Courtesans

During the course of the 18th- and 19th-century a small group of women rose from impoverished obscurity to positions of great power, independence and wealth. In doing so they took control of their lives – and those of other people – and made the world do their will.

Men ruined themselves in desperate attempts to gain and retain a courtesan's favours, but she was always courted for far more than sex. ...