Kept Woman

Lifetime TV movies love to explore crazy situations, including the behind-the-scenes drama of beloved '90s sitcoms (see: The Unauthorized Saved By the Bell Story) and a mother going back to college and almost romantically bonding with her young son she gave up for adoption years earlier (see: Back to School Mom). And then there's Kept Woman, premiering Saturday night. A woman named Jessica (played by actress Courtney Ford) moves to a new neighborhood with her fiancé, but then she gets imprisoned in a '50s-themed secret bunker by her creepy neighbor Simon. Sound familiar? It may, because Kept Woman portrays similar events to that of the Ariel Castro kidnappings.

kept woman

Thank you that I am kept safe in you. May I live as one who is kept in the bond of love and protection and remind me that I am kept when I get weak and my mind races with fear of being unkept or unloved.

The term kept describes a woman or man who receives financial compensation such as living expenses, stipends, and lavish gifts in return for sex. Unlike prostitutes who are compensated on a temporary basis for performing sexual acts, kept men and women occupy a more permanent place in the lives of their patrons. Often labeled fancy girls, sporting women, mistresses, courtesans, ladies of pleasure, or concubines, kept women are typically supported by married men and rarely advance to the role of wife. These wealthy patrons are colloquially termed sugar daddies or sugar mommas, typically older than their lovers and sometimes married. Homosexual males also play the role of sugar daddies to young males or sugar babies, offering their lovers money, status, and security. Although same sex relationships with this dynamic also occur in lesbian communities, the trend is more prevalent amongst gay males.

A history of the kept woman begins in ancient Rome where biblical accounts of concubines and mistresses reveal a preoccupation with producing male heirs rather than a proclivity for extramarital sex. In ancient China kept women in harems were provided living quarters and financial stability as compensation for sexual favors and highly coveted male offspring. Harems in the premodern Islamic world included concubines as well as legitimate wives, and singing slave girls combined erotic appeal with skill in music and poetry. In early-nineteenth-century Japan, the geisha emerged as a cultural icon; highly skilled in dance, vocal performance, and clever conversation, she established sexual relationships with wealthy men and survived on their patronage. Courtesans were kept women during the fourteenth and fifteenth-century European Renaissance. Their prominent status as escorts of wealthy and powerful men allowed courtesans many educational and societal freedoms unavailable to women of the times. During the slave era in the United States, the fancy girl market was offered to exceptionally wealthy white males. During fancy girl auctions, light-skinned black women would be purchased at prices ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 dollars. Lavished with the most expensive clothes and fineries, fancy girls were acquired solely for sexual services. Inevitably the history of the kept woman has shifted from empowered to exploited, according to societal mores and cultural traditions.

The male equivalent of the kept woman is the gigolo. Although typically supported by an older woman, kept men are also patronized by homosexual males in exchange for sex. Unlike the historical records of concubines and courtesans, details of kept men or gigolos are less accessible. A larger history devoted to male prostitutes or hustlers provides insights into male sex workers, but fails to account for enduring sexual relationships both heterosexual and homosexual. The disparity in these records illustrates widespread cultural apprehension to those sexual relationships on the fringes of a heteronormative system.

The character Paul, played by George Peppard, in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) is a popular representation of the kept heterosexual man who survives solely on the monetary gifts of a wealthy older woman. In 2005 cable television channel VH1 launched a new reality show titled Kept in which Jerry Hall challenged twelve men to vie for her affections and her millions. The twelve contestants were asked to perfect their dancing, write poetry, learn polo, and exude sex appeal as Hall groomed the ideal gigolo.

Famous kept women include Hagar (concubine of biblical patriarch Abraham), Madame de Montespan (mistress of French monarch Louis XIV), Sally Hemings (slave of American president Thomas Jefferson), Marion Davies (mistress of American publisher William Randolph Hearst), Eva Braun (mistress of the German dictator Adolph Hitler), La Belle Otero (Spanish courtesan), and Pamela Digby Harriman (U.S. ambassador to France and wife of British politician Randolph Churchill, Hollywood producer Leland Hayward, and U.S. politician Averell Harriman, as well as lover of, among others, Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, Prince Aly Khan, and journalist Edward R. Murrow).

Court documents state that officers responded to a residence on Fifth Avenue South in La Crosse at about 5:45 p.m. Sunday for a report of a domestic disturbance. A man reported that a woman -- his stepdaughter and the mother of Clark's child -- was being kept captive inside the residence. Court documents do not identify the woman.

"(The woman) answered the door and was screaming hysterically," documents state. "She ran out of the door with no shoes on and immediately got into (her stepfather's) vehicle. (Her stepfather) stated he believed (his stepdaughter) was made to stay in the house against her will and Cole had fabricated a story she was in a severe accident and in a hospital in Madison."

The woman was transported to a community center after officers saw her "crying, hysterical and shaking" in her stepfather's vehicle. Documents state that officers recognized the woman from previous domestic incidents involving her and Clark.

Officers arrested Cole on Sunday inside the residence. During an interview with police, Clark told officers that the woman made up the story about being in a crash and denied having control of her phone, documents state.

A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Thursday that Royds was paroled in May, and he then went into federal custody before being returned to his native New Zealand on June 25.

Studying the body, Sara Linton--the GBI's newest medical examiner and Will's lover--realizes that the extensive blood loss didn't belong to the corpse. Sure enough, bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim--a woman--who has vanished . . . and who will die soon if she isn't found.

Studying the body, Sara Linton--the GBI's newest medical examiner and Will's lover--realizes that the extensive blood loss didn't belong to the corpse. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim--a woman--who has vanished . . . and who will die soon if she isn't found.

Hill says she thinks 40 is an ideal age. "Most men who can afford to keep a woman are older than that," she says. "And the last thing they want a waiter to say is, 'Oh, you've brought your daughter! How sweet.'" 041b061a72