MovieChat Forums > Gigi (1958) Discussion > The "courtesan" tradition

The "courtesan" tradition

posted 8 years ago by MargiePax
4 replies | jump to latest

Was the courtesan arrangement only practiced in France, or other places in Europe? Watching this movie is the first I've heard of it. Young women were groomed to be mistresses, wealth men were playboys, and being a kept woman was a career goal. And both sexes were ok with it. Maybe because the men knew they couldn't marry outside of their social standing, as did the women. There seemed to be no stigma being what current opinion might be considered a "gold digger."

I'm no social historian. Watching Downton Abbey, especially the earlier seasons depicting the early 1900s, the upper class women were expected to be virgins and their goal in life was getting married. Preferably, marrying for social advancement. Period dramas depicting the US around the turn of the century showed similar moral standards.

I wonder if the working class French of the 1900s practiced more monogamy.

[–] TheGuyWithTheFeet 8 years ago

The French are an entire country of adulterers, ha ha. (Just kidding, a little bit.)

That being said, I think that the courtesan thing was more of a continental thing. I don't think the British would accept that kind of behavior. They were much more upright and proper than that (at least out in the open). It wasn't just a French thing. You hear about Germans and Italians doing the same thing.

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

there have been courtesans in every society. A famous English courtesan for example was catherine 'skittles' Walters, who was friendly with edward VII when he was Prince of Wales, a,ong others.

[–] footnotegirl 8 years ago

In any culture where women have been considered less-than-equal and needing of 'protection', courtesans have always been a thing. They existed in Ancient Greece and Rome even. Basically, when you have a set up where upper-class women are expected to be virginal, uneducated, hyper-moral (lay back and think of england and all that), and focussed only on home and family, that leaves upper class men with a certain something missing in their life... women who they can actually enjoy the presence of and actually enjoy sex with. They were often educated, well read, and talented in the arts. They tended to come either from the arts (actresses and ballerinas particularly) or from what was popularly called the demi-monde. Women who were born out of wedlock, or whose families had become impoverished, or who had been 'ruined' (compromised before marriage, etc) might also become courtesans.
Two great books on the subject are:
The Book of the Courtesans: a Catalogue of Their Virtues by Susan Griffin
Scarlet Women: the Scandalous Lives of Courtesans, Concubines, and Royal Mistresses by Ian Graham.

[–] 8 years ago

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