Leave it to the pros

Legend has it that the Innuits have several hundred words for snow. In the Hindu kingdoms of India in the last centuries BC, there were more than 300 different Sanskrit words for prostitute.

I suppose that amply illustrates the cultural differences between people of hot and cold climes. Nils Ringdal's Love for Sale is good on such diverting detail.

I was particularly indebted to it for the list of striking monikers given to older working women in medieval Europe, such as Maggie-Five-Finger-Ass - leaving one in little doubt that the dame did exactly what it says on the packet.

Ringdal's comprehensive study of turning tricks is equally compelling in its broader picture, whisking the reader from the temple prostitutes of Mesopotamia to the New York Mayfair Madam.

Many of the arenas examined are familiar to us - the hetaera of ancient Greece, geisha culture in Japan, the erudite and witty courtesans of post-Renaissance Europe have all been exhaustively covered in recent non-fiction - but Ringdal's talent is in drawing these threads together to refute the notion "that prostitution is universal and comes into existence all by itself ".

It is Ringdal's convincing contention that the sale of sex is "an almost unique cultural phenomenon that first developed in Mesopotamia" and later spread to surrounding cultures and then along developing trade routes. He points out that Polynesian women, for example, have almost no concept of selling their favours when they can bestow them freely where they please and without censor.

The book's scope means that it is equally convincing as a study of desire, morality, faith, economics, gender politics and venereal disease. It is fascinating to learn that the US military of the 1940s found that sexually emancipated good-time girls ( barmaids, secretaries and the like) spread VD among the troops on a far greater scale than prostitutes, leading to the slogan, "If you can't say no, see a pro".

The shaming aspect of this thoughtful book is that modern Western society is largely less enlightened in its dealings with sex workers than most previous civilisations. "Anyone who thinks young men ought to be forbidden affairs with prostitutes is certainly very ignorant of the freedom of our time and, indeed, not in harmony with the customs of our ancestors.

Name any epoch when this was not normal - prostitution is a legally sanctioned privilege." Thus Cicero addressed the Roman Senate in 60BC. Prostitutes enjoyed some form of legislative protection and paid taxes in civilisations ranging from Chandragupta's Indian empire of 4BC to Tang- and Sung-dynasty bordellos.

The Empress Theodora, a former whore herself, cracked down on promiscuous behaviour and banished procuresses from Constantinople, but also tried to prevent minors being enrolled in the remaining brothels. And she aimed to establish legal protection against rape for prostitutes. Guilds of whores were formed across medieval Europe: the 1474 Confederation of Harlots in Paris had 4,000 members.