Fair point, but I doubt people are going to indulge in an activity which has every prospect of leading to insanity, blindness, gaping sores, nasty rashes and social ostracism if they weren't that interested in it in the first place.
Right there is pretty much the crux of all these questions I've been asking over at least the last two years.
The question is--
why--is sex so all-important as to motivate sometimes even intelligent people to risk everything for it, including health, social status, and, if they accept the basic social and religious principles of the times, possibly their immortal souls? I'm obviously talking more about men patronizing prostitutes, than people in love who, for whatever circumstances, are unable to marry. The women, at least, had some motivations, as there were very few career opportunities and no social services to speak of until at least the 1930s, so they had to use whatever means they possessed for survival. But how about guys who made little enough as it was being willing to spend a significant portion on a phony relationship with a hooker and then thinking they're great studs just because they had done it? It's
this thinking I
can't understand! If male characters in historicals are supposed to be like this--how can I explain why my MC is like this if I can't fully understand it myself? (Okay, I've admittedly never been a guy, but I
still think they are in many respects easier to write about than a female MC.)
It's like some actor who reads only the part of a script with his role and then comes in asking, "What's my motivation for this scene?" If I am writing about someone who does these things I need his motivation. If he doesn't...and everyone else (supposedly) does (and I am admittedly going more by historical novels written by men since the 1960s than by authentic historical sources, though I have referred to both) and my character isn't morbidly afraid of injury or death (he's willing to engage in other extremely risky activities including fighting in a war and caring for people with deadly contagious diseases) or overly religious (not fanatically so) how do I explain how and why he is different from other guys when it comes to sexual practices? (This is, during the time between age 16 or so and whenever he meets the woman he wants to marry.) He does have input and guidance from relatives and only so much peer pressure (tends to be a bit of a lone wolf at times) but I feel something is missing as far as a complete understanding of how guys reach these decisions. (Assuming thinking is even involved and not just recurrent fits of temporary insanity. Obviously, they don't do this just once to satisfy curiosity--it is addictive.)
I am talking about not only engaging and sustaining reader interest but simple suspension of disbelief--regarding what's "expected" of a main character who is good-looking, charming, and can be quite outgoing when he wants to. By no means a seducer or despoiler of women, but damn, how can he help it if they're madly attracted to him? I have
no experience with possessing fatal charm IRL any more than I do with fighting in a war or confronting deadly contagious diseases, so those of you who have this problem please offer your invaluable assistance which I greatly appreciate.
