The Bene Gesserit Seamstresses of the 'Verse
A link kindly provided to me by linaerys about the class conflict in Firefly/Serenity has been eating my brain for the past twenty minutes because, being bored as nuts around work, I am doing nothing but thinking on a plot bunny I plucked from my brain last week and how to work it out. It's not what the article itself talks about that I've been considering
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The thing about Companions is that, at least in my mind, prostitution isn't necessarily their primary function. It's a part of what they do, surely, and it's the part that gets the most mention on the show given that it's what most irks Mal about Inara - but things like Inara's beautiful gowns, or her tea service, or her comment to Sheydra about how she was trained for years before the physical act was even mentioned, remind me MUCH more of the old Japanese geishas. Sex was a part of what they did, but more than that they were guardians of culture, and every bit as high class as Companions are in the 'verse. You don't hire a Companion for sex; you could get that at any of the better un-registered brothels for a fraction of the price. You hire a Companion for the experience she can provide, for her wit and charm and intelligence and knowledge and yeah, sex might be a part of the overall experience but it isn't the point of it (unless you're Magistrate Higgins, of course. But I get the distinct impression he was an odd one out. *chuckles*)
I think in that way, the Companions are MUCH more like the Bene Gesserit, who are highly trained in everything they do - but on the other hand, unlike the Bene Gesserit, the Companion Guild does not seem to have a hidden goal motivating and directing their actions. It acts in its own best interest but it has no "higher purpose," so to speak.
Of course, perhaps it does, and the show simply never got far enough to touch the subject. It might be very interesting if perhaps THAT had something to do with Inara's leaving. At any rate you've provided much to muse on, so thank you for such a lovely and well-thought-out piece!
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The bit about the geishas is worth another thousand or so words, but I will attempt to keep it brief. Yes, geishas were entertainers first, and you bought one for an evening that was not meant, usually (from what I understand) to include only yourself. She was to entertain guests, treat them to the very best in music and dance and table/tea service, too, if required.
Sex in Japanese society, however, is exceedingly taboo at the time of the geisha's prominence. Sex was more an unspoken understanding--akin to going to certain types of massage parlors today, if you will--and it was never mentioned or discussed about when you saw a man who had hired a geisha. And, it's important to understand that the geisha were rarely sexually involved with clients as part of their job. The traditional duties were solely related to artistic performance, and there was an acceptance of these powerful, talented women who would then go on to see some clients in a more personal setting. Strictly adhering to the geisha training, a geisha would never sleep with her client. The Western mentality associates any woman willing to entertain (even when that word is used literally) men behind closed doors with a woman who is conveying sexual favors. This is not the case for geisha, even those who then go on to have affairs with current or former clients.
On top of that, you need also consider that women at the height of geishas' popularity were nearly powerless in Japanese society. They were not allowed on stage, were basically wedded servants and mistresses of the household. Being a geisha is an outlet for some of the poorer women to hold some power, whereas in the Firefly 'verse, this male dominance seems to have even less sway than it does in our 21st century, let alone in ancient Japan.
What's most interesting for me with the mention of geishas (which I wouldn't have investigated if you hadn't brought it up, so thank you) is their method of recruitment. It's close to that I postulated for the Guild. A senior geisha would tutor an aspiring girl, who would be taken in and given chores to help offset the cost of her education. Geishas are widely trained from young ages, as are Companions, for many years prior to their service. A system like this, setting up willing, pliable girls and boys would work wonders in building up their confidence and poise prior to introducing to them to turbulent waters of puberty, intimacy, and sex.
Another aspect of geishas which is fascinatingly linked to Companions is the idea of a 'danna.' The danna would support the geisha as something like a sugar daddy might in the Western world, but he would not be able to keep her if he could not afford to keep her in the style of a geisha. Translated for a Companion, that would mean he would have to keep her engaged and entertained and in a style of living to which any Companion could be reasonably expected to be accustomed. It is a business arrangement, wherein the danna would keep a geisha to entertain him, and pay for her services in exclusion of other clients, but one that does not require either sexual favors--an abhorrent thing to ask for upfront, and one not encourage by the geisha code--unlike the 'personal Companion' status Atherton Wing desired from Inara. The concept of a danna keeping a geisha and rich man having a personal Companion are similar up until the sexual act being implied as a given.
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And just how important is sex anyway? I do not disagree that we are biased by Mal's opinion--as our sometimes narrator and always hero--that Inara is primarily a sex worker. However, there are parts of both Firefly and Serenity (mostly in deleted scenes for the latter, but definite canon for the former) that are not guided or formed based on Mal's point of view. For instance, unrelated to this discussion perhaps but very illustrative of my point, there are the flashbacks to Simon's past that are not points of reference any but he or River would have access to among the crew of Serenity. Throughout "Safe," Mal is preoccupied with his job and saving Shepherd Book, so he would not be in a place to have these stories related to him and thus be in a position to filter the information for us, the viewers.
Understood that way, we can then see that the rest of the series is not dependent upon Mal's opinion for us to form our own, and it is very hard to conclude that sex is not in fact essential to a Companion's duties. Yes, there are probably many other skills one employs a Companion for, and we see many of them with Inara--she is a masseuse and therapist for the female Counselor in need of a break; she is Atherton's dance partner as well as his date--but not one is ever displayed as free of both the expectation and provision of sexual favors. Do I think Inara or another Companion might never entertain a client without sleeping with him/her as part of it? No, I'm sure there are many who are delighted to have a Companion at their table or party to welcome and divert his/her guests. However, if one is already paying for the services of a Companion for a quality affair, I doubt there are many who would not also choose to place a request on the Companion's sexual services as well.
Look at Inara's clients to see the pattern. Atherton takes her to dance and be paraded as a sign of his good taste and wealth, but considers her 'bought and paid for' at the end. Fess Higgins does not hire Inara, but she is there specifically to loosen him of some of his feelings of inadequacy specifically related to his sexual experience. The Counselor hires her to help her relieve stress, and the best way to do that in the end is engage in a little romantic relief as well.
And then there is the first client Inara has on the series in "Serenity." Her very first is clearly a boy with little or no confidence other than what his money might grant him. He is a little timid about women, somewhat like Simon, with his stuttering and inability to ask for their affection straight out. Before he leaves Inara, he practically insults her by confusing her polite refusal to be exclusively with him as a sign that she is only there for the time she paid for. I do truly believe Inara when she finds the time so agreeably spent that it seems to have flitted by, but her client does not.
It is that dangerous confusion of her generous investment of her love being sneered at as false that is why Companions as a whole seem so unable to escape the taint of one service they provide even among so many talents they have. Yes, Western society makes its own judgments--and we know Mal does, too, but even within the world, it is clear that not all of the well-bred, manner-born even escape the prejudice. These aspertions on the Companion's honor and training are not made in a vacuum, though I allow for the fact that all who make them on the series that we've seen are not the ideal clients but are only those as Inara has found worthy among the still up-and-coming planets of the mid-to-outer rings of the 'verse.
As to what the Companion Guild was up to, well...that's just a mystery. It's so obscure in the series that any attempts to figure it out would only be hypotheses in the dark. I find trying to puzzle out a system that must hold together beneath a light sketch provided us so much more tantalizing...don't you?
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