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

[penknife]

Female clients are very very very unlikely. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it would be pretty much unheard of. A working-class woman seeking casual sex could almost certainly find someone interested for free (or who was willing to pay her); a middle-class unmarried girl would be too strictly chaperoned to get away with it, if she even knew that such a thing existed, and a married woman would be opening herself up to the risk of blackmail or complete social ruin if she were discovered. (Plus the risk of venereal disease or pregnancy.) An illicit affair with someone in her own social circle would be infinitely safer

[powdered_opium]

Okay, so from the general consensus female clients are out. :)

Hmmmm. The idea of making the brothel appear like more of a respectable gentleman's club appeals to me; charging higher prices with only a small fraction of it getting back to the workers. If I moved it from right by the dockside to further inland but still in the shipping district, it could pose as a club for discerning gentlemen within the import/export trades, leaving A to act and dress as though he is a young fashionable man working within the club in a respectable capacity, e.g. as a personal assistant to the Madame. Everyone who attended would be aware of the reality, but nobody outside would really be that aware it was anything but what it said to be. Okay, I really like this idea. :D :D :D

(In that case, I might also have him do extra work that's still concerned with the brothel/club front. The Madame doesn't want him getting too far away from her and potentially leaving.)

Thank you so much! :D

[lilacsigil]

Many young Japanese men and a good number of women travelled to Germany, France and England for education and while it's possible that there would be no other Japanese people in B's immediate circle (unless he is at Oxford or Cambridge), there would certainly be Japanese people at other universities, in whichever city the story is set, and he would be expected to spend some time with them.

A Western-dressed Japanese man in Japan was completely normal (in that class, more common that Japanese dress) and wouldn't attract attention. If he brought a foreigner, that would be very interesting and a major point of gossip, but it would be assumed that he was involved in business of some kind, such as exports. Homosexuality is largely out of fashion by 1902, but as long as B kept it quiet and didn't do anything dramatic like refuse to get married or give his family fortune to the boyfriend no-one would really care much.

[powdered_opium]

I want him to be at one of the London universities, possibly King's College. Really? Thank you for mentioning. I'll make sure he has some Japanese acquaintances; they aren't any currently in B's immediate circle or further.

He is actually there on business, so that works fine by me. Out of curiosity, what do you think would be the attitude if he repeatedly refused to get married - or left before the marriage?

Thank you for responding. :D

[lilacsigil]

Is B the eldest or only son? If so, it's absolutely imperative that he gets married and any refusal would be a dreadful thing to do to his family. People would consider it totally appropriate for his parents cut him off completely until he behaves himself - or even lock him up or beat him until he remembers his filial duty. If he's a younger son, it's not so awful, but it's still extremely strange and not fulfilling his duty to his parents. Cutting him off and/or disinheriting a younger son would be reasonable; so would just assuming he's not going to marry and treating him like the family eccentric

[powdered_opium]

I'm currently deciding whether he's an only son or not, but he's definitely the eldest. If he had a younger male sibling, would they cut B off and pass the inheritance onto him? Or is it be-all, end-all with the eldest son, as I suspect it might be? By this point he's already engaged and has been since before he left to study in England, to the daughter of a family friend: he's been stalling via that for quite a while at this point anyway so he's basically run out of time. I suspect, due to the nature of his family, him being locked up/beaten isn't impossible - by refusing a marriage already planned, it could be seen a huge insult to the girl and her family.