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Being
socially acceptable is a big thing nowadays. It seems that this
has always been the case because fitting in with the right people
has always been an important part of life for many centuries. Especially
in the France of the eighteen hundreds social acceptability was
a pivotal part of life. In a time when appearances and classes held
so much sway, to be socially unacceptable was a terrible thing to
be. In the world of prostitution gaining social acceptability was
only made minutely possible if you were a very high class courtesan
or sometimes a lorette.
It
seems odd that prostitution was so widespread especially considering
the fact that everyone spoke out against it. The only reason that
I can come up with is that while everyone was busy saying that prostitution
was wrong, they were also indulging themselves while no one was
watching.
Nineteenth century France was full of sexual hypocrisy. The hypocrisy
grew from the fact that though almost every man frequented brothels
or spent his time with a mistress they also frowned upon prostitution
in its many forms. While many men would publicly speak out about
prostitution and would claim that it was a sin they could usually
be found with one of the aforementioned sinners in the night.
Women
did not look kindly on prostitution at all. Although several women
kept lovers themselves they did not frequent brothels or pick up
men on the street. This had a lot to do with the fact that the way
that women acted was rigidly structured with the etiquette of the
time. These proper women disliked the prostitutes and were perhaps
even a little bit jealous of them as well. Courtesans of the time
lead very comfortable lives as did lorettes. Streetwalkers and common
prostitutes were not really enviable but they were at least living
independently, supporting themselves. This is not to say that the
women of the time wanted to be prostitutes but who wouldn't envy
someone who spent almost as much time with their husbands as they
themselves did?
In general being a prostitute of any class was a double edged sword.
Many resorted to such lines of work out of desperation or simply
a desire to live in a comfortable manner. Although many women escaped
poverty or a life of loveless marriage in this way they were also
socially outcast. Only the courtesans, who were able to blend in
with society to a certain extent, and even in some cases lorettes,
were able to enjoy society and all it had to offer. While courtesans
were able to blend in they did not always remain unnoticed by the
bourgeoisie class. Sometimes, even a well dressed woman, displaying
all the proper etiquette of the time could be exposed for the double
life that she lead and thus ostracized.
It
seems that even though it was very difficult to gain social acceptability
everyone, even prostitutes of different classes tried to achieve
it. For many the dream was never realized and for those that were
able to creep into the society life was not always easy. This is
largely due to that fact that France's population contained much
sexual hypocrisy and shunned prostitutes while supporting them.
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