Simmons,+Kirsten

=Japanese Geishas & American Saloon Girls =

**Kirsten Simmons**

 * ======A common belief about Geisha's and Saloon Girls of the past is that both groups were glorified prostitutes. This was far from the truth. Geisha's and Saloon Girls considered themselves entertainers first and foremost. Although Geisha's did engage in sexual activities with their clients, they were valued for their intelligence, skills in the arts and their beauty. Saloon Girls entertained their clients by singing and dancing for them and found that they made more money selling the time they spent dancing with men than with selling their bodies. ======

// In the past, a daughter would be sent to a geisha house to keep her family from debt or starvation, just as in // // Vietnam and Cambodia and Thailand today parents are selling their children. But there, it is mere prostitution, // // just the selling of bodies. There is no pride for the girls, no skills to call their own, nothing to emerge with. But // // in the geisha world, the saving grace is that even though you may enter with nothing, you will come out with your // // own skill, your world of art. That’s a huge thing you gain. //

// -Mayumi, geisha //

Japanese Geisha's
Becoming a Geisha usually started when the girl was very young. As they are training and studying the arts of music, dance and calligraphy they work hard for the household or //okiya// (geisha training home) as a servant. As they learn and grow every change or advancement is commemorated with pomp and ceremony, from the loss of her virginity at the age of 13 to the changes in the color of her kimono and hairstyle. Around twenty, when she becomes a fully fledged geisha, she is more gracious and more at ease with men. Her artistic ability has excelled into mastery and dance will become second nature. Her goal is to find a rich patron among her select group of customers who will provide her with the financial support to continue with her endless training in the arts, provide her with beautiful new kimonos to wear, find her a place to live outside of the //okiya//, and perhaps even help her start a business.


The Hot Springs Geisha’s is where the misconception of geisha and prostitution came from. This type of woman was nothing more than a prostitute disguised as a geisha. After World War II, American soldiers occupied Japan and wanted to partake of all the culture had to offer, including geisha’s. A new group of women emerged, instead of coming in contact with geisha’s; the soldiers were actually entertaining with //onsen//, women who mixed the line between entertainment through artistic ability and prostitution. These women wore kimonos and applied their make-up similar to the geisha, but were far from one. A true geisha would have her //obi// tied in the back by a dresser because it was a more respectable way to wear it; an //onsen// tied her //obi// in the front so that she could easily remove it. A true geisha devoted her life to practicing her arts to appeal to her customers; an //onsen// resorted to crude, sexually based games to entertain her clientele. A true geisha would have a select group of loyal customers who appreciated the time and effort she put into creating her image.





// Duties of a Geisha: //  · // Servant of the household or geisha home; washing and cleaning. //     · // Train and study their chosen art outlet for life. //

· // Learn to entertain clients with their musical abilities, serve them gracefully and engage in conversation. //

· // Dress and keep herself in a respectful, dignified manner. //

· //[] (Footage of a real geisha) //

A saloon or dancehall girl's job was the encourage the many lonely men of the western towns to patronize a particular saloon and while there stay all night buying drinks and gambling. In the Old West, men unsually outnmbered women by at least three to one - sometimes more. At one point in California men made up 90% of the population. Starved for female companionship, the saloon girl would sing for the men, dance with them for the price of a single dance card and talk to them - inducing them to remain in the bar and partaking of the drinks and games. Most of the girls received a commission for the saloon they worked in from the drinks they sold. Whiskey sold to customers was generally marked up 30-60%. Drinks bought for the girls would usually only be cold tea or colored sugar water served in a shot glass; however the customers were charged the full price of whiskey.

Saloon girls wore scandalously short skirts for the time - mid-shin or knee-length. Under the skirts could be see their colorful petticoats. Their arms and shoulders were usually bar, their bodices low cut over their breasts, and their dresses decorated with sequines and fringe. Some of the girls wore make-up and dyed their hair, something the general population did not do. Many were armed with pistols or daggers, concealed in their boot tops or tucked between their breasts to keep the boisterous cowboys in line.

Most saloon girls were considered "good" women by the men they danced and talked with; often receiving lavish gifts from admirers. In most places the rule of treating the saloon girls as "ladies" was strictly observed because Western men tended to revere all women and the saloon keeper demanded it. Any man who mistreated the saloon girls would quickly become a social outcast, and if he insulted one he would very likely be killed.

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· // Their one duty was to get men to come to a saloon then sell drinks and keep them gambling all night long. //
· // Though most patrons respected the ladies as society demanded, violence was a way of life. One saloon girl, after repelling the advances of a drunken cowboy, was savagely beaten. She later responded, “I don’t mind the black eye, but he called me a whore.” //

· // Dance hall owners lost more women to marriage than in any other way. //

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<span style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"> __ Geisha: Behind the Painted Smile __ (2009) Lauren Lockard

LegendsofAmerica.com

wn.com/Art_of_Geisha