I need a word to describe a girl who is a "comfort woman" in my fantasy novel. This is not a voluntary position. She is sold into slavery and confined in a fortress by a warlord. Time spent with her is a reward for soldiers for a job well done.
Need a word
- Thread starter waylander
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Don't think so.
A concubine is tied to one man only. This girl has to spend time with anyone who has been a good soldier.
Not quite - most of those I think of as terms for a woman who has voluntarily engaged in prostitution or promiscuous behaviour
but thank you for the thought
Woman of pleasure, rewardress (coined), toy, goddess, nurturer, fulfiller ... it's seems there ought to be a word for exactly what you're asking, but none's popping to mind. Puma
Is the society in your fantasy novel based on an actual society? There may be a word in that society's particular language that captures what you are trying to convey. Or you could make one up.
Otherwise - comfort woman, sex slave, slave girl, or crib whore.
Otherwise - comfort woman, sex slave, slave girl, or crib whore.
In the definition, in Merriam's and elsewhere, I didn't see anything reference "one man," only "a man." The word derives from "to lie down," which I thought suited your context well.
1. Law A woman who cohabits with a man without being legally married to him.
I'm sure you'll find something. Happy hunting! 
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Pleasure slave. Sex slave. I like simple. However, people being as they are, whatever her official title she would probably be referred to as whore, slut or trollop.
pleasuress; but it sounds too much like she has a choice.
how about a slang word for something else in your world like bedwarmer or something that the soldiers might snicker at.
how about a slang word for something else in your world like bedwarmer or something that the soldiers might snicker at.
The men who abuse her would call her a prostitute anyway. I doubt that they respect the fact that she doesn't do it voluntarily.
I would call her a poor victim and try to free her...everything depends from the point of view.
The people who are forcing women into prostitution today surely do not worry about how to call them, either. They probably use on of the less nice words for "prostitute".
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I'd lean towards a slang nickname too, "Pray for me lads, I'm off to visit the captain's doxy!" "Careful now, best nail a plank to your arse in case you fall in." Cue raucous laughter. Shrug, just an idea.
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Aldershot is not the army town it once was, but I have heard the expression "squaddie mattress", though that is for a woman who *consents* to sleep with soldiers.
As Menyanthana says above, to the soldiers who use her she's a whore, or equivalent expression, and they won't care where she comes from. Keeping her fed and watered and clothed (when not on the march or "servicing" the troops) to a minimal level is the most they will be concerned with.
As Menyanthana says above, to the soldiers who use her she's a whore, or equivalent expression, and they won't care where she comes from. Keeping her fed and watered and clothed (when not on the march or "servicing" the troops) to a minimal level is the most they will be concerned with.
Here's a whole website on the subject:
http://www.comfort-women.org/
Someone at that organization might know.
http://www.comfort-women.org/
Someone at that organization might know.
You may be able to use from "odalisque" which is a woman slave in a harem. She may be the only one, but perhaps you could work into the story that she had fallen out of favour with the war lord so he took her on his campaign from the rest of the harem, to be used by the soldiers?
This reminded me of Varinia in Spartacus. I can find references to her in articles as slave girl and slave woman, and in the transcript characters refer to her as girl, woman, slave and young lady. You could select a word for effect based on the mood of the scene - excessive formality in a raucous situation, or a more vicious term in an angry situation.