Male Prostitution/Social Attitudes in London and Nagano 1901-2

[powdered_opium]

I figured that whilst you're all staying so helpful, I'd throw out queries I have about some of my other fiction projects. This is concerning a novel set over the course of three years in three different countries: London, England 1901, Nagano, Japan 1902 and Paris, France 1903. Character A is a seventeen-year-old male prostitute working and living

Comments

[duckodeath]

Honestly, the whole premise sounds unlikely to me, especially the part about catering primarily to the middle class and having women clients (and even being in a brothel in the first place) but I will defer to anyone with information to the contrary.

Here are a couple of links that may be useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Street_scandal

and a previous little_details post from 2009 on a similar subject that goes into the difficulty of finding information on male prostitution in London in the late Victorian/Edwardian period..

[powdered_opium]

I probably should have mentioned this but -- it isn't a majority male-staffed brothel. There is A and another boy who work there in a majority-female staff brothel and, in cases of raids, pose as clients. The fact they are male prostitutes is an open secret in that clients learn of them by word-of-mouth as opposed to the advertisement booklets that would be distributed among discerning gentlemen at that time

[duckodeath]

I kind of have to wonder what makes A so very special that he is worth so much money to hire? There was no shortage of male prostitutes and a middle-class person looking for a nice bit of rough wouldn't have had to rely on word of mouth to find a young man to pay for sex and certainly would not have needed to pay shocking amounts of money unless something very unusual was going on.

[powdered_opium]

I kind of wanted him to be similar to Sugar in The Crimson Petal and the White: fairly expensive because he will do pretty much anything that's asked of him, has an atypical appearance and is keeping money back from the brothel by charging more than he's supposed to and pocketing the extra. You seem well-informed, so I'll defer to you on this one. What sort of price range would you perhaps suggest would be plausible for the novel?

[cutecookiecat]

Unfortunately, I can't be of much help either

[powdered_opium]

It's intended to be highly unusual, so don't worry. He is from a wealthy family, but doesn't have that much money left in his accounts in England as he's returning home to Japan two months after the novel first begins. It's a matter of I-am-wealthy-but-not-that-much-right-now, haha.

Actually, I have no intention of writing a D.Gray-Man fanfiction, seeing as the subject is an original novel and I'm not into D.Gray-Man particularly. (Out of curiosity, what suggested the idea to you? My icon is a picture of Nezumi from NO.6, not Kanda as I assume you're referencing...tbh, I never got past the second volume.)

[cutecookiecat]

Oh, ok...

Sorry if I jumped to a wrong conclusion, Nezumi and Kanda look very alike to me (never got past the second volume either, btw), and the combination of your icon and the English boy/Japanese boy scenario reminded me a lot of D.Gray-Man fics I've read in the past (not into the fandom in particular, just know enough to follow a story a friend was writing).

However... if it's a novel, it sounds like a lot of research is needed. That's the pain of an historical setting, especially if it's an unusual one.

Anyway, sorry I can't be of much help, and good luck for your novel.

[powdered_opium]

I looked into the aspect of him attending university and whilst very unusual for the times, certain businessmen within Japan were looking to expand into Europe. An enterprising one with money sunk into import/export, like in this case, might send his son out to study and use his presence within England to make good contacts with shipping companies.

Don't worry, I wasn't offended, I just thought the parallels were interesting. (Yay! D.Gray-Man drop-outs unite!)

Oh, tell me about it. The more I research though, the more ignorant I feel. XD

No worries, thank you for responding. <3 And thank you! :D :D

[cheriola]

I can't answer your questions directly, but I can give you a link on male prostitution from the victorian era to mid 20th century that I found interesting

[powdered_opium]

I'm always grateful for research materials, so thank you! Ah, Sarah Waters? The writer of Tipping the Velvet, I believe. She's pretty cool. :)

The Cleveland Street Scandal! It gets referenced once or twice, in reminding A to be more cautious about his behaviour. Thank you for reminding me to read up more on that. I'm aware that it was often an informal affair, I'm just wondering as to the plausibility a boy being attached to a brothel (out of obligation to the owner, as in this case) - Cleveland Street makes me think I might just be able to get away with the premise of it.

[laylalawlor]

You may have found this already, but Wikipedia has an article on Japanese students in the U.K.. To the extent that Wikipedia can be considered a reliable source, apparently Japanese students studying in the U.K. during that time period and then returning to Japan to help it modernize was a thing that happened (so your character would not be the only one!), and the article also has a number of students' names, so looking for biographies on some of those former students might help you figure out what your character's experiences in London would have been like.

ETA: Also check out the Wikipedia article's bibliography of sources at the bottom; there are several books on precisely what you're researching, Japanese students in Britain at the turn of the century!

[powdered_opium]

Thank you very much! As for Wiki, I'll take all the confirmation and potential leads I can get, heh. :D

[stormwreath]

In answer to #4: the 'Yellow Peril' was mostly an American phenomenon, because of the large number of Chinese immigrants to the Western states causing moral panic.In Britain, class and status would probably be more important. A wealthy upper-class young gentleman from the Orient would primarily be regarded and treated as wealthy and upper-class. He would encounter a lot of stereotyping, intrusive questions, people making assumptions about him based on his race, etc. Most people who didn't work in shipping and trade or for the Foreign, Indian or Colonial Offices had probably never met a non-European before, and would see him as strange and exotic and curious. Of course they'd never let their daughter marry him, being a foreigner and all. But they would always be polite to him.

#5 1902 is 34 years after Japan was opened to the West, so it's not that recent. Earlier on, there'd been a love affair with Western culture: people adopting European-style clothing, dancing European dances to European music, and so on.An actual European would

[powdered_opium]

4. Ah, I was aware of the phenomena but not of its application. Thank you for the clarification. Also, this is all perfect and is in line with how he - and his interactions with British characters - have been portrayed so far, which is incredibly reassuring. Thank you! <3

5. Thank you again! Well, recent in terms of the change. B has relatives who are very nationalistic and traditional, so whilst I want them to treat him with suspicion, I'd like the majority of the population to not feel that way. I was hoping that foreign visitors would be rare as my story involves a scene where a small crowd of children approach A out of curiosity when he first arrives. A does not like children, and thus hilarity will hopefully ensue (if I can write said hilarity). :D

[jayb111]

He would encounter a lot of stereotyping, intrusive questions, people making assumptions about him based on his race, etc.
Most people's ideas of Japan were probably derived from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado.

[powdered_opium]

Thanks! I'll make sure I get some references into that.