jackie Gleason’s 1962 masterpiece “Gigot”.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056017/
The story’s arc of death and resurrection is particularly suited for Easter. Kath’s Colette can readily be seen as a Mary Magdeline to Gleason’s mute Gigot as a Christ figure.
It’s also hilarious. Best line, IMHO, from two bureaucrats investigating Gigot, “We’re from the Department of Complaints. Do you have a complaint you wish to register?”
Audrey Hepburn definitely played a sugar baby in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but Eliza Doolittle was not only not a prostitute, she was horrified at the idea of even getting fully undressed in the presence of strangers. She was poor & came under the influence of a rich man, but she definitely wasn’t fucking him.
The reason I included her was that real-life Eliza Dolittles – Victorian “flower girls” – were streetwalkers who sold flowers (or other such cheap goods) to avoid harassment by police. In other words even though she was portrayed thus in the movie, Shaw almost certainly had it in mind when writing Pygmalion. It’s the same thing with Nell Gwyn or Madame Pompadour; most movies in which they appear probably sanitize the roles, but they’re still there. It was kind of a tough judgment call to make; I went the opposite way with Mary Magdalene, who in real life probably wasn’t a prostitute but is portrayed as such in the listed movies.
Radley Metzger satirized MY FAIR LADY perfectly with THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN, in which a pimp takes a common streetwalker and turns her into a high-class escort. Have you seen that? That really has to be one of the best movies about a whore. Also, don’t forget Marlene Dietrich in THE BLUE ANGEL.
I did see The Opening of Misty Beethoven. It was pretty good for western porn. I’ve seen lots worse movies that weren’t porn at all.
Hi people,
Maggie suggested I ask this from you:
have any of you ever run across mystery stories where the hero who solves the murder is a whore? Movies or novels?
I’m on a mystery reading spree, and lately have been trying to locate ones where the sleuth is of a bit more uncommon type, preferably one of those character types who often are used in supporting roles as information sources. Whores are featured fairly often, and sometimes they get to have the opening scene, perhaps one where they find a client dead and then end up as one of the suspects, but they never seem to get to be the sleuth themselves.
Most of the more uncommon sleuths seem to be old ladies, Miss Marple style, and that’s mostly in cozies, which of course also have several other types of women, usually a bit older, middle class and from small towns, but otherwise you get the private detectives and journalists. Would be nice to find some variety.
Marja
(used to be able to comment without logging into that WordPress account, but I do happen to have it and lately these WordPress sites sometimes seem to lose the comment totally unless I log in…)
Not quite what you are looking for, but there is a series of Irene Adler novels by Carole Nelson Douglas. I’ve only read the first one, and I didn’t find it very authentic, so I don’t know if the others are better. Irene at this stage is married to Geoffrey Norton, and is therefore a retired opera singer/courtesan.
Thanks, I think I may have seen something about that series somewhere. Irene Adler has been interpreted in so many different ways that she didn’t come to my mind, but perhaps I should check it out.
I’m not aware of any movies or novels in which a hooker solves the crime (except maybe Avenging Angel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088757/ ). But it sounds like a very cool idea, and somebody needs to start writing and casting and filming.
An interesting question. I did a quick search and didn’t see a single one. As Sailor Barsoom says, it would seem to be a great concept for a film. It just goes to show once again the prejudice against prostitutes that no one ever considered it a worthwhile theme to pursue.
The only novel I know of that definitely has prostitutes as (successful) crime solvers is (ahem) one of my own. However it is hardcore SM porn, so I won’t promote it here.
Yes, it does seem like such an obvious idea that it is sort of baffling why nobody seems to have used it. Even if you go with the idea that your generic mystery readers, or movie audiences, might be offended by the ‘oh no, a prostitute’ angle, well, ‘Pretty Woman’ was fairly successful so presumably most of any potential moral outrage could be sidestepped by having the heroine find a potential husband during the story and then giving the implication that she is going to quit her job…
Ah, but despite the title, “Pretty Woman” was actually a “white knight rescues maiden” kind of story. The character played by Julia Roberts doesn’t actually do anything.
Heaven forfend that a (shudder) prostitute be portrayed as actually being able to do something to save herself or others. Why, a film or book like that might be interpreted as … as … promoting rape!
Yes, it was a white knight story, but my point was mostly that it can be used as an excuse that a story with a prostitute as a main character can sell.
And when it comes to popular entertainment and it’s effect in shaping our attitudes… I do also believe that things are usually a bit easier to change with some subterfuge than just telling ‘you’re wrong’. What Maggie is doing is important, and it works for people who are already leaning, at least a bit, towards the idea that whores aren’t really any different than any other working women, and that their occupation isn’t something wrong.
But if you are talking about societies as a whole, one of the better ways might actually be if we could get more positive portrayals of whores where the main point is not that the character is a whore into popular entertainment. Stories where the ‘sexually alluring’ part of the mythos is downplayed rather than being the main point, and the focus is on showing a character anybody would like, probably including your churchgoing aunt, just one who happens to work, or have worked, as a prostitute. Don’t show much of her work, but show that little accurately, perhaps have the characters just talk about it bit more, and yes, stories which are about the incident after which she quits the job probably would go down better for the more tighlaced individuals, by giving them that excuse to pretend that she was ‘saved’ and so allow them to like the rest of the story. And if somebody becomes a fan of a fictional character she might be a bit less ready to condemn the real person with a similar occupation.
Ok, I should add that I think the main problem with ‘Pretty Woman’ is that it does portray her job as something she needs to be ‘saved’ from, so I’m not saying that it’s a good movie in that sense.
But if we could get something a bit like that, but where the guy needs to pursue the lady who is disinclined to give up her freedom, and he needs to show her that he is worthy of her and can be trusted, well, that particular plot wouldn’t actually have needed that much tweaking, I think, in order to change the implications.
Or if we could get a mystery where she solves the murder with a little help from the hunky cop and the ending is that usual ‘implied but not actually showed’ that maybe they are now going to get married and maybe she will quit her job now…
This is one of many reasons I’ll never be a scriptwriter. My version would inevitably end with the hooker solving the crime, maybe moving to another city because she’s now too well known, and going right back to being a hooker. Why? Well, solving one crime doesn’t mean you can earn a living as a P.I., and besides, she likes her job.
But then I’m the guy who started writing a hard sci-fi movie and suddenly realized, “This thing would have to have a half-billion dollar budget unless it was animated; EVERYBODY’S leaping around in low gravity!”
Heh. I’d watch those.
And now I’m thinking if there would be any buyers for a sort of a cozy mystery (novel) with a call girl sleuth. You see, one of her favorite clients gets murdered, but she is neither a suspect nor a witness, and isn’t going to do anything about it, but then the victim’s only remaining family member, a grandmother, comes into the city and insist on playing miss Marple because she is not happy with the way the police are treating the case – perhaps the cops are inching towards an idea that the grandson was mixed in some sort of scam or something and got killed for it, but granny is sure he wouldn’t have. And she is such a lovely old lady the call girl just can’t let her get into trouble without anyone to help her so now she does get involved… 🙂
How about an escort agency that also provides private investigation services ala Charlie’s Angels. They wouldn’t have to show the girls actually providing sex services, merely suggest it, like Inara in Firefly. It would promote the idea that not all prostitutes are street walkers, and they could grumble about how they make more money escorting than investigating.
After all, female TV heroines “pretend” to be escorts all the time. This would just be making the escorting part real.
Now I think you’re on to something.
Sounds cool. Maybe she even lets the grandmother take credit. The grandmother can ask her if she needs rescuing, and will respect the escort’s answer of, “Nah, not really. The pay and the hours are both the best I’m likely to find, and I’m making a difference.”
Now, if you’re satisfied with a mystery in which the call girl only helps the detective without being one herself, you might try Heart of Gold by A.K. Smith.
“The G-Sring Murders,” a bestselling novel by Gypsy Rose Lee, has strippers solving murders. It was made into the movie “Lady of Burlesque” starring Barbara Stanwyck. Great novel and great film.
Whoops – I meant “The G-String Murders”
Added to Netflix queue. Thanks.
From an interview for The Guardian that Monica Bellucci gave following her role as Daniela in Combien tu M’aimes:
“As a woman I am so curious about prostitutes because of the idea that they know men better than you. Also, it’s such a strange way to live. But at the same time there are prostitutes who just want to be prostitutes, and this is this woman, nobody pushed her to do it. She’s a prostitute because she wants to be a prostitute. It’s her philosophy of life.”
Asking whether she did any research into the role:
“Yeah, I went into some bars and I have met some prostitutes in my life. Actually, it’s a fantasy of many women to be a prostitute- even for one night.”
The interviewer asked if she had that fantasy:
“No, not mine, but I know women who thought about it as an erotic dream, and I think men and women can be just curious about it.”
One of my favorite movies is about prostitutes. In fact, I just watched it again this weekend! It’s from Peru and it’s based on a novel by recent Nobel prize winner, Mario Vargas Llosa. In Spanish it’s called “Pantaleón y las visitadoras.” The main prostitute star is Angie Cepeda.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190611/
Over sixty movies total, at least as many acresses, and some of them played more than one harlot.
Three appearances of Mary Magdeline. As the first mortal to see Christ after the Ressurrection, she could reasonably be considered the founder of Christianity.
Barbra Streisand as Claudia Draper in Nuts
and as Doris in Owl and the Pussycat.
Jennifer Love Hewitt in The Client List (film and now a tv series) she is Samantha Horton in the film. Riley Parks in the series.
Interesting – I’d actually disagree with the Britt Ekland entry, as I can’t recall anything in ‘The Wicker Man’ that suggested that she got paid for her sexual activities. I may of course have forgotten something as it’s years since I saw the film, so I’m quite happy to be put straight on that one if I’m wrong!
I don’t think she did get paid in a direct tit-for-tat sense, but Lord Summerisle directly stated that she was the love goddess’s representative, making her a sacred prostitute; she was even given the important task of tempting Sgt. Howie. I presume she was paid in prestige or some other social “coin” rather than actual money. She even had a song about her!
Oh, come on. I think including someone for playing a character who is ‘paid in prestige’ is pushing it. 🙂
Maybe, but she’s the only sacred whore in any movie I’ve ever heard of, so I really couldn’t exclude her.
Maybe, but she’s the only sacred whore in any movie I’ve ever heard of,That’s because I don’t make movies.
OK, let me try this again.
Maybe, but she’s the only sacred whore in any movie I’ve ever heard of,
That’s because I don’t make movies.
Ak. Well, you get the idea.
Stella Stevens was retired prostitute in The Poseidon Adventure, married to a cop.
By the way Maggie, the reason I found your blog at all is that I’m researching whores and their subjective experiences for a project. I’ve done numerous key-word searches for your blog, and I have yet to find one that is about the specific pleasure you derive from being a whore, other than the feeling of financial independence. (Although I did find one that stated that you have occasional orgasms, I took it that this was rare and not a motivation). I would imagine that the real draw might be a combination of the money, psychological power over men, a feeling of being more desirable or more radical than other women, the feeling of being an outlaw, and the feeling of belonging to the men’s club. If you disagree on any of these points, can iterate further, or can point me to the blogs where you talk about pleasure, I would be grateful. For instance, you list all of these movies, but you don’t say which ones if any correspond to your private experiences.
You can find a short synopsis of reasons sex workers give for enjoying the work in “Out of Context“; the top ones are money & flexibility, which were mine as well.
Okay, thanks. I’ll take a look at that link.
I looked at that link, and it is exactly what I am NOT looking for. Not statistics, but real and personal stories from women about how they felt during specific encounters, what was going on in their minds, where they felt pleasure or power or desire or human connection, or any type of human feeling other than the relief at being able to earn a living. I am having a really hard time locating any of these types of stories, except vague sweeping ones that generalize about agency and self-esteem.
It’s impossible to say how one feels during a call in a general sense, because every one is different. Some guys are so nice and so much fun it’s not even like working; others are a lot of work, and most are somewhere in the middle. What non-sex workers just don’t get is that it really is just work, so the experiences with clients vary just like they do in any other profession where one deals with individuals such as a nurse, dentist, masseuse, teacher, etc.
Yes, I see what you mean. So that’s why I think we need more cultural stories that show that – to demystify the whole thing. There are actually some great postwar Japanese films about prostitutes that show the daily lives of working girls, and how diverse their experiences are. But in the end it’s always about earning a living.
Still, even if each client is different, that would be interesting to document. If you documented your experience within one given week, what would it look like? A nurse could easily do that, or a masseuse, or anyone, but in my view any woman who is talking about her real daily experience is important, because we have so little documentation of lived female experience.
So the movies you listed that would seem to me to be most representative of real experience would be KLUTE or BELLE DE JOUR. Both include the sorts of issues I am looking for in blogs. Did you relate to anything in either of those movies?
I’ve never seen Belle de Jour, and wasn’t impressed with Klute.
Well Klute was a bit anti-sex work in the end I guess…but it was also about how that woman has all of these issues she was dealing with, about power and so on, which I know a lot of women (not just prostitutes) can become obsessed with. But I don’t think it was entirely negative. And I think the ending was intentionally disturbing, in that she had a lot of resentment for the man who was trying to “rescue” her, and felt jumpy in that she’d be giving up her real independence and power by being with just him and depending on him. So it was anything but a one-dimensional portrayal of a sex-worker. And Belle de Jour is about this woman’s masochistic perversion more than it is about sex work. The best film I’ve seen about sex work, come to think of it, is Lizzie Borden’s WORKING GIRLS. Have you seen that? That really does portray sex work as just work, but it also shows how terribly draining it can be if you have “one of those days” at work.
I noticed that Anne Hathaway’s Oscar winning performance as Fantine in Les Misérables is not included. Which got me thinking. What’s the difference between Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto? Both actors won Best Supporting acting Oscars portraying marginalized characters (in Leto’s case, he played a trans woman in Dallas Buyers Club), but Leto did not use his Oscar acceptance speech as a pulpit to advocate the persecution of the type of people he portrayed in the name of saving them.