Theory: Aerith's a Prostitute (Debunked)

[The Witch]

For a long time I've had to deal with people saying Aerith is a prostitute, and as ridiculous as that theory is, people actually believe it to be true. But the 25th Anniversary Ultimania debunks that crazy theory.

エアリス、貞操の危機! ?
「滅びゆく種族に愛の手を」という宝条博士のとんでもない思いつきで、レッドXIIIとの交配実験のため同じカプセルに閉じこめられるハメに。 レッド XIIIにその気がなかったのと、クラウドたちのおかげで事なきを得たから いいものの……。

“Aerith, chastity in danger!?!!
When Dr. Hojo had the crazy idea of lending a hand to a race going extinct by locking Aerith and Red XIII in the same capsule it was to Cloud and company’s relief that Red XIII wasn’t entirely into the whole idea.”

​

The word ‘貞操’ suggests Aerith is in fact a virgin by the time she leaves Midgar. I know this is random, but I’m just glad Square finally put those annoying prostitute theories to rest.

 

[Shaissa]

....People thought Aerith was a prostitute? really? and they really had to prove she wasn't?

I mean Aerith is made to be a holyish figure in FFVII (at least from how I saw it.) If anything it should of been Zack and Cloud that were the Prostitutes! They were the ones that were getting paid as a "jack of all trades"

In all seriousness though, I think it's funny that this was even a thing......

 

[Cefca]

Was this dreamt up by the same people that think every person in a position of power in the world is actually a lizard person in disguise?

 

[Dionysos]

I’ve never heard of that theory. I’d assume that people who put that theory forward aren’t entirely serious about it.

I mean the scene with Red XIII referred to above isn’t prostitution. It was an attempt by Hojo to breed Aerith and Nanaki together, partly as an attempt to preserve both species, but also because Hojo was crazy and didn’t care for ethics and just wanted to see what could happen. Nanaki didn’t really go through with it, but he seemed to play along until he could find a way to escape the tank. These comments seem to confirm that Nanaki had no intention of having intercourse with Aerith or harming her in any way.

If Nanaki did end up having intercourse with Aerith, then Aerith would still not have been a prostitute as she wasn’t to gain financially from her ordeal. Aerith would have been a rape victim instead.

I’m curious though… What are the theories that people are putting forward to try and claim that Aerith is a prostitute? Do they think that her flower wagon was just a front, or deliberately euphemistic? Or is it just that she was flirty with both Zack and Cloud?

I suppose she did live in the only nice house in the slums of Midgar, and she would need to afford to keep that. If she was turning to prostitution to make ends meet then she was wasting her time. Everyone knows that all the best prostitutes in Midgar dress up as bees and work at the Honeybee Inn.

 

[The Witch]

I'm surprised none of you have heard of this. This theory is even on the Japanese wiki pages. I know I've encountered it more than any other theory for FFVII. Bless all of you for being so wise

I’m curious though… What are the theories that people are putting forward to try and claim that Aerith is a prostitute? Do they think that her flower wagon was just a front, or deliberately euphemistic? Or is it just that she was flirty with both Zack and Cloud?

I can't link to the website that has the theory because it's an ecchi/hentai forum, but here are some others:

http://fyeahcontroversialcharacters.../defense-of-aeris-final-fantasy-this-post-was
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197341-final-fantasy-vii/62548975
https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/comments/35baip/is_aerith_really_a_flower_girl/
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/FinalFantasyVII

Yes... people have 'reasons' and 'facts'.

Their main argument is that 'flowers' is code word for vagina. Another argument they cite is that in FF tactics Aerith owed money to thugs (30K) and she couldn't pay it so the thugs told her to sell her body, it's insinuated that she's about to be raped until Cloud saves her. So, yeah... people actually believe it.

Which is why I was so ecstatic when I found this quote.

 

[Shaissa]

Their main argument is that 'flowers' is code word for vagina. Another argument they cite is that in FF tactics Aerith owed money to thugs (30K) and she couldn't pay it so the thugs told her to sell her body, it's insinuated that she's about to be raped until Cloud saves her. So, yeah... people actually believe it.

Which is why I was so ecstatic when I found this quote.

I forgot about the scene in Tactics! Man it has been forever since I touched that game....
It still sounds like some weird fan-fic to me even without the Tactics scene, because then you would be saying that Tactics and VII actually took place in the same world or whatever and confuse the crap out of everyone....

ANYWAYS!

Still sounds like some perverts fantasy to buy Aerith "flower" for 1 gil....

 

[Dionysos]

Okay… That’s more evidence than I thought was possible!

While I don’t believe it, it is an interesting theory. Just when I was beginning to think I’d heard it all!

If anything, I like the comment that suggests that Aerith was genuinely a flower girl, but that some of the guys at Wall Market mistook her for that other sort of flower girl (a prostitute) and so she charged them at a higher rate for her flowers in order to mess with them (giving them actual flowers rather than what they thought they were getting).

If anything it might be that Square was playing with the double meaning for the Wall Market sequence, but that Aerith was never seriously meant to be a prostitute in reality. Some of the horny guys outside the Honeybee Inn may have taken Aerith, a flower girl, to be a prostitute, and so she overcharged them (something like 500 Gil, instead of the 1 Gil or so that she usually charges - according to the TV Tropes page).

Even this isn’t clear in the game (or wasn’t clear to my innocent brain when I played it). Now, after reading the posts in the links you provided, the Japanese culture of the Enjo-Kosai (girlfriends-for-hire, which may sometimes involve intercourse) has been explained to me. I can sort of understand the theories a little better but, yeah, it’s still too far-fetched to say that Aerith is an actual prostitute.

In short, it’s possible that Square had a laugh at how Aerith might have been misinterpreted as a prostitute in places like Wall Market (she was, after all, selling ‘flowers’). Beyond that, I don’t think there is anything in this at all.

 

[The Witch]

I forgot about the scene in Tactics! Man it has been forever since I touched that game....
It still sounds like some weird fan-fic to me even without the Tactics scene, because then you would be saying that Tactics and VII actually took place in the same world or whatever and confuse the crap out of everyone....

ANYWAYS!

Still sounds like some perverts fantasy to buy Aerith "flower" for 1 gil....

Well, Tactics and FFVII are connected in some way it seems. When Cloud first wakes up after being transported to Tactic's world, Cloud says "What happened? Last thing I remember was getting caught in the current." which may imply that Cloud was transported to this world when he fell into the lifestream during the 'Reunion' scene in FFVII.

That's a little off topic, but I wanted to tell you.

Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised that none of you guys have seen or believed in this prostitute BS, Good fandom

 

[Harlequin]

If anything, I like the comment that suggests that Aerith was genuinely a flower girl, but that some of the guys at Wall Market mistook her for that other sort of flower girl (a prostitute) and so she charged them at a higher rate for her flowers in order to mess with them (giving them actual flowers rather than what they thought they were getting).

I thought it was nonsense myself but having read about it it seems the developers intended for Aerith to be perceived this way, even if only in jest. The connotations seem to be considerably stronger in Japan, which would explain why such a theory would be dismissed out of hand here in the West, but it's impossible the devs wouldn't have known of these implications and therefore wouldn't have done this intentionally. But is Aerith an actual prostitute? No.