SOILED DOVES

       As most of my readers know, I have used prostitutes in many of my stories, some of them prominent characters who had a direct affect on the plot/heroine/hero. Who can forget Anna Gale in Savage Destiny #3, RIVER OF LOVE? And how about Gretta MacBain in Outlaw Hearts #3 – LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE; and Dallas Blackburn in Outlaw Hearts #6, SHADOW TRAIL?

       Gretta was a prime example of the fun-loving, good-hearted type – a true “Madam,” as compared to the common street prostitute.

       Anna Gale was kind of in the middle of good-hearted and scheming. She truly loved Zeke Monroe, and she managed to blackmail him into sleeping with her. You will have to read RIVER OF LOVE to see the reason. Zeke was never truly unfaithful to his Abbie-girl.

       And then there is Dallas from SHADOW TRAIL. She is a good example of the really wicked type, and she nearly got Jake killed, then re-entered his life after he was happily married and helping raise a big family. Dallas awakened things from Jake’s past he would rather not revisit. He hated the woman, but the news she brought him later in life forced him to let her back into his family circle in order to rescue a granddaughter he never knew about.

       Soiled Doves, Whores, Painted Ladies, Prostitutes, Madams, Ladies of the Night, call them what you will. For some strange reason I love including prostitutes in one way or another in my stories. They add wickedness, comedy, challenges to the heroines, temptation to the heroes, and are a great catalyst for plot involving the hero and his past.

       In the book SOILED DOVES (Prostitution In The Early West), by Anne Seagraves, you can read about women of the night – all sorts of women with a host of reasons for what they did. Some died of disease or suicide. Others became famous and quite wealthy. We all know that overall, prostitution, especially “back in the day,” was a miserable profession that usually led to an early and miserable death. But it wasn’t always so.

        Yes, some women were forced into the profession to make enough money to eat. Some were sexually abused from a very young age and it was all they knew … or because of the abuse, they felt unworthy of a normal life with husband and children. Some just flat-out enjoyed men. And some saw a way to get rich by following the railroad construction sites, hanging out in mining towns and around Army forts, or just providing fun for philandering husbands in the city.

       Who can explain men’s sexual needs? No need for romance when it comes to pure pleasure … usually drunken pleasure with a woman who was not looking for a relationship. Some men could be happily married fathers who enjoyed secret relationships with “bad” women. Lord knows (sadly) such things still go on today. And, of course, there were plenty of lonely men out west, men starving for a woman’s touch, army men and prospectors and men who went west to claim land and intending to send for their families once they were settled – all wanting a woman to satisfy those uncontrollable desires. We “normal” women can’t understand why men are so needy in that department, but prostitutes had no trouble finding plenty of business in places where men outnumbered women about 50 to 1.

       A lot of this is tongue in cheek. I don’t mean that there is nothing wrong with what some call the oldest profession in history. Of course it’s wrong – and dangerous – and traumatic – and sad. We turn up our noses at such a life, but it did exist (and of course it still does, mostly illegally unless you are in Las Vegas). You can’t write the Old West without involving prostitution, just as you have to involve outlaws and Indians and buffalo and cowboys.

       Of course, I have written the ugly side of prostitution, where a woman is forced into the life. There is nothing fetching about the filthy red-light districts, or about men who sometimes got their kicks by beating a woman first before having his way with her. Some of these women were sold into slavery, and that is a side of the profession I have also written about a few times, always with compassion and making sure (in my fictional stories) they find a way out of their situation and those responsible for their fate meet their own bad ending.

       But I have to admit it is a bit fun writing about the fancy Madams who ran their own brothels and loved men. Women like Gretta MacBain are a hoot. They flaunt their profession and advertise it just by the way they dress and walk. The “good hearted” Madam is such a great character, like Belle Watling in GONE WITH THE WIND. Such women were often like sisters or mothers to the women who worked for them. And they could actually be good friends with men like Rhett Butler and truly understand what that man needed. Such was Gretta MacBain to Jake in my Outlaw books. Jake never touched the woman sexually, but she sure tried his patience. She loves and wants Jake, but at the same time she respects his marriage and his deep devotion to his wife. And in Book #3 she testifies at a trial that could send Jake to prison. Her testimony helped keep Jake out of jail, and his whole family loves her for it. In the Outlaw series, Gretta eventually marries one of Jake’s ranch hands and lives a good life as a devoted wife herself. I just love Gretta, which is why I kept her in future stories after book #3.

       Well, I promised a blog about ladies of the night, mainly because one of my fans said she loves reading about the prostitutes as much as about the heroes. I think it’s the challenge I place between the two that makes the story more interesting. And it’s just plain fun writing some of these women. Let’s face it, most of us women love the thought of being daring and wild sometimes … the thought of being bold and saying whatever we have on our minds with unabashed flair … dressing sexy, being glamorous and high-spirited, flaunting our best assets at will. Of course, we don’t follow through, at least most of us don’t. But when we read about women like Gretta and Belle, we smile, and we understand them.  And sometimes, we even dress up as them for writers' conventions.

       Meantime, no man in any of my books understands such women like Jake Harkner does. He grew up with them. Some were like mothers to him, protecting him from his cruel, drunken, abusive father when Jake was little. I love the fact that Jake understands these women and in some instances actually defends and befriends them, while remaining devoted to his wife, who in turn understands Jake’s reasoning and the early life that led him to befriending such women. You have to read OUTLAW HEARTS to understand all of this, but I absolutely love writing about Jake, who is a very troubled, confused man who can love mightily and hate just as mightily. One thing Jake never puts up with is the abuse of a woman, no matter what her reputation. Jake’s past makes him a tremendous psychological challenge to write, and I love that challenge.

       I’m glad my readers understand when I sometimes make a prostitute a major character in my stories. It’s almost impossible not to when I write about Jake, but I have used such characters in other books with never a complaint from a reader. It’s just a part of life in the Old West, and many of the big Western movies from the 60’s through the 90’s involved prostitutes or featured one or more as main characters.

       Such is life, and that’s what I write – real life. No fluff. No cupcakes. Just damn good westerns that tell it like it really was. Watch for my next book – BE STILL, MY HEART, which involves a “virtuous” woman who is involved with TWO MEN, a handsome, skilled guide and hunter … and a hot, hot Cheyenne warrior. She also loves a little Indian boy who steals her heart and forces the heroine and both men into a heart-breaking decision.