Sex workers appear in ancient Greek literature as far back as the
Archaic period, such as in the work of
Archilochus, though initially with little focus on their moral qualities. The “good” sex worker (or more specifically “good”
hetaira, a type of high-end sex worker) emerged as a stereotype in
middle ancient Greek comedy, for example, in
Antiphanes's
Hydria. The “good” sex worker appeared even more frequently in
new ancient Greek comedy. The work of
Menander is known for its treatment of the trope, as seen in Plutarch's
Table Talks, where Plutarch commends Menander as suitable for use at
Symposia because the dramatist had his heroes break off relations with ‘bad’ sex workers, but sometimes marry them if they were “good”. In classical Roman literature, the sex worker was commonly portrayed as especially selfish – the stereotypically bad woman against whom the
femina bona (good woman, typically a loyal wife) was contrasted. This stigma against sex workers largely persists in Western society from Roman times and into the 21st century. Nevertheless, the sex worker with a heart of gold appeared in Roman writings from around the time of
Terence. For example, in Terence's
Hecyra and in
Livy's semi-fictionalised account of
Hispala Faecenia. The Roman sex worker with a heart of gold was invariably portrayed as an exception to the norm for sex workers to be selfish and greedy. Unlike the Greek "good hetaera", who could sometimes end up marrying elite men, the Roman sex worker with a heart of gold was generally expected to know her place at the margins of Roman society. Subsequent development of the stereotype may also have drawn inspiration from traditions surrounding the
Biblical figures of
Mary Magdalene and
Rahab, or the ancient
Indian theatrical tradition of
Sanskrit drama where
Śudraka's play
Mṛcchakatika (
The Little Clay Cart) featured a
nagarvadhu (courtesan) with a heart of gold named
Vasantasena. '' In American cinema, sex workers were generally portrayed sympathetically even from the earliest films, though the sex worker with a heart of gold was relatively rare until the 1980s. Some early examples of movies featuring a sex worker with a heart of gold are the 1917 and 1918 versions of
Camille, 1932's
Shanghai Express with
Marlene Dietrich and the 1939 movie
Stagecoach. In Europe, mainstream portrayals began to be seen by the early 1960s in internationally-popular films such as
Never on Sunday and
Irma la Douce. The "hooker with a heart of gold" archetype became most prominent in American cinema during the 1980s, peaking with
Pretty Woman. The development of the trope reflected a more lighthearted cultural attitude toward sex work, which nonetheless overall condemned women for the social transgression of sex work. The character of Mona in
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) exemplifies the era's sex worker with a heart of gold: a wonderful woman whose goodness is surprising and amusing because she is also a sex worker, and whose love interest berates her for prostitution. These films have been criticized as akin to
sexploitation films for the way they present a glamorized and male-dominated view of sex work. The “hooker with a heart of gold” trope has also been criticized as a "pathetic
cliché". ==See also==