| Of Courtesans and Courtesan School | ||||
| A Small History of Courtesans | |
| When one speaks of courtesans the idea that most often and most quickly leaps to mind is that the woman exchanged sexual favors for wealth and power, and indeed, this is true of most. What is only recently remembered is what else they did. If all they exchanged were sexual favors, then they would not be as prominent in our history pages as they are. Courtesans were almost entirely Other. They were often well-read in a time when most women were illiterate. They were informed about politics in a time when most women merely watched the pageantry of royalty. They spanned class and gender roles in a fascinating, delicate balance that led a select few to amazing achievements. Too, they provided distraction from everyday life. They sparkled and charmed, laughed and danced. They were sometimes over the top, sometimes understatedly elegant. And always, always at the forefront of modern movements. Some wrote books. Some became titled nobles. Some began couture lines. All were mesmerizing in their own right. For the courtesans of history, they did this in order to retain the attention of their patrons. They had little choice in trying to captivate the wealthy and powerful - and, in turn, the rest of the world. We, by contrast, are choosing this path. Not for the attention (though that can be pleasant), not for the wealth or the power or the sex. But because we, too, wish to be well-read, politically aware, balanced, and highly creative. Many of us began on a path that was somewhat Other; this continues that trend into a manageable and sustainable role. |
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| A Small History of Courtesan School | |
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It was the end of the calendar year of 2008. The Christmas holiday was on its way out, and three of us were contemplating that where we were was not where we wanted to be. None of us were particularly sanguine about your standard New Year's Resolutions, which always held the unspoken addendum "that you break two months later." We wound up talking for hours about how we could do this in a way that would work, that would be flexible but structured. We acknowledged that this work is not best done in a vacuum, but with others who will provide the care and attention (and, yes, whacking upside the head) that is needed. We took note of our efforts in the past that had not been so successful and what we might need to change in the future. Because the lore for girls has us as cast-iron bitches, or pretty pretty princesses, and we were neither fish nor fowl, we discarded the usual ideals. Because the lore for courtesans, especially with recent developments in popular film and fiction, is to be intelligent, well-educated, graceful, poised, and beautiful each in their individual ways, we chose this one. We needed an image we could aspire to that did not require us to cut off our heels or toes to fit the shoe, an image that did not cater to societal sensibilities or past ideals, but played to the strengths of every individual person who was or might be a member of our band. We needed an ideal that was both incredibly strong and vibrantly personal to each of us. The seven virtues of the courtesan are Beauty, Cheek, Brilliance, Gaiety, Grace, Charm, and Timing as listed by Susan Griffin in The Book of the Courtesans. This list provided the outline for what we wished to make manifest in ourselves as we progressed towards wellness. From the days of ancient Greece to the turn of the 20th century, the women who styled themselves courtesans as well as the ones history remembers as such, were women who possessed many and varied skills and who had the strength and tenacity to put every part of their talents to good use. We would like to embody these abilities and virtues while leaving aside the actual profession, which is no longer suited for this world as we live in it. And so, Courtesan School was born. At first there were three of us, and a few days after we made our first excited posts about our ideas, two more joined. And in the beginning, we were flush with success and amazed at our ability to go a whole week without a piece of extraneous candy, or practice our lessons in language and music and crafts consistently and on time. One week became two. Two became four. Slowly, the changes we had made became habit, and we began to think very little of what we did, except when we looked back and realized how far we had come. During one of those retrospective moments, five other people decided they were ready to join us in making these changes, and put forward a great deal of initial work to determine where they wanted to go. And over the course of the weeks following, we became ten instead of five, which is where we remain today. We have run into pitfalls here and there. We have made errors in judgment, in communication, some of them more egregious than others. The first couple of months were ideal; every challenge was just hard enough to be noticed and not hard enough to be discouraging. And then the work began. The first surge of the initial group's excitement was revitalized by the excitement of the second group, but once that began to flag and as attention wandered or life intervened, we had to put our shoulders to it. There has been stress, and there have been tears. But there have also been moments of dancing in circles and jumping up and down making highly embarrassing noises of triumph. And there have been moments when the quiet pride we take in ours and our sisters' successes is enough to keep us going. If you would like to contact one of us core three: Kikibug13, Adsartha, or Jaguar. |