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Original paper (2000)

Dmitry Butenko, St. Petersburg, Russia

The "Club": Sexual Services in a West Siberian City.

Introduction
Establishing Contact
Characteristics of the "Clubs"
The Sex Workers
Obstacles to Research
Validity of the Research
Legends
The Clients
Summary
Bibliography

Introduction
The pre-history and motive of my sociological interestin this field is 1. The popularisation of intimate and massage parlour sex services in the mid-1990's, and 2. the emergence of the sex business out of theshadow when it began to integrate into themarket by means of advertising in the newspapers andmagazines and, some years later, also through the Internet.

My attention was drawn by the scale of the phenomenon, and I also became interested in finding outwhat qualitative research methods could reveal about this aspect of the developing marketeconomy in modern Russia. The article presentsthe results of a pilot research of two brothels in theSiberian city of Novosibirsk.

Establishing Contact
At the first stage of my research my only goal the experience of penetrating ahalf-closed world. I tried to establish personal contacts within the milieu of sexual services, and I tried to develop trusting relationships with the people, gettingsome idea of how this world is evolving, and how it is organised. (I chosethis way as opposed to the quantitative and formalisedmethods of research of prostitution and sex servicesin Russia - such as the polls of the "All-Russiancentre of research of public opinion", regarding thepublic opinion on sex services, questionnaire designof the prostitutes being detained by the police, etc.(1).

For my research I chose brothels of a certain type, which prevailed at the time(1997-1998) in the market of organized sexservices in major Russian cities. Such establishmentswere trying to serve a mass clientele, and they advertised themselvesprofusely. My research field included the so-called"family clubs" at the initial stage of theirdevelopment. The organisation of the latter was forsome time an easy and profitable business even fornon-professional entrepreneurs.

Characteristics of the "Clubs"
Now I will briefly comment on the characteristics ofthose establishments. A typical brothel can be set upby an entrepreneur or a married couple. The minimumrequirements include an unoccupied 1-3 roomed flat, ahired driver who also works as a security guard, and acar. Sometimes, several cars and security guards areused. Typically, from 1 to 8 girls are engaged in abusiness, hired either through advertisement orpersonal contacts. Organising and running a businessalso requires connections either in the police or incriminal circles which, according to the laws ofthe Russian shadow economy, are engaged in protectionof both the establishment and the women involved.

The Sex Workers
Who works in such brothels? Not pretending to give a fullanswer, I can briefly note that, as a rule, they areeither single mothers coming from underdevelopedregions or suburbs, or children from troubledfamilies, or women in desperate circumstances. Of course, there are other ways oforganising sex services in large Russian cities. Theprominent sexologist I. Kon provides the followingtypology: 1) street workers;2) flat prostitutes - independent individual workershaving their own clientele;3) sex service agencies, functioning under the guiseof clubs, saunas, massage parlours;4) hotel prostitutes. (2)

The Russian sex businesses (including the so-calledclubs/massage salons), because of their semi-legal activities, have a tendency to be concealed from the casual onlooker's glance. The coreThis business has neither a legal nor an illegal status in Russia. Itis not protected by the state, and thus the police routinely closes "massageparlours", ostensibly for "preventive purposes", calling them brothels. On the other hand,the business is well developed and easily accessibleto the clients who can always find out where and howthey operate.

Obstacles to Research
Research into brothels in Russia is problematic due to the uncertainty of their status.The consciousness of most of the Russian sex workersis still not mature enough (as opposed to some Westerncountries, such as Holland, for example) for an openand confiding conversation with the outsiders whoare willing to understand what is goingon. They are understandably afraid and unwilling todisclose their existence to any outsider. Aresearcher is a stranger to them, attractingundesirable public attention. It is still unclearwhether Russian sex workers are ready to besupported by public-service institutions or to organiseprofessional training and support for themselves on their own. Due tofear and understandable reticence, none of them willtrust a questioner and honestly reveal the facts abouttheir lives and work, if the questioner is coming fromoutside their own environment; in other words, if he isnot a permanent client, or is not on friendly termseither with the workers or the owners of a brothel.Therefore, a researcher has to integrate himself into thisenvironment to get a clear picture. I have chosen away of integration into a brothel environment as aregular client.

Validity of the Research
First I will define the main methodological specificationsand difficulties of working in this particularenvironment, which I encountered while communicatingwith the workers and organisers of the clubs.

Any milieu influences the researcher. As a researcher, Imainly perceive the workers as sources of informationbut they see me as a part of their world, therefore,as a way to solving their problems. A shortelucidation: There are reasons for the belief that thework in a club sometimes may give a woman a chance toraise her social status or find a way out of asocially hopeless situation. A well-to-do part of theclientele consists of foreigners, single men,managers, software specialists, etc. I am aware ofmany cases when women have found the way out of theirtough life situations either by marrying their formerclients or by making friends with them; sometimes theywould even go abroad. Consequently, one of theresearcher-client's problems while being inrelationships with the workers is to disengage oneselffrom the women's expectations to solve their problemsbeyond the brothel, to be distanced from them. I knowfrom my experience that it is not easy.

A researcher also influences the milieu he is researching. If aprecise research programme on the club's lifeconditions is launched and a client, who is activelyand regularly asking direct questions appears, suchprogramme can naturally influence the research"material" and threaten the brothel's everyday life.Confidence may abate and the workers may stop cooperating.

How can this be avoided or, at least, how can the influence of a researcher in a given project be minimized? Theprocess of establishing confident relationships withthe workers, during which the questions are asked andthe data are collected, must be extended over a longtime period. One worker should be spoken to severaltimes; communication should be conducted in such a waythat the questions are asked as though by chance, -unintentionally, without drawing much attention tothem. That is to say, the questionnaire programmeshould be camouflaged. This is an intuitive approachrequiring a constant creation of easy-to-converse,confident situations on the part of a researcher.

Legends
In most cases, a worker has her personal "legend",which will be partly or fully used by her in aninterview. The purpose of such a legend is clear - tocreate an image that could be useful to a particularworker. (Even though there are similar episodes in thelegends of many women). Also, the legend isindispensable if a client feels like talking.Certainly, a worker is often willing to provokean interest in the client, to arouse compassion,establish a personal contact. That makes sense, asmany workers try to find and sometimes actually do find prospective partners,create families and even emigrate.

Sometimes a legend reflects a worker's actual condition, sometimes it embodies her dreams, or isjust a clever fiction. The real situation may beembellished. In any case, a researcher must make manyattempts to get to the "real story". However, this isquite possible. My experience of a friendlycommunication with ten workers being aware of thedetails of each other's real biography, testifies tothat.The legend and reality may be very different. Forinstance, a worker, describing her life, asserts thatshe has a five-roomed flat, a child, an expensivedog, that her husband is a highly paid flatrestoration specialist, that she is a dentist by professionand works here just for fun. Whereas the realsituation, which I was able to discover with the helpof other workers, is as following: She lives along with her sick mother in a studio, dreams of starting a family andhas established close personal relationship with oneof the clients. So, her legend is a part of the dream,which in her understanding, is already coming close to being realized.

The Clients
Thus, the given research field requires ingenuity froma researcher and sometimes involves professional risk.It should be noted that the methods of collecting thedata were a combination of different possibilities.Unquestionably, the general context consists of"inculcation", gaining confidence, immersion into themilieu of the establishment being researched.

The focus, however, is on the in-depth interviews withthe workers, as well as on the special standard ofrelationships, when the workers are unaware of theconducted research. Of course, the workers starttalking only after a personal contact with the clienthas been established. The contact may be aggravated bythe work conditions as well as by the worker's goalsregarding myself, and by the researcher as a live element ofthe process. That is to say, I was not regarded as anoutside witness or as someone gathering research data.

On the other hand, it may be supposed that if theworkers had known that a researcher came toinvestigate their lives not out of curiosity but tocontribute, even though indirectly, to solving theirproblems, and besides, if they could trust the statewhich has already worked out a position in regard tosex services, then, possibly, the workers would havediscussed their issues more openly. (Norma Jean talkson such practice of open and mutually involvedrelationships between sex workers and researchers inthe USA). (3) But most of the Russian sex workers arejust not yet mature enough for this. There are stillno active organisations in Russia, providing socialsupport, the "allies" (one of the most impressiveexamples of which is the FROST (4)) which couldconnect the researcher and his object. Besides, evenin case of full trust in a conversation, the mostdelicate details, concealed from the view of anoutsider who has not lived in such a world, would,possibly, escape attention.

Summary
My findings can be summarized as follows.

- Mobility
First, I would like to note a strongfluctuation, a horizontal mobility, which manifestsitself in the women's constant changing jobs in thecity brothels in search for better working conditions.The shortest time of a worker's employment in a clubis two days, the longest - two years, the averageperiod is 2-3 months.

- Income
This work is poorly paid. 70 %of the sex worker's income is deducted by theorganization. (The workers used to get around $12 perhour in 1999.) At that time the salaries were notsettled yet, therefore many women hoped that in adifferent place they would earn more. Sometimes, itwould actually happen. Today the salaries have becomemore stable everywhere in the organizations of acertain level.

- Employers
Roughness of the club-bosses doesexist in relations with sex workers. I mean the lowestlevel of interpersonal relations as observed frominside. For example, periodical monthly feasts andholidays are arranged, when all the bosses and sexworkers drink heavily and lose control. This results in fights and quarrels, sometimes leadinjg to serious injuries. Sex workers do participate infights not just as victims. The situation often getsout of control, which is very common in the brothelsof a "family" type.

- Personal relationships
There exists an unfriendly and uncomfortable atmosphere among the sex workers. Itis especially noticeable while they are expecting theclients. Here are some words said by one of them: " ...it is really hard for me to be here, sitting aroundand waiting for the client's call. They are justinterested in what happened with me on the call, whereI was, with whom and how I was making sex, and it ismore than enough for them. I feel lonely. "

- Fatigue
Unbalanced working day. At the festivetimes women should work whole day/week without rest,depending on the local customs. Sex workers have notime to refresh themselves and to regain their energy.On the other hand, they would often say: "Sometimes weare sitting through the whole night doing nothing."

- Working conditions
"I am allowed only to sleep and eat in our club but in such a small apartment itis just difficult to survive."

- Violence
Unfortunately, the criminal background of clientsand/or their aggressive behavior are uglyfeatures inherent in the whole of Russian society. It isa common thing in Russia that a significant part ofthe clientele consists of relaxing gangsters. Adistinctive feature of their criminal culture is theslogan: "after a difficult and successful deal one hasto have rest and relax with sexy girls". Occasionally,criminalized clients perform violent and sadistic actsagainst sex workers. In Russian it is called"bespredel" (an uncontrolled behavior). It means, forexample, putting a gun in between the woman's legswhile having sex. If the boss is unable to somehowcontrol the situation, the victimized sex worker soonleaves the brothel. Multiple cases of violence arevery typical in the present situation in the sex businessin Russia. Many such cases were observed, for example,during the research on independently working women inSt-Petersburg. "Most of our interviewees have sufferedrepeated acts of physical and sexual violence fromtheir husbands and clients." (5)

- Fear
Occasionally, when sex clubs set up their websites, the most beautiful girls in them are ofteninvited to work abroad. The job is usually presentedto them as an easy profitable business trip. However,many sex workers are afraid to be sold, not to returnhome and scared of the middlemen. As soon as they areselected for working abroad, they usually move toanother club, hoping that such an offer will not be made again.

- Chance to escape
Sometimes, a woman meets a lonelyman who initially comes as a client but, eventually, along-term relationship may emerge. It often concernsthe employed part of the clientele, among whom one canfind a computer engineer, or sales managers, drivers,policemen and so on.

Thus, summing up the working conditions of indoor sexworkers, I must admit that these conditions are verypoor, especially at the brothels, which are in thebeginning of their business. Many of the women looksick, tired and lost, but as far as I know, it relatesonly to this particular type of a brothel worker.

This article presents just a preliminary summary ofthe features of the small and badly organizedso-called "family" brothels in Siberia. There are many them in a Siberian/Russian city of averagesize, and they remain a popular businessenterprise. Therefore, we should be able to know whatis happening in those brothels.

These days, when "family" home-based enterprises inRussia keep developing and turn into professionalbrothels, the horizontal mobility of women within thecity limits is very high. The situation with violenceand poor working conditions calls for specialattention of researchers and women's crisis centers. There are still many obstacles, which do not allowspeeding up the normalization of the Russia's indoorsex industry. On the other hand, sex work has its deepsocial roots in our reality calling for aninstitutional way to help the sex workers in findingtheir social niche in the contemporary Russia'sculture situation.

Bibliography:

1. Kon. I.S. Sex Culture in Russia a strawberry on the birch-tree. - Ì.: OGIB 1997. - 464 p., pages 330-335

2. Kon. I.S. Sex Culture in Russia a strawberry on the birch-tree. - Ì.: ÎÃÈá 1997. - 464 ñ., available on http://sexology.narod.ru/chapt612b.html

3. Norma Jean Almodovar, Research and Researchers, Introduction, A Guide to the Articles, Books and Studies on the World's Oldest, available on www.iswface.org

4. North American Task Force on Prostitution A NETWORK OF SEX WORKERS, SEX WORKERS RIGHTS PROJECTS, AND ALLIES, New York

5. Khodyreva, Natalia How women in prostitution see themselves and explain their motivations. In NIKK Magasin, ¹ 1, 2002, p. 28

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