Who is a concubine? A mistress? A paramour? Are there differences in nuance?

A concubine is a legalized form of mistress in a societal structure that allows a man [who has the money, rank, or privilege to afford it] secondary wives. Usually there is a chief wife who has more status and authority than the others. She is often in charge of the others, the concubines. Often a situation involving royalty and allowing for maximum production of blooded heirs. The Chinese Emperors once had concubines, one of whom rose to be an Empress.

To me, a mistress is a “kept” woman, in other words, she has a separate life from the man and his wife, but he supports her and her lifestyle.

A concubine is in the same household as the wife.

A paramour is a lover seen on the side by a married man.

This is an incredibly sexist discussion, since these are all terms used by men to demean women who are sexually active; there are very few equivalent terms for men, except maybe gigolo.

@zenvelo – no this is not a sexist question at all. It is a vocabulary question.

One of my next questions was going to be “what do you call a secondary male”.

Some people find sexism because they want to.

Harlot and strumpet are archaic synonyms for prostitute or slut. _Prostitute has come to be, in general, a less-loaded descriptor than the others.

Look at all the synonyms and look at all the dated ad archaic synonyms. The dozens of them mean that it is a subject that interests writers.

Whore, fille de joie, call girl; promiscuous woman; informal hooker, hustler, tramp; (dated) streetwalker, hussy, lady of the evening, tart, pro, member of the oldest profession, scarlet woman, loose woman, fallen woman, cocotte, wanton;( archaic) strumpet, courtesan, trollop, doxy, trull.

I’ve heard the “other woman” described on urban radio stations as “side piece.”

@zenvelo don’t forget “toy boy”

A geisha or a courtesan would distinguish herself from common prostitutes, whores, call girls, harlots, hookers et cetera, by by offering charms and skills beyond the merely sexual. She could be a skilled musician, dancer, singer, poet. She could also be skilled in massage.

A charmingly quaint phrase for prostitutes is “ladies of the night” or “ladies of the evening”

19th century early 20th century Paris had the demi-monde where the demi-mondaines somewhat resembled courtesans as they were often singers, dancers, performers in the clubs and cabarets.

The Japanese had their own form of this type of life and community with the geisha, and called it the ‘floating world’.

To be crude and sexist, I believe the reason that there are so many more words for women than for men is men had to pay for it.

The old joke of boy and girl comparing their sexual organs:
Boy “I’ve got one of these.”
Girl looks down at herself dismayed and runs to her mother. When she returns she points at herself and says “I’ve got one of these and my mommy told me that when I grow up I can have as many of those as I want.”

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to be a little more upscale:
In the Middle Ages it was believed that love could not exist between a married couple; that it must be sought outside of marriage and an elaborate code was developed “The Art of Courtly Love”

@anartist – that’s funny….