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Love For Sale: A World History of Prostitution
"[An] enlightening and entertaining . . . survey of the world's oldest profession" from the Whore of Babylon to the modern sex-worker movement (Kirkus Reviews).
From Eve and Lilith to Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, the prostitute has been both a target of scorn and a catalyst for social change. In Love for Sale, cultural historian Nils Johan Ringdal delivers an authoritative and engaging history of this most maligned, yet globally ubiquitous, form of human commerce.
Beginning with the epic of Gilgamesh, the Old Testament, and ancient cultures from Asia to the Mediterranean, Ringdal considers the varying way societies have dealt with and thought about prostitutes through history. He discusses how they were included in the priestess class in ancient Greece and Rome; how the rise of the courtesan in nineteenth-century Europe shaped literature, fashion, the arts, and modern sensibilities. He uncovers the first manuals on the art of sex and seduction, the British Empire's campaigns against prostitution in India, and stories of the Japanese "comfort women" who served the armies in the Pacific theater of World War II. Ringdal closes with the rise of the sex-workers' rights movement and 'sex-positive" feminism, and a realistic look at the true risks and rewards of prostitution in the present day.
Recalling Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae with its broad sweep across centuries and continents, Love for Sale "uses [its] subject as a springboard for exploring the ever-changing notions of love, sexual identity, morality and gender among various cultures" (Nan Goldberg, Newark Sunday Star-Ledger).
From Eve and Lilith to Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, the prostitute has been both a target of scorn and a catalyst for social change. In Love for Sale, cultural historian Nils Johan Ringdal delivers an authoritative and engaging history of this most maligned, yet globally ubiquitous, form of human commerce.
Beginning with the epic of Gilgamesh, the Old Testament, and ancient cultures from Asia to the Mediterranean, Ringdal considers the varying way societies have dealt with and thought about prostitutes through history. He discusses how they were included in the priestess class in ancient Greece and Rome; how the rise of the courtesan in nineteenth-century Europe shaped literature, fashion, the arts, and modern sensibilities. He uncovers the first manuals on the art of sex and seduction, the British Empire's campaigns against prostitution in India, and stories of the Japanese "comfort women" who served the armies in the Pacific theater of World War II. Ringdal closes with the rise of the sex-workers' rights movement and 'sex-positive" feminism, and a realistic look at the true risks and rewards of prostitution in the present day.
Recalling Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae with its broad sweep across centuries and continents, Love for Sale "uses [its] subject as a springboard for exploring the ever-changing notions of love, sexual identity, morality and gender among various cultures" (Nan Goldberg, Newark Sunday Star-Ledger).
468 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1997
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April 25, 2018
It is in essence a global social history of prostitution, particularly its ever-evolving position of tolerance or ostracization in society. It makes a strong case for tolerance in the present day, where legalization is a gateway to proper medical prevention, without passing a verdict on the benefits of ‘white’ prostitution when it comes to economical advantage or protection against violence. The mixed results of legalization policies on those points are clearly visible when the state relies too much on overzealous Social Justice Warriors in the implementation of its policy.
Antiquity is fairly uniform. This comprises the Ancient Middle East, the first civilization of the Indus valley, the Egypt of the Pharaohs and our own Classical world. The principle of “temple prostitution” is found throughout this period, in marked contrast with later times dominated by monotheistic world religions. The omnipresent pejorative distinction between questionable streetwalker (or doorwaystander, to be precise) and the unattainable courtesan has, by contrast, has survived into the present day in the low-level prices of the red light district and the high-class escort.
The focus lies on the comparatively rich and accessible source material of the Greco-Roman world, which operated within an entirely different mental frame. It was a fashionable subject in Antiquity studies around the turn of the millennium, see among others Eva Cantarella & C.A. Williams . Some of the vignettes employed here will be familiar: From Thaïs of Athens inciting Alexander to burn down the palaces of Persepolis to the sharp verses of Martialis.
The position of Christianity was understandably conflicted from the beginning, which translated into a sharper social division of prostitution. Both Augustinus and Thomas Aquinas softened a run-of-the-mill Puritan stance with the acknowledgement of prostitution’s social necessity. The Church preferred it as a lesser evil to homosexuality among the clergy. In a clever twist, clients of the cloth could claim to “rescue” a prostitute when caught. No wonder that the 13th century tale of van den vos reynaerde speaks of “signing the hymns” as a metaphor for intercourse! In the secular world, the licensed brothel prospered, under close medical supervision of the urban authorities and with generous contributions to religious architecture.
For some reason, the author speaks of the predominant use of the missionary position here. Is it possible that the very art of lovemaking went into decline? The admonishing of an Italian courtesan to her daughter seems to second this, complaining that it’s the clients who come up with crazy positions. I chose to question this part vehemently.
The Renaissance meant, in the realm of love for sale, foremost a Renaissance in venereal disease. Syphilis reared its ugly head around 1450 and caused a severe decline of the brothel, driving ordinary prostitution into an unsanitary underground. On the other end, high-class courtesans attained an unprecedented level of fame, not by sheer virtue of their looks or amorous talent, but also by their skills as donna universalis and as a source of inspiration for artists. In other fields, the shadow of the Middle Ages stretched forth across the centuries. Within the nobility and royalty, the political influence of the blonde nymph had her roots there; my favourite anecdote concerns a courtesan who was the only woman to ever seduce Henri II of France, who mostly preferred male company until the captain of his bodyguard accidentally pierced his brain with a lance splinter at a tournament, as recorded by Nostradamus:
"The young lion will overcome the older one, On the field of combat in a single battle; He will pierce his eyes through a golden cage, Two wounds made one, then he dies a cruel death."
[image error]
Diane de Poitiers - Worth it ?
The pace of the story quickens in tandem with the pace of European exploration: the main novelties of the 18th century as presented here seem to be the 'Happy Hooker' Fanny Hill of John Cleland (1748) who stood opposite Defoe’s tragic Moll Flanders (1722) to shape a new incarnation of the Madonna-Whore complex.
Up to that point, Maria Magdalena had been a contradiction in extremis par excellence for many Christian thinkers and, according to diaries preserved in the archives of the religious orders, a nightly temptation for the more imaginative monk. Devout yet fallen, she was more human and easy to relate to than many figures in the pantheon of saints, gaining fame as a patron saint not just for the ladies of the night, but also for such borderline crafts as glove-making.
She was omnipresent in the art of the crucifixion, gradually letting her hair and her gown down. This tells us something of what was considered seductive from generation to generation. To the modern eye, the evolution is appreciatively revealing.
Christ and the Penitent Sinners (1617) by P.P. Rubens vs. Tilman Riemenschneider's Ascension of Maria Magdalena (1490) ... the furry evolution ?
Away from the creamy skin on dark satin, adventurous explorers came into contact with cultures whose mores were different and deceptively more easygoing than those of the Old World. Here the story really spreads its wings. African polygamy, the equality of the sexes on the isles of the South Seas and the truly matriarchal philosophies of Native American cultures all precluded the existence of prostitution as understood in a brutally economic context. The next two hundred years would see these practices pushed to the periphery as the global economy became more rigid under the umbrella of imperialism first and neoliberal capitalism second. Time and again, a work force made up predominantly of young unmarried men concentrated in mercantile and industrial areas, resulting in a corresponding concentration of bordellos.
Japan, as so often, proved an exception to the rule prior to the arrival of commodore Perry. All though the concept of prostitution was so superfluous to the easygoing culture of sexual relations both hetero- and homosexual in pre-Edo Japan that it had to be imported from China, it found fertile ground in the atmosphere of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603), whose samurai enjoyed the lavish services of geishas in a special town on the outskirts of the capital, sometimes to the point of financial ruin that many an Italian would’ve sympathized with. The formality to prevalent in Japanese society created a unique aloofness where the girl would not so much as smile or make eye contact during the preceding meal, but at the same time these visits where the talk of Edo thanks to the mandatory presence of her entourage. (it is worth noting here that the dimension of gossip nowhere is touched upon in any depth, not even for the Roman period) A further twist is self-mutilation as an expression of love, not unlike the chivalric romance of European feudalism, sometimes accumulating in hara-kiri as in the Orientalist play Madame Butterfly .
Alas, Josephine Butler, in her laudable fight against the discriminating Contagious Diseases Acts (1864-69) and "White slavery" (both actual trafficking and moral panic), has created a political framework that sanctions intervention by the police force and social welfare organizations out of a perceived moral superiority, dangerously oversimplifying the complex reality of 21st century prostitution. In a part of the world where we should congratulate ourselves on the absence of religion as a basis of legislation and the nefarious manifestation of the Morality Police, don’t deliver us to the Hall Monitors of Morality.
you meant well.
Fiction cited:
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini
Non-fiction cited:
Bisexuality in the Ancient World by Eva Cantarella
Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity by Craig Arthur Williams
Antiquity is fairly uniform. This comprises the Ancient Middle East, the first civilization of the Indus valley, the Egypt of the Pharaohs and our own Classical world. The principle of “temple prostitution” is found throughout this period, in marked contrast with later times dominated by monotheistic world religions. The omnipresent pejorative distinction between questionable streetwalker (or doorwaystander, to be precise) and the unattainable courtesan has, by contrast, has survived into the present day in the low-level prices of the red light district and the high-class escort.
The focus lies on the comparatively rich and accessible source material of the Greco-Roman world, which operated within an entirely different mental frame. It was a fashionable subject in Antiquity studies around the turn of the millennium, see among others Eva Cantarella & C.A. Williams . Some of the vignettes employed here will be familiar: From Thaïs of Athens inciting Alexander to burn down the palaces of Persepolis to the sharp verses of Martialis.
The position of Christianity was understandably conflicted from the beginning, which translated into a sharper social division of prostitution. Both Augustinus and Thomas Aquinas softened a run-of-the-mill Puritan stance with the acknowledgement of prostitution’s social necessity. The Church preferred it as a lesser evil to homosexuality among the clergy. In a clever twist, clients of the cloth could claim to “rescue” a prostitute when caught. No wonder that the 13th century tale of van den vos reynaerde speaks of “signing the hymns” as a metaphor for intercourse! In the secular world, the licensed brothel prospered, under close medical supervision of the urban authorities and with generous contributions to religious architecture.
For some reason, the author speaks of the predominant use of the missionary position here. Is it possible that the very art of lovemaking went into decline? The admonishing of an Italian courtesan to her daughter seems to second this, complaining that it’s the clients who come up with crazy positions. I chose to question this part vehemently.
The Renaissance meant, in the realm of love for sale, foremost a Renaissance in venereal disease. Syphilis reared its ugly head around 1450 and caused a severe decline of the brothel, driving ordinary prostitution into an unsanitary underground. On the other end, high-class courtesans attained an unprecedented level of fame, not by sheer virtue of their looks or amorous talent, but also by their skills as donna universalis and as a source of inspiration for artists. In other fields, the shadow of the Middle Ages stretched forth across the centuries. Within the nobility and royalty, the political influence of the blonde nymph had her roots there; my favourite anecdote concerns a courtesan who was the only woman to ever seduce Henri II of France, who mostly preferred male company until the captain of his bodyguard accidentally pierced his brain with a lance splinter at a tournament, as recorded by Nostradamus:
"The young lion will overcome the older one, On the field of combat in a single battle; He will pierce his eyes through a golden cage, Two wounds made one, then he dies a cruel death."
[image error]
Diane de Poitiers - Worth it ?
The pace of the story quickens in tandem with the pace of European exploration: the main novelties of the 18th century as presented here seem to be the 'Happy Hooker' Fanny Hill of John Cleland (1748) who stood opposite Defoe’s tragic Moll Flanders (1722) to shape a new incarnation of the Madonna-Whore complex.
Up to that point, Maria Magdalena had been a contradiction in extremis par excellence for many Christian thinkers and, according to diaries preserved in the archives of the religious orders, a nightly temptation for the more imaginative monk. Devout yet fallen, she was more human and easy to relate to than many figures in the pantheon of saints, gaining fame as a patron saint not just for the ladies of the night, but also for such borderline crafts as glove-making.
She was omnipresent in the art of the crucifixion, gradually letting her hair and her gown down. This tells us something of what was considered seductive from generation to generation. To the modern eye, the evolution is appreciatively revealing.
Christ and the Penitent Sinners (1617) by P.P. Rubens vs. Tilman Riemenschneider's Ascension of Maria Magdalena (1490) ... the furry evolution ?
Away from the creamy skin on dark satin, adventurous explorers came into contact with cultures whose mores were different and deceptively more easygoing than those of the Old World. Here the story really spreads its wings. African polygamy, the equality of the sexes on the isles of the South Seas and the truly matriarchal philosophies of Native American cultures all precluded the existence of prostitution as understood in a brutally economic context. The next two hundred years would see these practices pushed to the periphery as the global economy became more rigid under the umbrella of imperialism first and neoliberal capitalism second. Time and again, a work force made up predominantly of young unmarried men concentrated in mercantile and industrial areas, resulting in a corresponding concentration of bordellos.
Japan, as so often, proved an exception to the rule prior to the arrival of commodore Perry. All though the concept of prostitution was so superfluous to the easygoing culture of sexual relations both hetero- and homosexual in pre-Edo Japan that it had to be imported from China, it found fertile ground in the atmosphere of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603), whose samurai enjoyed the lavish services of geishas in a special town on the outskirts of the capital, sometimes to the point of financial ruin that many an Italian would’ve sympathized with. The formality to prevalent in Japanese society created a unique aloofness where the girl would not so much as smile or make eye contact during the preceding meal, but at the same time these visits where the talk of Edo thanks to the mandatory presence of her entourage. (it is worth noting here that the dimension of gossip nowhere is touched upon in any depth, not even for the Roman period) A further twist is self-mutilation as an expression of love, not unlike the chivalric romance of European feudalism, sometimes accumulating in hara-kiri as in the Orientalist play Madame Butterfly .
Alas, Josephine Butler, in her laudable fight against the discriminating Contagious Diseases Acts (1864-69) and "White slavery" (both actual trafficking and moral panic), has created a political framework that sanctions intervention by the police force and social welfare organizations out of a perceived moral superiority, dangerously oversimplifying the complex reality of 21st century prostitution. In a part of the world where we should congratulate ourselves on the absence of religion as a basis of legislation and the nefarious manifestation of the Morality Police, don’t deliver us to the Hall Monitors of Morality.
you meant well.
Fiction cited:
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Madame Butterfly by Giacomo PucciniNon-fiction cited:
Bisexuality in the Ancient World by Eva Cantarella
Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity by Craig Arthur Williams
September 17, 2009
It wasn’t until I was a few chapters into this book that I realized what a gargantuan undertaking its title suggests. A global history of prostitution? From ancient times through to modern? Cataloguing every country on the globe? And all in the space of 400 pages? Wow, Nils Ringdal must be quite a writer!
In fact, Ringdal is not remotely up to the challenge. Love For Sale is a history of prostitution, for sure, but doesn’t come close to being comprehensive. It would have been a much better effort had Ringdal narrowed his focus and given a history of prostitution in one country or during one time period. What we have instead is an overambitious mess.
There are interesting bits and pieces to be found in Love For Sale – although, often, just as I was becoming interested in a chapter, it would end. Just as often, however, I zoned out because Ringdal wandered off the subject of prostitution into boring irrelevance. Context is important, but Ringdal often brings in needless details that just weigh the book down.
It’s clear that Ringdal wrote chapters according to what he had material on. This leads to some overly-specific chapters (such as the one about Korean ‘comfort women’ during WW2) that contrast confusingly with the more panoramic chapters. It also leads to a particularly absurd chapter about the, uh, ‘phenomena’ of female academics going to Asia, befriending prostitutes and writing a book about it. The historical relevance of this is not clear. A critique by an academic about what other academics are doing is not really what I wanted from a history book.
I get a strong sense that Ringdal’s intent was to write a sexyfun book about prostitution. Unfortunately, prostitution often overlaps with polygamy, sex slavery, abuse and even what one might consider ‘conventional’ marriage. Delving deep into history, Ringdal has the unenviable challenge of trying to use documents that were overwhelming written by men to try and deduce whether women were actually getting what they wanted. Maybe, Ringdal posits, women in ancient times preferred to be sold into a temple as a prostitute, rather than marry men they didn’t love. Maybe. But who knows? Ringdal shows a lack of sensitivity to the fact that prostitution isn’t prostitution when it’s not your choice; then, it’s rape.
I can’t recommend this book. I don’t think it’s really worth slogging through the aspects of the book that are frustrating and sad in order to get to the parts that are interesting and well-researched.
In fact, Ringdal is not remotely up to the challenge. Love For Sale is a history of prostitution, for sure, but doesn’t come close to being comprehensive. It would have been a much better effort had Ringdal narrowed his focus and given a history of prostitution in one country or during one time period. What we have instead is an overambitious mess.
There are interesting bits and pieces to be found in Love For Sale – although, often, just as I was becoming interested in a chapter, it would end. Just as often, however, I zoned out because Ringdal wandered off the subject of prostitution into boring irrelevance. Context is important, but Ringdal often brings in needless details that just weigh the book down.
It’s clear that Ringdal wrote chapters according to what he had material on. This leads to some overly-specific chapters (such as the one about Korean ‘comfort women’ during WW2) that contrast confusingly with the more panoramic chapters. It also leads to a particularly absurd chapter about the, uh, ‘phenomena’ of female academics going to Asia, befriending prostitutes and writing a book about it. The historical relevance of this is not clear. A critique by an academic about what other academics are doing is not really what I wanted from a history book.
I get a strong sense that Ringdal’s intent was to write a sexyfun book about prostitution. Unfortunately, prostitution often overlaps with polygamy, sex slavery, abuse and even what one might consider ‘conventional’ marriage. Delving deep into history, Ringdal has the unenviable challenge of trying to use documents that were overwhelming written by men to try and deduce whether women were actually getting what they wanted. Maybe, Ringdal posits, women in ancient times preferred to be sold into a temple as a prostitute, rather than marry men they didn’t love. Maybe. But who knows? Ringdal shows a lack of sensitivity to the fact that prostitution isn’t prostitution when it’s not your choice; then, it’s rape.
I can’t recommend this book. I don’t think it’s really worth slogging through the aspects of the book that are frustrating and sad in order to get to the parts that are interesting and well-researched.
February 7, 2017
Платената любов през вековете – колко, къде и защо?: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/n...
Книги от този порядък не могат да бъдат резюмирани правдиво – “Най-трудната професия. История на проституцията” е изключително мащабен и подробен исторически труд, който синтезира в себе си хилядолетията и много от различните общества, които хората са съграждали през вековете. Темата на това изследване – продажбата на сексуални услуги от мъже и жени – не е скандална ни най-малко; този занаят е съществувал от прастари времена, бил е съществена част от много религиозни практики, бил е масов и обществено приемлив в много от обществата, на които се възхищаваме; разбира се, имало е периоди като съвремието, когато е бил криминализиран и забраняван, главно по морално-религиозни причини, но както ще прочетете по-долу, същите тези религиозни институции са контролирали проституцията и са извличали солидни печалби от нея в по-ранни времена. Лицемерието на съвременните религиозници няма край и едва ли точно проституцията е основната тема, по която то си проличава (сребролюбието и педофилията са доста по-видими и укорими), но е факт, че е интересно да се проследи как се е променяло отношението към продажбата на ласки във времето.
Издателска къща ЕМАС
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/n...
Книги от този порядък не могат да бъдат резюмирани правдиво – “Най-трудната професия. История на проституцията” е изключително мащабен и подробен исторически труд, който синтезира в себе си хилядолетията и много от различните общества, които хората са съграждали през вековете. Темата на това изследване – продажбата на сексуални услуги от мъже и жени – не е скандална ни най-малко; този занаят е съществувал от прастари времена, бил е съществена част от много религиозни практики, бил е масов и обществено приемлив в много от обществата, на които се възхищаваме; разбира се, имало е периоди като съвремието, когато е бил криминализиран и забраняван, главно по морално-религиозни причини, но както ще прочетете по-долу, същите тези религиозни институции са контролирали проституцията и са извличали солидни печалби от нея в по-ранни времена. Лицемерието на съвременните религиозници няма край и едва ли точно проституцията е основната тема, по която то си проличава (сребролюбието и педофилията са доста по-видими и укорими), но е факт, че е интересно да се проследи как се е променяло отношението към продажбата на ласки във времето.
Издателска къща ЕМАС
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/n...
July 6, 2007
I was excited about this book, as I think that the hsitory of prostitution is a pretty interesting topic. However, the book lacked any sort of developed thesis and had a sort of judgmental, preachy aspect to it that turned me off rather quickly. It's definitely one of the least elaborative books I've read in the last few years.
May 11, 2013
What I liked- This non fiction book followed a logical sequence and was filled with interesting facts. I especially liked the chapter about Mary Magdalene.
What I didn’t like- About halfway through the book i got bored. There was a lot of information to swallow and I just wasn’t feeling it anymore.
What I didn’t like- About halfway through the book i got bored. There was a lot of information to swallow and I just wasn’t feeling it anymore.
June 9, 2022
A very well thought out and written book on this subject. It contains a good history along with discussions of ethics and politics related to prostitution and how so many groups and efforts may try to "help" the sex workers but end up increasing suffering and collatoral damage instead.
September 11, 2021
soo badly researched book . how he can write about topics if he didnt know about it at all . Saying Ramayana and Mahabharata is full of Prostitutes or else devdasi were prostitute and temples as borthels??? . Had he ever talk to an Indian??? what a fool author . By searching some wikipedia pages you cant write a book . gayikas were not prostitutes but Were respected , and trained in many arts ,dances . it always happen when the Materialistic west try to know the essence of east all by themselves .
Women were treated as slaves in Ancient india??? well then how Gargi vashisha(A lady saint who was respected and still prayed ) become Household name of every girl how Laxmi bai become a worrior if Girls were not given any training in arts??? Do this guy know about Rosmika maa who pissed Brits out in their own ways ??? . and what about Jyotiba bai phule (A queen who ruled Central India???) . all were slaves as per this moron Author .
Anyway I can write on and on and on about this , I somehow found this and felt great to inform misimformed and probably those who could misinformed about Many eastern tradition by this author who was not even a historian .
Women were treated as slaves in Ancient india??? well then how Gargi vashisha(A lady saint who was respected and still prayed ) become Household name of every girl how Laxmi bai become a worrior if Girls were not given any training in arts??? Do this guy know about Rosmika maa who pissed Brits out in their own ways ??? . and what about Jyotiba bai phule (A queen who ruled Central India???) . all were slaves as per this moron Author .
Anyway I can write on and on and on about this , I somehow found this and felt great to inform misimformed and probably those who could misinformed about Many eastern tradition by this author who was not even a historian .
June 19, 2009
Very interesting and incredibly detailed/in-depth. This book does pretty much cover the WORLD history of prostitution. Having no other knowledge on the subject, I know that there are probably point that the author missed out on, but the book took me so long to read that I feel like I've read six books on the subject at this point. There is a definite pro-prostitution slant to this book, although I get the feeling that the author did attempt in some way to present an objective analysis (most of the heavy anti-anti prostitution writing was as the very end, with regards to health and legal rights going hand in hand with basic human rights).
February 10, 2020
At first I gave this book two stars, but as I read more into it, I gave it a one. Judging it was written by a white man I honestly can't be surprised at the heavily present xenophobia and racism in it. He makes no hesitation in categorizing Africa as primitive. It's absolute trash. Very inconsistent, doesn't cite anything until the end.
September 15, 2007
Interesting, but he totally doesn't cite his sources, so I really don't know if he's just making stuff up or what.
Want to read
October 20, 2007................
April 5, 2008
Fascinating and provocative. Mostly pro-prostitution, and explodes many of the myths.
April 7, 2024
The secondary pick for February/March 2024's Love theme for Biere Library Storytime Book Club, and it took me a whole month to get through. Definitely a struggle, but unlike a previous nonfiction pick (Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, very academic with end notes) this one frustrated me because in text he rarely cites his sources so while there IS an annotated bibliography at the end, I wouldn't necessarily know to which he refers to when he says things like "the common view is that..." or "obviously we can see now..." etc.
The depth of historicity is something else that bothered me- there are chapters that use Biblical tales and literature directly as primary sources, and while we could probably consider them to be contemporary tales of the era, are there primary sources to compare to in case of literary exaggeration or do we take them at face value? Compare that to Korean comfort women in WWII, which is something the author directly saw discussion of in real time in the late 1980s-early 1990s. There's an unevenness to who gets named, and who is alluded to, issues that would be solved by direct citations. I can't decide if my issue is with the writing style or translation, but it DEFINITELY made this more of a slog to read. This version didn't have a table of contents, annoyingly. Chapter length is variable, but that likely depends on how many sources he used for the topic- some are extremely short and on specific things (virginity of saints?)
The depth of historicity is something else that bothered me- there are chapters that use Biblical tales and literature directly as primary sources, and while we could probably consider them to be contemporary tales of the era, are there primary sources to compare to in case of literary exaggeration or do we take them at face value? Compare that to Korean comfort women in WWII, which is something the author directly saw discussion of in real time in the late 1980s-early 1990s. There's an unevenness to who gets named, and who is alluded to, issues that would be solved by direct citations. I can't decide if my issue is with the writing style or translation, but it DEFINITELY made this more of a slog to read. This version didn't have a table of contents, annoyingly. Chapter length is variable, but that likely depends on how many sources he used for the topic- some are extremely short and on specific things (virginity of saints?)
April 28, 2023
- A very (very) brief and scattered overlook of prostitution in different areas in random times in the past. It was hard for me to read (or to describe better, to agree) with author's speculation on how prostitution was like in a different era and different world/culture
- (I was, however, interested in the story of Madam Mayflower). Couple interesting notes regards to client's tastes as well as working girls' tastes in America in the late 1900s:
- (Regarding to clients' taste) "With time, a couple of Asian girls proved themselves socially acceptable, and there was also a constant supply of Western European girls. African-American and Puerto Rican girls were excluded without any consideration of language, style, or elegance. On the other hand, a somewhat shorter, dark, or redheaded American or European girl could be just as elegant as a blonde, and just as intelligent and sensual."
- (Regarding to working girls' taste) "The majority liked Japanese clients, who were often sexually placid and very pleasant. Middle Eastern clients were reported to be more difficult. First they haggled over the price, in violation of the service's policy; the fact that they tended to tip well played a less important role. Worse, they did not all treat the girls with respect. Fortunately, some of the girls developed a knack for dealing with this type of client, to the relief of the others."
- (I was, however, interested in the story of Madam Mayflower). Couple interesting notes regards to client's tastes as well as working girls' tastes in America in the late 1900s:
- (Regarding to clients' taste) "With time, a couple of Asian girls proved themselves socially acceptable, and there was also a constant supply of Western European girls. African-American and Puerto Rican girls were excluded without any consideration of language, style, or elegance. On the other hand, a somewhat shorter, dark, or redheaded American or European girl could be just as elegant as a blonde, and just as intelligent and sensual."
- (Regarding to working girls' taste) "The majority liked Japanese clients, who were often sexually placid and very pleasant. Middle Eastern clients were reported to be more difficult. First they haggled over the price, in violation of the service's policy; the fact that they tended to tip well played a less important role. Worse, they did not all treat the girls with respect. Fortunately, some of the girls developed a knack for dealing with this type of client, to the relief of the others."
February 16, 2018
Pretty much exactly what you'd want from a book like this: A well-researched account of prostiution from ancient Mesopotamia until the present (1990s) told with wit and verve, and entirely free of the bitter ideological agendas that infect so much writing on this topic today. There's an excellent bibliography at the end for those who want to go more in-depth on specific regions and eras.
If there's one criticism to be made it is that it's not truly a world history. It's mainly a history of prostitution in Europe and Western civilization with occasional asides to other regions, particularly southeast Asia (for obvious reasons). On the other hand a truly global history of prostitution would either require far more than 500 pages or some terribly shallow writing.
If there's one criticism to be made it is that it's not truly a world history. It's mainly a history of prostitution in Europe and Western civilization with occasional asides to other regions, particularly southeast Asia (for obvious reasons). On the other hand a truly global history of prostitution would either require far more than 500 pages or some terribly shallow writing.
December 13, 2020
A fascinating treatment of sexual relations from Ancient times to the present. Throughout history, sexual relations varied in different cultures. In some it was a religious experience at first, in others it was being hospitable. Some used it as a bartering system and/or for political purposes. With the advent of 'Christianity" it entered a different realm. With the arrival of Europeans wanting to colonize different parts of the world it morphed into something else.
An easily read work that provides contextual history with its description of prostitution.
An easily read work that provides contextual history with its description of prostitution.
March 26, 2021
Although not without issue, this work is a tour de force with regards to the many historical, social, and contemporary issues regarding sex and prostitution that hypermediaization glosses over or denies altogether. While perhaps offering too brief a coverage of too much, more comprehensive coverage of the subject would likely be untenable for the average reader. Overall the position of inclusion, understanding, and self-determination for prostitutes makes this a solid study of a complex subject.
February 1, 2022
Very informative and shedding a light on how differently sex was viewed and practiced during different historical periods. Also, how religion has changed the way we see it and the role of the women in speaking up about it.
June 30, 2023
Read only the chapters that sounded interesting to me, the book is good but talks more about context and the history of the given topic and time than actual accounts of life as prostitution or the culture around it.
August 31, 2021
A global, cultural history of the world’s oldest profession told from an objective, if not quite dispassionate perspective.
November 30, 2025
For an author to write about the global history of prostitution, he sure is judgmental! smh
March 11, 2017
Тъкмо я завърших. С изключение на изключително слабата глава за проституцията в ранно християнската епоха (най-вече недостоверно представения от автора образ на Мария Магдалена), изследването е добро. Е, ако можех да избирам, бих предпочел то да бе по-академично оформено (с необходимите бележки под линия, библиография...), но за научно-популярен труд е отлично четиво.
March 10, 2014
I finally finished reading this very badly written book. Mr Ringdal should have hired a translator, instead of undertaking the job himself. There are many spelling and grammar mistakes. A lot of what he says sounds like it would make sense in Norwegian but the gist is lost in English. This is pretty sad because the history of prostitution is such an interesting subject matter, but Ringdal to his credit does investigate broadly the subject. The trajectory of prostitution as it spread from Babylon, to Greece, Egypt, Rome, Europe then to the New World, Africa and Asia (minus Japan and China where prostitution began independently) are consecutively studied. From Temple Prostitution in Babylon to Kamikaze fighters wearing the pubic hair of comfort women they spent the night with before their suicidal missions, to the culture of Call Girls in the West. I learned a lot, but I was fully aware of Ringdal's bias. To him prostitutes throughout history have merely been ambitious businesswomen for the most part. He hardly studies gender oppression and the effect of prostitution has on gender relations. Human trafficking is basically swept underneath the carpet as moral panic generated by fervent feminists and desperate NGOs. This book had a lot of potential, but someone who is more sensitive and doesn't see everything from the "happy hooker" point of view should have undertaken this ambitious project.
May 14, 2014
Loved this book. There is a lot of information and that we are not taught in schools. Apparently, many of the churches in London are built from the proceeds of prostitution...apparently, an immense amount of women died during wars, just as much, if not more than those on the front lines...information we are not given in history class, which unfortunately, gives an erroneous perspective of who many died in war.
I don't necessarily agree with some of the author's opinions, but I valued what I learned from him work.
I don't necessarily agree with some of the author's opinions, but I valued what I learned from him work.
August 16, 2012
Perhaps a brief history would be more appropriate. The topic is far too broad.
It is best to see this book as a collection of essays on various places and periods in history. So be sure to check the contents page and feel free to pick and choose. I would have preferred more personal accounts and stories, but that is not the fault of the author.
Definitely a good introductory read for anyone interested in the subject, or even students.
It is best to see this book as a collection of essays on various places and periods in history. So be sure to check the contents page and feel free to pick and choose. I would have preferred more personal accounts and stories, but that is not the fault of the author.
Definitely a good introductory read for anyone interested in the subject, or even students.
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May 22, 2017
Aside from some very obvious problems with bias nearing the end and the glossing over of some events that I would have liked expansion on, this book was incredibly interesting to read, ranging from the very beginning to modern times. I have to say though that I was much more interested in Ancient prostitution than modern.
February 26, 2008
So far, so dry.
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November 14, 2013*Note to self- Reread!
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