why did japanese ancient culture permit women to be geisha...?

Question

why did men need more than one girl in their lives

Answer 1

They, like men everywhere, want their quiet docile wives but sometimes want to be distinctly challenged.

Wonderful line in Kindergarden Cop, Schwartzenegger is posing as a teacher and walking down a sidewalk past some mothers. One of the women does an 'omigosh, I don't have any makeup on' exclamation. The other women mutter, 'neither do we'. The first then answers, 'but you are housewives, you are supposed to look like slobs.' Traditional Japanese lives would have impressed Quakers and Shakers and such for their simple lives. But they weren't expected to be elegant or cultured or glamorous, mothers and housewives often aren't and with good cause. I recall how much criticism and abuse that the mother-characters of some TV shows got, such as on Leave it to Beaver or the Brady Bunch--'June Cleaver always in heels and pearls for breakfast or running the vacuum sweeper, how unreal!'

It wasn't just in ancient Japan that men wanted a break from the shrill and shallow-minded shrews back home. Still, not every woman has the capacity to be a challenging and yet captivating woman. That is how the geisha became a class to themselves, because they had what it took to be more than a cleaning woman and child-producing copulation partner. She could talk on higher issues than decorating the house or the price of rice in the market these days. She was more. Most societies, not just Japan, have had women who come to public note because they were more than just household furniture. Japan just standardized it best.

Answer 2

geisha is the Japanese word for a prostitute and all though they wernt "real prostitutes" (in the sense we understand the word) they were never looked upon respectfully in the ancient Japan. At the same time every civilization has its history of prostitution (be it the Greeks or the Romans) and japan was no exception. Men are polygamous by nature and this is based on the biological instinct that they need to copulate with different women in order to increase the chances of survival of their genetic material. They also like to dominate women and be entertained by them for similar reasons.

Geishas served the rich and power full (people such as samurais) and this made their life interesting and noticeable. It is only a small hint of the glamor and power that a small section of women were thrilled by the life of a geisha. On the other hand, since these rich and power full men protected this system of entertainment the tradition went on for years (and even now). They made sure that women who became geishas were protected and well provided to the extent that their status became elite.

What you have to remember is that society does not prevent women becoming prostitutes or geishas. It prevents the reverse. Today's world has not changed much either in any part of the world.

Answer 3

For the same reasons most other cultures permitted it, and still permit it in some places: economics.

In most cultures, a wife at home did not mean that outside the home there weren't other mistresses. Look into Victorian England, Latin cultures..

why was the Scarlet Letter so burning? because it was a woman doing what men had been doing for centuries. Please also note that modern day "female companions", also of very high level, are freely available in every hotel in the world - including in the US.

To this extent, the Japanese geishas had nothing of prostitutes, and were not selling their bodies. They were selling their company, and their skill - sometimes including sex - and getting money that was much needed. Think that today, in our culture, there are women sleeping their way to the top.

Why ppl cheat? heck. because they have the opportunity. I am not in a happy mood today.

Answer 4

well, if you are thinking geisha are prostitues...youre wrong. The book, Memoirs of A Geisha, written by Arthur Golden, is pure fiction. Arthur Golden lied when he said that geisha need to have a "mizuage" to actually become a geisha. The real Sayuri's name is Mineko Iwasaki, and you can look her up on Yahoo Search. She tells the actual truth about geisha.

Now, men needed more than one woman in their lives because sometimes their wives would'nt "satisfy their needs" or something like that. It's not always married men who are the patrons of geisha. (BTW: geisha are still around...just above 5,000 of them left in Japan). When a man has a geisha, it's not an affair. Sometimes they had arranged marriages in Japan, and a man's wife could have been bored with his arranged wife, and want a geisha to keep him company or something.

Answer 5

The Japanese are another culture and here in the USA where we have sleazy whores you are asking this question?
Here in the USA where men and women BOTH cheat on spouses you are asking this question?
HERE in the USA where whores spread STD's YOU are going to ask this question?
Where in the USA do you see 'whores' that dress as nicely as Geisha? OR as talented as they are?
Geisha were talented in entertaining men, in more ways than sexual.
THIS is their culture!
It is not to be made fun of or judged.
They do not have the same hang-ups as overly controlled religious people do here in the USA...
They do not see sex as DIRTY or wrong.
HERE in the USA you have people with false beliefs of SEX is wrong/sinful and then they turn around and molest kids or animals or rape or whatever!
Here in the USA we have more sexual related crimes than in Japan.
HERE in the USA where it is suppressed by religious leaders you will find crimes within their own churches with the SAME LEADERS !!!
Can some of you people GET OFF THE computers and go get educated?
Can you read BOOKS with paragraphs? OR are most of you still reading Picture books with one sentences?
This was a way for some to survive long ago during times of war.
When families where too big girls were sold.
It is not for us to judge!

Answer 6

i think you are getting geishas and concubines confused. Geishas were entertainers. They say and danced. They did many things. Sex was possible but not necessarily part of it. Concubines are like multiple wives (and its not extinct -- polygamy still exists in small sects within the U.S.). Prostitution still exists throughout the world. they did it because they could. Without laws to stop it and encourage change, that is how things would be. Polgamy is outlawed yet there are known compounds housings members of the society within the U.S. that the government can't stop it as long as these people don't leave their property.

Answer 7

all cultures allowed prostitution. but this was extremely high class and sophisticated. it was an art, a skill, and a challenge. anyone can sell themselves. but not anyone could be a geisha. the wives of men say that they are proud to know that their husbands go to geisha houses. strange, but that's how it is there

Answer 8

Geishas were not prostitutes, they were intellectual women whom the men could visit and talk with, and were well respected.

Answer 9

Japan was/is a very male controlled society...but geisha has nothing to do with sex.

Answer 10

geisha were entertainers. they needed someone to amuse them while their wives stayed at home. they also had mistresses