The Venetian courtesan has long captured the imagination as a female symbol of sexual license, elegance, beauty, and unruliness. What then to make of the cortigiana onesta—the honest courtesan who recast virtue as intellectual integrity …more

Prostitutes generally turned to their profession out of necessity or desperation. The courtesan chose her lifestyle to enhance her life, as women were treated as second-class citizens. The courtesan was able to move in socially acceptable circles and was often treated as an equal of the upper class. She may have been ostracized to some extent, but that was a small price to pay since she could live the life she wanted. …more