Courtesans: Privacy and Privilege
In stark contrast to the guidelines governing the common prostitute, the nineteenth-century Parisian courtesan was not required to register with the police at all. In fact, a courtesan had the right to sue anyone who called her a prostitute. (1) Defined by the 21st century Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "a prostitute, with wealthy or upper-class clients", the courtesan differed from her sex worker contemporaries in that she served an elite sphere of clients, and was in fact not considered a prostitute at all by most contemporary French citizens. (2) Because of her station, the courtesan received more financial support, which allowed her to own a home, pay taxes and respectably present herself in society. Courtesans were considered outside the bounds of the regulations governing the common prostitute for their ability to blend in with polite society, their connections to the Parisian elite and their conduct of business within the private sphere.
A key difference in the common prostitute and the courtesan's representations in period art pieces is that the courtesan could often be named, whereas the represented prostitute was considered homogenous with other women of her trade and therefore lacked identification. In Henri Gervex's Madame Valtesse de la Bigne, the courtesan depicted is both named and properly clothed. In fact, if it weren't for this woman's notoriety and identification as a courtesan by the artist, there is no glaring signifier of her profession embedded within the piece. (3) As the social type of the courtesan developed, aided by novels and paintings such as this one, a glamorized notion of the upper-class prostitute developed and in turn separated her from the particular stigma which affected the public health threat of the street prostitute.
Though both the prostitute and courtesan engaged in a system which involves the exchange of money for sexual favors, the courtesan was not submitted to the regulations which governed the common prostitute on the street. Taken from an 1839 text written by police commissioner F.F.A. Béraud, entitled (in translation) "The Prostitutes of Paris and the Police Governing":
[The courtesan] often combines personal charms with the attractions of the most brilliant and most well-rounded education: music, singing, dance, pure language, a refined spirit, exquisite taste, and the most pleasant abandon. (1)
Given her societal positioning, Béraud considered the courtesan to be the most dangerous of all prostitutes for her ability to assimilate within polite society and "prepare the ruin" of "honorable men." Several attempts were made to reign in courtesans, but their connections in the elite sphere of Parisan society submitted so many complaints that each successive attempt was dropped in turn. While Béraud laments the fact that the courtesan is outside the wing of his administrative enforcement, the famed public hygienist and prostitution scholar Dr. Parent-Duchatelet actively chose to focus upon women he believed the police could control: the common prostitute. (1) Therefore, the courtesan’s class distinction from the lower class prostitute allowed her social mobility and legal amnesty given her physical presentation and positioning within the private sphere. Additionally, upscale prostitutes excemption from the regulations governing street girls disproves the notion the police's aversion to sex work was in anyway a moral one.
Sources
1. Matlock, Jann. Scenes of Seduction: Prostitution, Hysteria, and Reading Difference in Nineteenth-century France. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
2. "Courtesan." Merriam-Webster. Accessed May 01, 2016. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/courtesan.
3. "The Aristocracy of Vice." Musée D'Orsay:. September 2015. Accessed May 01, 2016. http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-musee-dorsay/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay-more/page/10/article/splendeurs-et-miseres-42671.html?tx_ttnews[backPid]=254.