Prostitution in Eorzea

[UAnchovy]

It might be legal in some areas but not others. Off the top of my head I can't think of any examples in Gridania or Ishgard so it may not be legal there. Even where prostitution and slavery are legal there seem to be laws regulating the practice. It's seems illegal to kidnap people and sell them, but proving that someone was kidnapped and not forcibly sold to pay their or their parent's debts may be difficult.

Right. The impression I get is that it exists in some places in Eorzea, particularly the relatively lawless Limsa Lominsa and the corrupt and exploitative Ul'dah. If there's anything limiting it in Limsa, it's probably that human trafficking and slavery occur in the underworld instead. Still, with Limsa making some effort to clean up its act, circumstances may be improving. As for Ul'dah... well, we've seen erotic entertainment there, and indeed some problems resulting thereform. Ul'dah is sufficiently amoral when it comes to money that it's easy to imagine Ul'dahn brothels, though from what we've seen directly, they may be considered inappropriate for the upper class.

There are no signs of anything of the sort in Gridania, which would fit with Gridania's portrayal as probably the 'nicest' of the core three city-states, and as for Ishgard, it seems extremely unlikely to be legal there. There's structural sexual abuse in Ishgard - we've seen enough in the way of nobles' bastards to indicate that - but I suspect that actual prostitution, in the form of currency directly exchanged for sex, would be limited to the poorest classes.

[YianKutku]

There's structural sexual abuse in Ishgard - we've seen enough in the way of nobles' bastards to indicate that - but I suspect that actual prostitution, in the form of currency directly exchanged for sex, would be limited to the poorest classes.

Pretty much. There is a bit of NPC dialogue near the Brume where one NPC is utterly scandalized by the suggestion that he ever intended to procure the services of a prostitute in the Brume, but phrased in a way that suggests he was probably planning to do exactly that anyway.

So if it happens, it's not spoken of in polite company.

[SicariusSeven]

In Ala Ghiri you do a quest and two Miqo'te NPC are glad that the Garleans are gone. They remark how they didn't like servicing them, I don't remember all the details. In one of the MSQ, near the end of ARR story arc, you find out that one of the Immortal Flames had to resort to prostitution just to keep herself off the street. She didn't do it for fun, she had no other choice but to do that or basically die in the street starving. This might be one of those things where SE doesn't flat out saying it in order to keep the game rating at T. They make allusions, show dancers, but never show the act. It's all implied with the dirtiest thing being NPCs dancing and wearing suggestive clothing.

[YianKutku]

In Ala Ghiri you do a quest and two Miqo'te NPC are glad that the Garleans are gone. They remark how they didn't like servicing them, I don't remember all the details.

They called the Garleans "brutes", presumably referring to their treatment of prostitutes after obtaining their services. They then proceeded to advertise themselves for the Resistance (and the player character, regardless of gender), so they clearly intended to continue their line of work.

[TaiyoShikasu]

While the game does sort of touch on topics like imperialism, government corruption, and wealth inequality, it doesn't exactly go too heavily into it.

Be it prostitution or banditry, smaller scale topics aren't exactly discussed with bandits just being another encounter with no regard as why someone would turn to robbery to get by or in the case of prostitution, the women are little more than pieces of the scenery for the most part.

If I had to guess why attention isn't really brought to these topics, it's because they're quite complex and require more nuance than can be provided.

[ObsidianFire]

Banditry varies from region to region. In La Nosca, there isn't a lot of banditry based FATES (most FATEs are wild beast related), and the few that are specify that the bandits are pirates that have lost their pirate ships. I'd assume most La Noscian banditry happens on the water where we can't participate in FATEs. In Gridania, a lot of the bandits are people who don't want to follow the Elemental's laws in addition to those who are just normal bandits. Ul'dah seems to feature the most typical bandits of the lot.

[Rosa_Frandlia]

Banditry varies from region to region. In La Nosca, there isn't a lot of banditry based FATES (most FATEs are wild beast related), and the few that are specify that the bandits are pirates that have lost their pirate ships. I'd assume most La Noscian banditry happens on the water where we can't participate in FATEs. In Gridania, a lot of the bandits are people who don't want to follow the Elemental's laws in addition to those who are just normal bandits. Ul'dah seems to feature the most typical bandits of the lot.

In Gridania I remember working with bandits in the South Shroud at the tavern. Some Bandits did come to your aid when you are following the Twin Adder that is spying for Gridania that later joins the Crystal Braves. The archer quests pre-bard also touch on this very much too, as defeating the lead bandit brings it to a conclusion and you find was the reason one of the guild elders was no longer in the military.

[Keramory]

I haven’t seen much AGAINST prostitution within itself actually. Just against overall abuse that sometimes tied into it.

I do miss the 1.0 prostitutes though. They had no problem letting people know they ran a legit prostitute ring, pimp and all in the miners guild.

I do like though they never went out of hand with it, the only thing kind of going a little too flirty being the 1.0 companion. That cat girl slept with ALOT of beastmen

[Moogly]

You can find the same girls as the one you find in Ala Ghiri in Lower La Noscea, behind the building at 20.9, 29.5
A roe is actually negociating some business with them.

In satasha, in the storage rooms where nobody ever goes, if you come close enough to some miqotes, they will say something about losing all their dignity...

And of course, we all have escorted that miqote girl in Costa del Sol fate...

How do I even end up in such shady places...?

[LineageRazor]

While I think that it's stretching things to say that prostitution is something that no woman would engage in willingly in Eorzea, it does seem to be the case that it's considered a profession that is "beneath" a proper young lady. The prostitutes you actually talk to in the game seem, generally, to be fine with their line of work; they do not seem to be ashamed of what they do for a living, or wish they were doing something else. On the other hand, many quests allude to women who have barely escaped prostitution, painting it as some kind of dire fate worse than death.

The same kind of split in attitudes exists in real life. I've interacted with woman who've actually reminisced fondly of their days as prostitutes, who considered it to have been a positive experience. At the same time, it's considered to be a "dirty" profession, to the point that it's actually illegal; no parent wants their daughter (or son, for that matter) to become a prostitute. Unfortunately, making it illegal doesn't stop it from happening, but it does encourage human trafficking to keep the brothels full, and it does discourage prostitutes from seeking legal protection when they encounter dangerous or unpleasant clients.