Courtesans In Space!

I've just discovered FIREFLY, Joss Whedon's post-Buffy show that muddles plot leaves with its western and sci-fi space explorer themes. Weird! The show isn't as addictive as Buffy, mostly because there aren't as many girls in charge. It's all war and space crime, rusty ships and dusty gunfights atop colonized desert planets.
Firefly's machismo is vindicated, though, by the presence of the character Inara. Beautiful, intelligent, and socially powerful, Inara is the first high-class prostitute I've ever seen realistically portrayed on television. On the show, "Companions" are a class into themselves; women and men with years of training in everything from ritual tea ceremonies to psychology. They choose their own clients, and in several scenes Inara is seen rejecting the virtual files and appeals of some of the world's most powerful men who are vying to purchase her company, just because she doesn't like them enough to warrant the energy involved in a meeting.
Of course, there is a tense relationship with an ignorant ship captain who refers to Companions as "whores" without understanding that they are viewed by the rest of society as ambassadors from a luxury realm. An interesting nod to the fact that while history can transform social groups and eradicate prejudices, it never wipes the slate clean across the board.
Having edited and published $pread Magazine for a couple of years, I've seen a breadth of viewpoints on the sex industry from within and outside its ranks. And there sure are a lot of movies, books, and other materials that attempt to speak for people who live the lifestyle. But this is the first time I've seen a sex-working character, in any medium outside of Tracy Quan novels, that I believed was true. Too bad the show was cancelled in 2003. Wonder who is going to pick up where Joss Whedon's companions left off?