Prostitution in Eorzea

[Shirolumi]

In light of the Little Ladies Day quest, I started thinking about this. We know there are npcs in Limsa and other places (I can only remember Ala Ghiri for now) that are working as prostitues. We also know Yotsuyu was forced to work at a brothel.

But how is prostitution viewed in Eorzea, and on Hydaelyn?

As many people pointed out in patch 4.2, Hiens reaction to one of his ninjas running a brothel was underwhelming. I for one would've also liked to see my character react or say something about it.

We see some quests touch upon it existing, but I'd like a side-quest or something where we could actually do something about it or something. I know we are busy saving the world and stuff, but if we can do quests fetching groceries to people I'd like some more quests touching upon this stuff too.

[Alien_Gamer]

As i understand it, prostitution is a fairly common thing and an accepted part of life. Hien making an issue of it would be similar to him making an issue of a butcher or maid or any other normal occupation. Its simply not a big deal. As such, why would we have a quest to do something about it? Should we have quests to stop a cobbler from making shoes too?

[Enkidoh]

In Eorzea prostitution appears to be at the very least accepted as Alien_Gamer mentioned, if not outright legal, especially in Ul'dah. In fact, in FFXIV version 1.0 an Ul'dah player was propositioned by a female miqo'te streetwalker the moment they got off the chocobo carriage, regardless of their gender (if you're a female character, she actually expressed disappointment that "you didn't have the coin" for her services), and the MNR's Guild was literally a glorified brothel, with it's interior filled with (again mostly miqo'te female) prostitutes lazing about on tables and making advances on the player.

In ARR however the MNR's Guild seems to have cleaned up it's act, kicking the prostitutes and erotic dancers out (the later now perform out in Sapphire Avenue Exchange) and the beginning for a player starting in Ul'dah is far more mundane and no longer has that sleazy undertone).

Funnily enough, prostitution seems to have moved elsewhere, in Limsa Lominsa for instance there is a group of prostitutes in ARR beckoning seductively to some sailors (who are clearly going to be taking them up on their offer), and some prostitutes trying to solicit themselves to a teenage boy at the Golden Bazaar (he mentions they gave him "crotchrot", presumably some kind of STD, insinuating he's used their services before), although these girls are midlander hyur and not miqote.

To say nothing of the FATE "Signed, Sealed and Undelivered" in Costa del Sol where the objective is to escort a prostitute (a female miqo'te in very revealing attire) to her next client, a wealthy businessman at Hidden Falls that Master Gerguju is trying to make a deal with and sent the prostitute to him to 'sweeten the deal' (completing the FATE the two quickly run into a nearby shed, clearly not wasting time, although she mentioned she "charges by the hour" so yeah, little wonder. ).

All this basically shows that prostitution is an accepted practice in Eorzea and is probably legal as a result.

[Anonymoose]

Not that it adds terribly much to the conversation but most Eorzean city-states seem to send their local forces in to deal with the "unsavory" types; the organized crime types. Traffickers, slavers, etc. People who do a lot of brutal, obvious harm.

They definitely don't seem to care what consenting adults are selling or buying.

The bitter pill is that there's just not much sympathy for the people who go into such business because they lack options. There are prostitutes that life has dealt a bad hand, who don't want to be doing what they're doing, who aren't happy about it. That's just an unfortunate truth, an inevitability, for most of the world. So long as they're compensated and treated within certain thresholds it'd be hard to get anyone to do anything about it in an official capacity, and I'm sure some unsavory characters slip under the radar.

A lot of the girls Rowena takes in would be in positions like this. Rowena plays herself off as a brutal pragmatist who values only what's good for business, and if you only judge her by her actions, it's more or less true, but she knows if she shows an ounce of weakness she'll be eaten alive. Doesn't change the fact that she buys a lot of women out of debt, covers their overhead, and teaches them skills while they work it off. Every now and then you see a crack in her "What? No. These are my indentured servants." demeanor when she goes out of her way to manipulate a situation to incidentally benefit people who aren't technically of much use to her, but that she obviously cares about. (See: Having one of her girls arrange for Khloe and Zhloe to be stumbled across by that total sucker, the Warrior of Light).

[RobinMalvin]

People above have explained it in quite details that the practice is legal or at least tolerated in Hydaelyn; basically, just like prostitution is handled in real life.

Eorzea city states don't seem to have any legal law regarding prostitution as far as we know although Gridania seems to be relatively free of it or they're simply well hidden. The only place on Hydaelyn that arguably has legally allowed prostitution is Hingashi, as you can see an extravagant pleasure quarter in Kugane, which isn't surprising considering Hingashi is based on shogunate era of Japan.

[Kerwin]

"Stay away from those two. They given me the crotch rot."

Let's see if anyone can name and picture this NPC. xD

[Wyssahtyn]

It's just some nameless Midlander male NPC in the Golden Bazaar. An adult, by the way. Doesn't use any of the child models, just one of the "younger" looking faces.

[Canadane]

For the record, Crotch Rot is real and you may not want to google it, it isn't pretty research material.

[Cilia]

Many characters make mention of prostitutes, and it does seem to be a fairly accepted practice in Eorzea and on Hydaelyn in general.

Many of the dancers in Ul'dah implicitly get by on prostitution as well. A few instances are scattered about Thanalan as well.
Gegejuru employs courtesans, and one of the lines from a "rough" female Roegadyn retainer is "So - sellin', buyin', drinkin' whorin'? What's it to be today?" There are also wenches in Limsa...
Prostitution doesn't seem to be terribly extant in Gridania.
There are prostitutes in Ala Ghiri, and during the protagonists' first (stealth) foray into the Ala Mhigan Quarter toward the Resonatorium, a couple of Garlean soldiers discuss one of them having hired a local prostitute last night. (Thought they had "comfort women" for that, but I digress...)
It's rather widespread and accepted in the East, with Kugane's Sanjo Hanamachi district being devoted to brothels and records of such establishments existing in Doma. (One SAM quest has the Warrior of Light protecting an important Hingan government official while he's in Kugane, ah, sampling its pleasures... and as everyone knows Yotsuyu used to be a slave at one such establishment.)

I mean... it makes sense when you consider the time period the game world is modeled after. Prostitution was legal up through the Renaissance; in fact it was one of the few ways single women could make a living. (See Ezio's Assassin's Creed games; courtesans are not looked down on and actually used as a resource, and his sister takes ownership of a brothel during Brotherhood.) It wasn't until religious reforms pushed for outlawing the practice that prostitution became looked down upon and, eventually, illegal. In the East it was common during the Sengoku era, which both Hingashi and Doma are modeled on.

The problem isn't really the prostitution itself, but the human trafficking that tends to fuel it, such as Yotsuyu's case. It's one thing to go into the profession either because you have no other options or of your own free will; it's another to be forced into it, either through being abducted or sold to a brothel. We do fight against human traffickers, and that practice does seem to be illegal and rejected by society, regardless of whether or not people get away with it.

[Wyssahtyn]

Sengoku era would be the in-universe Age of Blood that's been mentioned once or twice, particularly during the SAM questline. Doma is based on Nara era Japan, Kugane is representative of the clash between Western and Japanese culture during the Meiji Restoration, and the rest of Hingashi is based upon the Edo era based on the available information.