A colleague from the newspaper I work for, spent almost two weeks reading foreigners’ oriented magazines and calling different “tourist centers” that offer entertainment, massages and joy for the soul and the body treatments. He was trying to figure out the amount of sex services offered locally, as well as the average price.
When he started the experiment, he was sure he was going to fail – he could not believe that he would collect any suitable data for the material. But days later, he was very surprised as he got to know the most beneficial offers and mysterious places, most of them ignored by the police ignores. He was informed that one hour long sex costs 40 euros, but if the customer wants to be served at his place, the delivery within the borders of the capital – Riga, costs 9 extra euros. The variety of gentlemen clubs and massage centers anticipated to entertain guests in a cultural way. However, there always turned to be quiet rooms for the guests “to take some nap” on the second floor.
The experiment was quite shocking and called a lively debate in the city, as well as within the responsible bodies. However, I believe that kind of experiment shows only numbers and statistics, which cannot be compared with seeing the real situation.
“Nobody needs me, nobody loves me”. “When I have fulfilled my function and become <sour>, they just throw me away like a rotten lemon”. “I wish there was some sugar that would make me more pleasant and sweet, but there usually isn’t”, tells my course mate Laura (the name changed) who was satisfying all kind of needs of foreign tourists, in exchange of money, for quite some time.
We have studied together for almost four years, and I consider her my friend. I knew her very well, at least, that was what I thought before finding out, by accident, that she worked in Riga’s sexual service sphere. One night, after a party, she began to shake her soul.
She came from a very typical, middle-class family. They owned a little farm, but they struggled. When the grandmother, the only financial support of the family, died, the situation became even worse. To be able to pay for university and to cover her weekday expenditures, Laura started to work in erotic massage salons. Additionally, on Friday and Saturday evenings she attended most expensive clubs to “meet” foreigners.
She experienced violent attitude and completely lost her self-esteem. Luckily, she got out of this vicious circle thanks to her current boyfriend. He helped her financially, supported her morally. They are still living happily together.
Laura says that she would never agree to return to her previous life. “It was a hell. I was like a rabbit in the hands of big, bad wolves”.
What I wanted to tell with this story – we hear about prostitution in the media from day to day, we know the statistics of sexual harassment. But we grasp prostitution as a harsh reality only when we hear real life stories from people we know.
Post written by Anna Zemblicka/ Changemakers
Featured Image taken from : https://depts.washington.edu/jsishelp/ellison/2010/fall/Dean
