Date
Author
Елена Зеликова
Preserved copy
Translated material
Women are difficult behavior
“Tell the girls. But these, tell them, these for the Koreans, ”a fragile woman takes eight cardboard boxes from the windowsill and unloads her interlocutor, in the appearance of a native of Central Asia.
The boxes are light, they are condoms. In the small room of the office, all the windows are forced by these boxes near the Fontanka embankment. The woman explains something patiently and in detail. He, judging by the expression of the back, is embarrassed and squinting in my direction.
“This is a driver. Well, from the salon. Which is carrying girls, ”Natalya Zamanskaya, the head of the Silver Rose project, explains to me a little later, the Positive Dialogue Public Organization project. - They usually come from the salons - the whole salon will not go here. And "for the Koreans" - which are smaller. "
“We are the organization of HIV-infected people, and the salons are part of our work, we examine girls on HIV, advise, help. For a year and a half, about two and a half thousand have already been examined, ”says Natalya. - Usually we go out through the guards to the salons. We now have four people in the field, and there are two of us here. We ride the salons, we spend tests there. If we do not get the police, of course, when the raid comes to “cover the salon”.
Office "Silver Rose"
“We once arrived, there were twelve girls in the cabin,” Masha’s volunteer Masha picks up her tea. - We sit, I test them, and suddenly I hear men's voices in high colors. Clear: plaque. It doesn’t matter whether the bandits are or the police, there is no difference. The police bring us to the corridor, threaten us that we will also go under the article now. What article? According to the same article 6.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, prostitution. Fortunately, we were simply kicked out. And then we learned that the owner of the cabin arrived, paid, and they left ... Taking 32 condom boxes! ”
Asphalt names
Petersburg is the city mainly female and aging; There are more Petersburgers than Petersburgers who are more middle -aged than young people. We are habitually stomping the ads on the asphalt - with phones, hearts and a note “24 hours”, this part of the purely male world that we do not know and do not want to know about it. It seems to us that Lyuba, Katya, Tanya from the ads are different from us, somehow look in a special way and, probably, somehow vicious in a special way. We are firmly sure that there can be nothing with us and that these, which are in salons, are the scum of society that have earned their fate.
“Who works there? Single mothers and women over 45 years old, who can not get a job. Now “retro-salons” are gaining popularity, where sex workers of this age, ”says Natalya Zamanskaya. - People survive who can. We have a guide for the loss of a breadwinner 14 thousand rubles; And if you have two or three children and there is neither help nor a sensible profession? ”
... At the table of a cafe in the darkness next to me are four women. The family of their activities does not reach me immediately; Natalia introduced us without specifying this delicate detail. Three of them are presented by consultants from the Silver Rose sex workers association. "Are you more interested in the psychological aspect?" - Carefully awares alone. “Yes, I'm wondering how you work. What kind of work is this? " I ask. About the work of the consultant, of course. "Do you mean intimacy for money?" - clarifies the interlocutor. And then it comes to me.
To the left of me Inna (all names are changed. - Approx. Auth.). Fine, about forty -five years old, with a short haircut, with a long face, with glasses, Inna is most like a librarian. Or a good primary school teacher. A long skirt, a gray sweater, no cosmetics. It is necessary to have a rich imagination to imagine it as a courtesan: however, Inna has been working in an intimate salon for many years, and the consultant-her volunteer activity. “Initially, I came to the Silver Rose as an uh ... as a consumer, I needed advice. I realized how many girls do not know - even to use the condom correctly and not everyone knows how. Now I am a social worker, ”Inna says proudly. - Girls come to our office, we give condoms, lubricants, we have consultations on sexual infections, send it to a gynecologist or in an CVD on resistance Street, we tell you how to behave during raids or police raids. We are equal, the same as they, we know the whole insuberation and we will help better than those from the outside. ”
The set issued to sex workers
One of the silver rose booklets
“We all four went through this. But in general, not all consultants are such, everyone has a different fate, ”notes the brunette sitting opposite, also about forty years. Barbara, let's call her like this, are the only one of the interlocutors who calls at least distant associations with something vicious. Bright black eyes, red lipstick, lively speech, black dress, large pearls-somewhat reminiscent of pear from the old adaptation of the “Karamazov brothers”. Experience in an intimate sector is ten years.
“I have always been an active person,” Barbara is in a hurry to tell. - In childhood, she sent parcels to Africa to starving, then defended gays, then - homeless animals. I went to rallies against Putin. And all her life I wanted to help women. All my friends went through violence one way or another, so I wanted to work in such a project. When I had a disaster, they released the family of my studies at the famous forum - I came to the Association for support, to a psychologist. And she stayed to work ... "
Tatyana is a well -groomed blonde for thirty -five, in a black office suit and glasses, a little hollow, rounded, with a soft voice, stretches vowels. In appearance-an assistant accountant or office manager; About her second life in her appearance does not say anything at all. “I used to work for myself. Well ... this is if without a pimp, ”Tatyana explains her voice.
“Once I went out of town, and the girl with whom we rented an apartment calls: we say, there is robbery. An inadequate client broke her head, and she, a single mother for more than forty years, remained disabled. "
Tatyana decided to leave solitary swimming, although she admits that without intimacy, everything happens. Already working as a consultant, she ran into the police raid, she was taken away and kept in the department for 16 hours, although under the administrative article 6.11 they have the right to detain only for three hours. “They said this is the order of the authorities. They are used to the fact that the girls are afraid to even piss. And I filed an application with the prosecutor's office and to the court of the Kirovsky district! The police did not appear at the trial, but they justified me under Article 6.11! ”
Tatyana is married, raising a teenage son. Inna is divorced, she also has dependents - three adult children, one is a disabled person. Only Barbara has no children. Evelina also has a little son, he will soon be seven.
Evelina is younger than her friends, she is about twenty -seven. A densely painted, large brown -haired woman with a magnificent bust, it holds a little distant and phlegmatic. “I have been in intimacy for a long time, I came to the profession early, already 10 years have passed. I wanted to try, probably ... Then it dragged on. I can’t even believe that so many years. Sometimes you will figure out - there were already customers about fifteen thousand ... - For a second she thinks, then she continues, - I like my work, yes. And ... I believe that I work for society, this is a social profession. Men go not only for sex, they solve their problems, crises, many single people come. They say that, they say, this must be forbidden - you know, all these Milonovs ... "
Drawings of girls in the office
It’s guilty
Inna is more willing than the rest, tells about her life.
“In the sex work, I came after household violence, when I barely remained alive. There were such injuries that doctors gave a year - not life, but survival. From the police, of course, neither assistance nor protection. They beat you - you yourself are to blame. This is a past life, we got divorced for a long time ... But then I couldn’t just survive, I had to be healthy and have income, otherwise all my children would be in the orphanage. My husband was convicted of four articles and gave you know how much? A year conditionally and two under the supervision. He was not even deprived of his parental rights. Although one of the articles was for the brutal handling of children. The guardianship authorities were also out of business ... and if I hadn’t bustarded, leaving the hospital, he would even come out of the water dry. Our district police officer warned my husband about every step, he specially called him, - Inna tells emotionally, but without malice. - In short, I had to urgently leave and save myself and children alive. And I turned to television, the plot with us was shown in the news. This is why it was possible to get a subsidy for housing when journalists began to call instance. We moved, thank God, but without the consent of my father I could not even register there. ”
“Previously, she worked as a nanny in different families, finished courses, also worked with sick children in orphanages,” Inna says, and I understand that she seemed to me a teacher in vain. “But at that time, all my skills would not help me.” It was necessary to pull out three schoolchildren. The salon was the only place where they took me. I wouldn’t have passed anywhere for medical indicators ... The girls of my age were in the cabin, supported me, taught me everything. Honestly, now I'm not even scared that my children will recognize. This is my conscious choice of an adult. No one pulled me by force. In my environment, no one knows what I am doing, and I would have already moved away from this if social workers in our state did not receive such a penny. ”
Perenopsy, dear
Evelina tells about herself not very willingly, but suddenly turns out to be sharp in his tongue. Ladies society revives and begins to giggle. It turns out not enough funny.
“We once had a check in the cabin, either the prosecutor, or the investigators came up who would analyze them! So these "prosecutors" carried everything, just everything, up to the worn panties! "
“They came, there were five men and ten women. The girls were driven into one room and divided naked, and the mistress of the prosecutors went with huge garbage bags and stacked everything they liked there. The toilet paper was taken! Household chemistry, tea bags, food from the refrigerator, the bar was devastated. (“Well, a bar is a classic,” Tatyana remarks, “a bar is always taken away. Yes, in general everything, the apartment remains clean.”) Twisted TVs, unscrewed the mirrors. Bed linen, clothes, condoms, phallimitators ... I don’t know why they needed our phalloimitators. Pans, pots, dishes, perfumes, accessories. Stockings, our panties (!), Shoes, down jackets carried. Not to mention phones and laptops - they walked like evidence in the case. Only the girl was able to then return an expensive laptop. So, I am replacing, I look - a naked apartment, there is nothing left except beds and cabinets. ”
Each of them can tell dozens of similar stories. “In the cabin where I worked, the client cut the driver with a knife,” Evelina continues. - They called the police, as expected. They arrived, the driver took to the hospital, and the police saw women in underwear and said - Opa, brothel. They put us all in a police officer in the car, ten people in the car for four. An hour we sat in linen on the street in the car - it was February, all in peignoirs, wildly froze. And my son was performed then for a year. I was already dressed when they came, I wanted to leave home, but I got it anyway. Two black women who were with us stuck in a monkey: like you are a monkey, your place here. They did not give water or food. They drank only technical water from the toilet. It became bad for me, I asked to call an ambulance - so the doctors, having arrived, began to insult. The girls spent the whole day in the department on the chair, while they made a protocol under article 6.11. On the chair! Day!"
A vicious circle
For the abolition of Article 6.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the Silver Rose Association has been fighting from the date of its creation. I ask my visa about what is changing in their life to involve this article. It turns out that the law on the inviolability of private life to article 6.11 does not apply.
“This is all entered into the base and becomes known to everyone,” says Tatyana. - The girl can no longer find official work in any state structure, for example. And they will say to your sons in the army - you have a mother of a prostitute. In our office, one girl settled down at work, and she was refused, why? They found that she had an artist in her youth. ”
“And here's how you get out of there, when will this article return you all the time back all the time? They won’t take you anywhere. Well, perhaps the business to open or freelanate. And learn not to go anywhere. If there is a punishment under this article, then she is then forever, she does not remove from the base. At least there may be a mark on the criminal that the criminal record is repaid, but under this article there is no. It turns out that it is easier for people to live with a criminal, - Inna wonders. “In addition, this base is publicly available.”
“Yes, everyone knows about her,” Evelina confirms. - My friend went to change the passport, and the passportist says to her - yeah, and you are a prostitute, it turns out you have two criminal records ... So we have no public alternatives. And we, of course, will not receive a passport either with this article, and if we somehow get it, we will not get a visa. We are nailed by this article. Puffed to a piece of paper. "
For love after all, girls
The farther, the less, looking at my interlocutors, I thought about morality; The farther, the less I wanted to exhort and condemn. Maybe that's why the girls clearly relaxed and began to talk more about the personal. Including morality, as they understand it.
“I had a couple of cases when the so -called friends revealed the truth to my mother. But I managed to persuade her, to convince that I was the only way, I tried it. But after that, in order to avoid such situations, I told all close friends myself, ”says Barbara. - And the partner with whom I am now. Because you can’t hide when you are more than ten years in this area-there are a network, forums, reviews ... It was very scary to speak to the partner, very, but still said. Somehow they survived. But you know what I understood? I do not agree that you can feel good at this work. There are girls who really love men, and this work and this life. I also had this armor, psychological, that I am supposedly realized as a woman, that I love sex. But then a breakdown came, I realized that I was touched, I would go sop or struggle, if I did not leave. You begin to hate them all. So for a woman this is very difficult not only because society condemns. Not only because of a double life, but because you are doing unnatural things. Because of course, when a woman has sex in love after all, girls ... "
But none of my interlocutors exudes anger either in relation to customers or in relation to men in general.
What is more in this - self -interest (there will be no customers - there will be no money), pretense, indifference or, perhaps, humanity, is difficult to judge. “Family people often come in the family. And then they listen to him, they pay attention to him. And he has one question at home: the salary where, and not just some kind of intimacy,-the same Inna, which the ex-husband beaten to half death, argues pityly. - The feminists say: it is necessary to punish customers, not prostitutes. Well, why punish customers? And if he is a dwarf, for example? He will sit on the sofa, and the legs hang like a child. And at the same time he is a man. Who needs him, where to go? "
“The person is not punished for his nature,” Evelina summarizes thoughtfully.
Legalization is forever
My interlocutors against the legalization of prostitution, for whom doctors who are actively engaged in the HIV epidemic. So, a gynecologist and a dermatovenerologist, who are anonymously coming patients in the directions of the “silver rose”, in a conversation with me called legalization the only possible way. The patients themselves, as it turned out, will have a different opinion. Living, as they believe, will become even more difficult: the girl will have to open an individual entrepreneur, put 500 thousand insurance on the account, have her own housing and written consent to open an intimate salon from all neighbors, will have to pay the district police officer, pay taxes and a bunch of inspection instances.
“And the entry in the work book? - Inna is indignant. "Why do I need such a record?"
“There is no legalization yet, women have the opportunity not to link it so deeply. And if everything will be officially, then this is forever. ”
Reference
According to the city AIDS-center, studying the risk group, in St. Petersburg from 50 to 70 thousand sex workers, the vast majority of women. About 13% of them are infected with HIV, and in recent years this number has grown rapidly-while earlier the number of HIV-plus girls in the salons remained relatively low. According to Professor Denis Gusev, an AIDS-center employee, one of the factors affecting this growth is physical and psychological violence, leading to social isolation, planting systematic fear, which increases the likelihood of risky behavior.
In 2016, the international human rights organization Amnesty International has issued a report on the need to decriminalize prostitution around the world. According to Amnesty International, the level of violence in relation to sex workers is unacceptably high in those countries where there are administrative or criminal articles for this. And these laws do not help people get out of this sphere, on the contrary, they produce violence, and unpunished, since women do not turn to the police. “We are supporters of decriminalization, since this approach allows you to make absolutely all employees by the subjects of law, that is, a protected social group,” says Katherine Murphy, consultant to Amnesty International.