Geisha - Female Dominance in Geisha Society

Female Dominance in Geisha Society

"The biggest industry in Japan is not shipbuilding, producing cultured pearls, or manufacturing transistor radios or cameras. It is entertainment." —Boye De Mente, Some Prefer Geisha

The term geisha literally translates to mean "entertainer". Some prostitutes refer to themselves as "geisha", but they are not. A geisha's sex and love life is usually distinct from her professional life. A successful geisha can entrance her male customers with music, dance, and conversation.

"Geishas are not submissive and subservient, but in fact they are some of the most financially and emotionally successful and strongest women in Japan, and traditionally have been so." —Iwasaki Mineko, Geisha, A Life

Geisha learn the traditional skills of dance and instruments and hold high social status. Geisha are single women, though they may have lovers or boyfriends whom they have personally picked, who support them financially.

"There is currently no western equivalent for a geisha—they are truly the most impeccable form of Japanese art." —Kenneth Champeon, The Floating World

Read more about this topic:  Geisha

Famous quotes containing the words female, dominance and/or society:

    “For much of the female half of the world, food is the first signal of our inferiority. It lets us know that our own families may consider female bodies to be less deserving, less needy, less valuable.”
    —Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)

    “It is better for a woman to compete impersonally in society, as men do, than to compete for dominance in her own home with her husband, compete with her neighbors for empty status, and so smother her son that he cannot compete at all.”
    —Betty Friedan (b. 1921)

    “The truth is that every intelligent man, as you well know, dreams of being a gangster and ruling over society through violence alone. Since this is not as easy as the novels would have us believe, people generally resort to politics and join the cruelest party.”
    —Albert Camus (1913–1960)