List of prostitutes and courtesans

This is a list of famous persons who have engaged in prostitution, as well as pimping and courtesan work.

Historical

* Polly Adler New York Madam, 1920s -1940s
* Aspasia, "hetaera" companion of Pericles
* Laura Bell, the "Queen of London whoredom"
* Theresa Berkeley, 19th-century dominatrix
* Georgina Beyer, Member of New Zealand Parliament
* Griselda Blanco, child prostitute who became the late 1970s to early 1980s Miami cocaine "Godmother".
* Lisa Crystal Carver, sex columnist
* Alice Chambers, 19th century Dodge City prostitute
* Annie Chapman, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
* Veronica Franco, Venetian courtesan and poet
* Jean Genet, French writer and political activist
* Raymond Gravel, Canadian member of Parliament
* Nell Gwynne, courtesan to Charles II of England
* Xaviera Hollander, former callgirl and madam, Author of "The Happy Hooker"
* Mary Jane Kelly, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
* Mata Hari (born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle)
* Clara Ward, Princesse de Caraman-Chimay, daughter of a Michigan lumberman who spent most of her life in Europe
* Carol Leigh, a.k.a. Scarlot Harlot, coined the term "sex worker" [ [http://www.bayswan.org/Scarlot.html Welcome to the World of Scarlot Harlot] , her own web site, accessed 28 August 2006; Carol Leigh, "Unrepentant Whore: Collected Works Of Scarlot Harlot", Last Gasp, 2004.]
* Messalina (Roman)
* Gerda Munsinger, Soviet spy
* Mary Ann Nichols, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
* Barbara Payton, 1940s film starlet who turned to prostitution in the late 1950s after the end of her career and collapse of her marriage
* Cora Pearl, 19th century French courtesan
* Phryne, Greek hetaera
* Madame de Pompadour, courtesan to Louis XV of France.
* Grisélidis Réal, Swiss prostitute and writer
* Shady Sadie (Josephine Marcus) Courtesan who had an affair with Wyatt Earp
* Sally Stanford, Dean of San Francisco Madams, Restaurauter and Mayor of Sausalito, California
* Valerie Solanas, street prostitute turned attempted assassin
* Elizabeth Stride, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
* Michelle Tea, author, has written extensively about her experiences as a prostitute [see, "inter alia", "Chelsea Whistle: A Memoir", by Michelle Tea, pp. 315-6. Seal Press, New York, 2002.]
* Libby Thompson, "Squirrel Tooth Alice," madam of a brothel in Sweetwater, Texas
* Vasantsenaa, Courtesan of 3rd Century Magadh Empire, Indore, India.
* Su Xiaoxiao, Chinese courtesan of 5th century
* Martha Tabram, a possible victim of Jack the Ripper
* Thais, Greek hetaera who lived during the time of Alexander the Great
* Theodora,

Found in fiction and literature

* Belle Watling, "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
* Chandramukhi, "Devdas"
* Elisabeth Rouset, "Boule de Suif" by Guy de Maupassant
* Fanny Hill, "Fanny Hill", by John Cleland
* Fantine, "Les Miserables", by Victor Hugo
* Inara Serra, "Firefly" by Joss Whedon
* Lozana, "Portrait of Lozana" by Francisco Delicado
* Molly Malone, Irish urban legend
* Nana, "Nana", by Emile Zola
* Nancy, "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens
* Juliette, in the Marquis de Sade's "Juliette"
* Tra La La, "Last Exit to Brooklyn" by Hubert Selby
* Mrs. Rosie Palm, brothel owner and president of the Guild of "Seamstresses" in various "Discworld" novels by Terry Pratchett
* Sonya Marmeladova, "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
* Rahab, Biblical prostitute who assisted the Hebrews in capturing Jericho ()
* Belle, "Ah, Wilderness!" by Eugene O'Neill
* Satine, in Moulin Rouge! by Baz Luhrmann a story of love based in the Paris nightclub of the same name.
* Tristessa, "Tristessa" by Jack Kerouac
* Talanta, "La Talanta" by Pietro Aretino
* Tiya Khiwani, of Firozepur, Pakistan in "i luv tiya khiwani by tiyazlvr
* Yumi Komagata, "Rurouni Kenshin", by Nobuhiro Watsuki
* Zaza, "Zaza" by Pierre Berton and Charles Simon
*Suzie Wong, from "The World of Suzie Wong"
*Marguerite Gautier, from Alexandre Dumas, fils' work "La Dame aux camélias", by real life Marie Duplessis, 19th century courtesan.
*Violetta, main character from the opera "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi, is also inspired by Alexandre Dumas' "La Dame aux camélias". "La Traviata" means "the reprobate."
* Romulus, central character in "" by Bruce Benderson
* Vivian Ward, central character in "Pretty Woman"
* Phedre no Delauny of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels.
* Candy, in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey
* Blaire Kegan in Anne Arundel basement October 4th, 2008

ymbolic or allegorical prostitutes

*The Whore of Babylon
*Oholah and Oholibah
*The prostitute in "The Harlot's Progress" by William Hogarth

Mythical prostitutes

*Agatha - English prostitute, mother of Mother Shipton
*Basileia (Greek) In Pandemos, this goddess was mainly a goddess to prostitutes or courtesans.
*Bebhinn (British isles) Goddess of Pleasure
*Belili (Sumer, Babylon, Assyrian, Philistine, Canaanites) sacred prostitution
* The daughters in the Saint Nicolas legend (Asia Minor) - They were sold to a brothel by their father.
*Naamah - (Hebrew) an angel of prostitution, one of the succubus mates of the demon Samael in Zoharistic Qabalah
*Shamhat (Sumer/Babylon)
*Xochiquetzal (Aztec) goddess of prostitutes, pregnant women, dancing

Notes

ee also

* Hooker with a heart of gold
*