The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade

4 CLICK OF A MOUSE

HE MASSIVE WORLDWIDE RECRUITMENT of women into the flesh trade is fueled by one factor alone—the global demand for purchased sex by men. Tomes have been written about prostitutes and prostitution, largely because many women have been willing to speak out. By comparison, the legions of men who use these women nightly have managed to escape the microscope. As a group they remain largely unstudied; unsurprisingly, they keep their exploits to themselves. But while comparatively little is known about the men who frequent prostitutes, those in the front lines—from pimps to NGO workers—here offer their views. And the thoughts of the men themselves, as expressed on the burgeoning websites that offer women for sale, provide their own chilling perspective.

IN TEL AVIV’S OLD BUS STATION DISTRICT, strings of twinkling Christmas mini-lights beckon from signs bent in the shape of hearts and cherubs toting bows and arrows. But a closer examination of the area reveals that there is nothing festive or romantic about what these lights advertise. The place is awash in pitiful brothels, and business is brisk as platoons of men prowl the narrow side streets for a moment of passion. Behind tattered red curtains hanging from doorways, bleached blondes and tawny brunettes dressed in low-cut T-shirts and spandex scrunch together on sofas in clumps of four, five or six, waiting for the next client. They puff anxiously on cigarettes while perspiring men of all ages, shapes and sizes idle in the doorways ogling the merchandise.

At a ramshackle brothel, a pimp slouches behind a small metal desk wiping beads of sweat off his brow with a cheap handkerchief. His head is shaved and his pockmarked face sports a three-day stubble. An overweight, middle-aged man, who had been pacing furtively up and down the strip, peers in. The pimp shoots a look at the doorway and eagerly beckons him into the room.

“Enter! Enter! Take the one with the brown hair,” he calls out with a wide, pasted-on grin. “She likes you. You won’t be disappointed. Come! Come!”

The woman, who looks about twenty, propels herself up from a stained, pale green crushed-velvet couch and scurries toward the man before he can have a second thought. With a forced smile, she grabs his hand and pulls him into a back room. Fifteen minutes later he scoots out, looking sheepish, weak-kneed and fifty shekels lighter.

It’s mid-afternoon outside a brothel and there’s a lull in the traffic. David, a bear of a man with a buzz cut and one continuous bushy eyebrow, is standing outside his dingy establishment puffing on a cigarette. He’s a gregarious sort who enjoys meeting and chatting with foreigners about politics, economics and sex. David sees himself as something of an urban sociologist and, if anything, he’s definitely a front-line observer of a particular brand of humanity.

“All types of men come here,” David booms in a baritone voice.

“And you’re the delivery man?”

“I am the middleman,” he said with a proud grin.

David is on a roll and there is no stopping him.

While he blathers on about the important service he provides for his brothers, there are many people in Israel who are deeply disturbed by what’s happening on the side streets and back alleys of their country. In a modest apartment in a comfortable section of Tel Aviv, far from the red-light district, Leah Gruenpeter-Gold and Nissan Ben-Ami shake their heads in disgust at the opening of so many bordellos and the whole- sale trafficking of young Natashas. Leah and Nissan are co-directors of the Awareness Center—a nongovernmental group that specializes in research on trafficking in women and prostitution in Israel.

“Israeli men have simply grown used to the idea that women can be bought,” Gruenpeter-Gold began. “Both married and single men no longer want to work at relationships. For them it is easier to purchase sex when they want it.”

“On the Jewish New Year, I went down to the old bus station area to see what was happening,” Ben-Ami recalled. “There were young men queuing up in the streets outside each brothel. When you look into the reception area you could see all these sad and upset women, and when they see you, they suddenly look up and smile. They are happy to see you because they have to be happy or else.”

What particularly offends Ben-Ami is the haredim (orthodox Jews) who crowd the Tel Aviv brothels on Friday mornings and afternoons for a pre-Shabbat tumble.

“Because these women are not human beings,” Gruenpeter-Gold said indignantly. “They are foreign women. The religious prefer it to be with foreign women because then they don’t wrong Jewish women.”

“Yet officially,” Ben-Ami said, “the religious are very much against trafficking and prostitution. So, on one hand, many religious are against these brothels and, on the other hand, they need sex.”

“It is all very hypocritical,” Gruenpeter-Gold added.

ONE WAY TO GET A FIRST-HAND GLIMPSE into the mindset of the secret order of prostitute users is to eavesdrop on their internet musings. A good place to start is the World Sex Guide, which boasts almost 6000 members. The discussion board shows just how deluded most of these men are. Many brag about their lovemaking prowess in pornographic detail, holding themselves out as superstuds because the women they buy writhe, climb the walls and moan in sheer ecstasy at their every thrust. But more disconcerting is their unwavering belief that their right to sex overrides the rights of the women and girls they’re using. For these men it’s all about their needs, and how they satisfy them is their business. Throughout the website postings are endless rationalizations for why they do it. They blame their wives for sexually unfulfilling marriages. They blame women for not putting out after an expensive dinner date. And when these men don’t measure up in the bedroom, guess who they blame? They also label all women as gold diggers and counter that hookers don’t ask for flowers.

But the argument that rings out loudest is their “need” to have sex. In the minds of most of these men, sex is a biological imperative that must be satisfied; buying sex, therefore, is a natural activity. It’s a perfectly logical alternative to an unfulfilling or nonexistent relationship. As long as they have the cash, they’re entitled to satisfy their sexual urges—whatever they may be and whenever they strike. But there’s no biological imperative I’ve ever heard of for men to have an orgasm any set number of times a day, week, month or year. While it may be unpleasant to go without sexual release for long periods, the absence of another person in the equation doesn’t threaten a man’s very survival. Nonetheless, voicing this “male sexual need,” along with the common belief that prostitutes are dirty and impure, makes it easy for the johns to defend their actions. To them, prostitution is nothing more than a commodity exchange, and they’re simply behaving as any other consumer would. Their bottom line is: if they don’t purchase the service, the next man in line will, and the line is very, very long.

What’s particularly worrisome about these website postings is how little thought is given to the so-called prostitutes they engage with. Most of these women are victims, forced into the vicious sex trap long before they reach the age of consent. Girls as young as ten, eleven and twelve are routinely found in brothels and on the streets worldwide. But in the johns’ world, this means only that they’re probably free of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV and AIDS.

While the reasons for frequenting prostitutes may vary from one man to the next, one thing remains clear: the world of prostitution is laden with hypocrisy and double standards. The women are called “prostitutes,” “whores,” “hookers,” “sluts,” “harlots”—terms laced with opprobrium and distaste. The men who use them go by gentler names—“patrons,” “clients,” “johns”—making them sound refined by comparison. This wordsmithing is not without purpose—it makes it easier for men and society to objectify, commodify and then dismiss the victims. For most people, prostitutes are nameless faces, social pariahs unworthy of compassion or understanding. The men who use them, on the other hand, are either sowing their wild oats or just being guys. They can even be viewed as valuable members of society—stressed-out CEOs, for example, who may occasionally dabble in questionable sexual behavior. And as long as they don a condom, who gets hurt?

Today, the hunt for cheap, easy prey has been made significantly easier because the prowlers know exactly where to click. Without a doubt, the internet has turned the already blistering global sex market into a red-hot inferno. Even a cursory scan of adult sex sites shows that the net has become the biggest whorehouse on the planet. Every day, hundreds of sites entice men around the world into virtual brothels where women and girls are bought and sold—sometimes even auctioned off—like livestock. The sites are high gloss, in your face and hard sell, telling buyers exactly what they’ll get for their money. The merchandise is tempestuously arranged, with photos of leggy blondes and sultry-eyed redheads. There’s something for everyone—virgins, brides, sex tours, online escort services, live interactive sex shows.

Name the permutation and it will be delivered. All it takes is the click of a mouse.

Men and their mice were clicking heatedly on one particular site in early March 2002. The Ukrainian Exotic Escort Agency in Odessa was taking its cue from eBay and holding an auction. But this was no ordinary auction. The commodity was a nineteen-year-old virgin. The offering included a full package tour: visa, airfare and twenty-four hours with the girl. The bids opened at $1500, and by the end of the month they had a winner. On March 28 the outcome was posted: “Our congratulation to Mr. D____ from France! $3000 for Ukrainian virgin Diana.” The unknown factor was whether Diana had been trafficked and coerced or if she was doing this of her own free will. After all, why would a nineteen-year-old virgin want to give herself to a complete stranger? Judging from the electrified hum on various adult websites, no one seemed the least bit concerned about the girl’s situation. The lustful miscreants in the chat rooms thought only of what she looked like and whether she’d be worth it.

While the international flesh trade has flourished for decades, the internet is the match that has set the sex market ablaze. Recognizing the net’s potency, in no time porn kings, pimps and traffickers were online promoting their products and services. Indeed, many observers believe that the net is singularly responsible for the incredible explosion in the trafficking of women and girls worldwide.

STANDING OUTSIDE A BROTHEL on a garbage-strewn side street near the old bus station in Tel Aviv, Lev lights up a cigarette. It’s the middle of the afternoon and business is slow. I approach and strike up a conversation.

“Can I take a look?” I asked.

“Sure. I give you a special price,” he said as he pulled back the faded red curtain dangling from the doorway.

Sitting on a couch were four young women. All looked drawn and unenthusiastic. The women were in various forms of undress. Not one was older than twenty-two.

“Where are they from?” I asked.

“Russia.”

“They’re all from Russia?”

“Russia, Ukraine, Moldova… what’s the difference?” “What’s her name?” I asked, pointing to a slender, dark-haired, dark-eyed girl who looked about seventeen.

“Natasha. She is my favorite. She will not disappoint you.” “Let me think about it for a moment.”

“No pressure. No pressure,” Lev said with a smirk.

I looked over at his desk and noticed a computer. Beside it was a scanner and an ink-jet color printer.

“I see you’ve gone high tech,” I said.

“Pentium 3. Very fast. I have my own website,” Lev boasted. “Come, I will show you.”

Lev opened Netscape, clicked Favorites on the tool bar menu and scrolled down to his personal setting. In a few moments his website popped up, displaying individual photographs of his girls—all lying naked on a cheesy cheetah-skin carpet. Not one smiled or offered up an inviting gaze. Looking into their faces, I could tell they were embarrassed.

“Do you get a lot of hits?”

“Every day. Dozens and dozens. Business has tripled with the internet. Customers see what I have to offer. They know the girl they will get and what she will do. I have had many visitors from America, Canada, Britain, Europe and some from Japan. They all found me on the internet. So what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Have you made up your mind?”

“Yeah. I’m not interested.”

As I turned and left, I could hear Lev muttering what I figured were a few choice epithets in Hebrew. Walking toward my hotel, I wondered how those young women felt knowing online lechers far and wide were ogling their photographs. I also thought about Lev’s comment: that the internet has tripled his business, and that men were flying in specifically to use his girls.

SCORES OF WEBSITES offer sex-craving men advice on where to get the most for their hard-earned dollar, and certainly one of the most popular online forums is the World Sex Guide. Its mission, it boasts, is simple: “Finding women and getting laid. If you feel offended by stuff like this, I don’t care.” Visitors and contributors to this site take questions about buying sex very seriously. The discussion board contains thousands of first-hand reports from every country in the world. “If you want to know where the action is in your town or at your next travel destination, this is where you get the answers,” the site declares. “Knowledge is power, and reading up on the local scene before you get there lets you hit the ground running while avoiding the traps. Benefit from the observations of your fellow adventurers, and be sure to post your own experiences.”

The World Sex Guide is a wellspring of information on every prostitution-related topic under the sun. Testimonials from satisfied customers, warnings from disillusioned johns and advice on how to procure the best hookers in more than a hundred countries around the globe pour forth. Every day, legions of men, hungry for sex, swarm onto this and other similar sites in their quest for flesh.

One online user, going by the name Travel Sexman, asked for tips on where he could get the most bang for his buck: “Which city has the best sex that’s worth spending my euros— Frankfurt or Prague or Amsterdam?” Less than an hour later, he had a reply. “Amsterdam has the best classical red-light district with girls in the windows, but is just there for tourists. Prague is good, but not as cheap as you would think.” The conclusion: “All in all Frankfurt is the best.”

The postings even offer up travel directions: “If you go to Frankfurt and rent a car and head to Atlantis in Altenstadt or Oase in Burgholzhausen you will find 40 to 60 completely naked women in a very clean and pleasant atmosphere,” the Frankfurt booster wrote.

A typical exchange begins with a question about a city, like this one from an American man traveling to Norway: “I will be in Helsinki for business at the end of the month. What’s the action?” The rapid reply: “If you want to do ‘Russia Lite’ Helsinki is a good starting point. Prices are higher than in some parts of FSU [former Soviet Union] but in my experience $150 gets you a very attractive girl for the night.”

A Canadian asked for advice on where to go during a stopover in Turkey: “Hi, I will have a summer layover of a day or two in Istanbul on my way to Ukraine. Any suggestions on where to go for some quick nookie? Eastern European quality would be ideal. Thanks!”

A couple of keystrokes later, he too had a response. “Istanbul is a heaven for Ukrainian girls. And you’re not limited to them at all. There are also Romanian, Russian, Bulgarian, Moldavian,” a clearly satisfied visitor wrote. “If you go to Seranda in Istanbul you’ll find loads of former USSR wenches and you can simply take them to the hotel right next door. It’s not a rip-off either.”

The sex industry has been a prime catalyst behind many of the major advances in computer technology since the net’s inception, including privacy services, secure payment schemes and online database management. Pimps and pornographers have provided the impetus and cash for computer techno-wizards to come up with faster ways of delivering salacious products to an ever-expanding clientele.

Before the advent of the internet, a businessman traveling to Turkey would have been hard-pressed to find up-to-date reviews of Istanbul’s escorts or hookers in the various underground sex magazines, much less get directions to actual sites and tips on which brothels provide the best and safest service. Now, with sites like the World Sex Guide, a stopover in this Byzantine metropolis can turn into an orgasmic yet cost-effective sexual smorgasbord.

The message boards are also chock-full of testosterone-laden bravado. Tinman from Wisconsin, for example, couldn’t wait to tell his cybersex brothers about his recent sex tour to the Czech Republic:

In pornographic detail, the Tinman went on about how he completely satisfied her with his male prowess. It was the most amazing time he ever had, he concluded, and through it all he never put on a condom.

One frequent contributor to the World Sex Guide is Cossem, a “senior member” of the discussion board who passes himself off as a lover of women and a connoisseur of sex. Cossem’s topic of choice: hookers in the Holy Land. He points out that 98 percent of the prostitutes in Israel are Russian, but he doesn’t differentiate between Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovan or Romanian. He also never reveals that many of them have been trafficked. After all, why spoil a fantasy with a chilling bucket of reality?

In a January 2003 posting, Cossem compared the local women with the Russians:

Cossem’s claim to fame is authoring the Tel Aviv Sex Report, a review of “the best health clubs (whorehouses) or Machonim in Hebrew.” In it, he cites the Banana Club and

Club 101, where the going rate is 230 NIS (new Israeli shekels) for a half-hour. He gives the exchange rate: $1 US for 4.85 NIS. “So 230 will be about $47 US.” He also recommends escort agencies “for much better value” and even posts the names of his favorite “hot girls.” In one of his breathless reports, he writes about “a magnificent session” with what he calls “a perfect 10 in all aspects. Her name is Alina and she is a Russian import. She is tall, long blond natural hair, magnificent perfect body, beautiful eyes and face, nice boobs, erect and firm, also natural, plus a very friendly nature. Her performance was magnificent.” He details his entire half-hour of pleasure before they “both collapsed on the bed sweating profusely even though the room was air conditioned,” adding that he was 100 percent certain the woman’s moans and groans were “all genuine.” Cossem describes Alina as “really special.” So special in fact that he posted the phone number of the agency and a website address showing her in the nude. “If anyone on this board is over this side of the world you should try her as you won’t be sorry. I only hope she doesn’t get over worked and ruined as this girl is a very rare gem and needs to be handled with care and respect.”

Almost from the net’s beginnings, sex tours to scores of countries around the globe have been a staple on adult websites. The operators make their money peddling packages lathered with promises of sexual nirvana. Typically, the tour sites don’t offer sex outright but the advertising copy hints at what the escorts will do. They note that their girls are “open minded” and that they provide “full service” or the “girlfriend experience.” The promises are interlaced with steamy catalogs of scantily clad women. Their physical attributes are prominent, along with lists of the sex acts that can be expected and details on the cost of the tour, airline tickets, hotel reservations and visa requirements.

The most popular tour destinations these days are the countries featuring women and girls from the former Soviet Union. The internet is teeming with sites promoting sex clubs, brothels, massage parlors and escort agencies in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, New York and Toronto. These sites also offer “romance” or “introduction” tours to St. Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk, Kyiv and Odessa. One of the more popular sex-tour agencies in Odessa declares, “We care about the needs of all our clients and want to make your staying here most enjoyable. We also pay attention to the health of our girls. Each girl passes through a full medical examination and analyses every week.” The agency claims to put its girls through numerous “tests and erotic contests” to make them “really worthy” of the men they will service. The tour package includes being met at the airport, a room booked at a “fashionable” hotel, a driver, security, sightseeing excursions, restaurant reservations, visits to Russian bathhouses “and any other entertainment you wish.” According to the site, “The main goal of our agency is to care about your comfort and need. You will not be bored with our girls.”

The sex tours are flourishing for all sorts of reasons. Foremost, they give men a sense of freedom. By traveling to a foreign land for sex, they feel at liberty to do things they may never dare otherwise, whether because of community norms, family ties or, more to the point, criminal sanctions. The featured attraction for many of these men is the prospect of bedding a young girl, preferably a beautiful teenager. They know that if they were ever to try that at home, they’d find themselves behind bars. At home, no always means no. But when johns sign up for a tour, they know the girls are desperate and trained to please. In fact, the tour companies often guarantee their clients no regrets. The Odessa agency, for example, goes out of its way to suggest that its girls are up to the task: “Slavonic women have always been remarkable for their obedience and willingness to fulfill any wish. Time, spent with our girl, will stay in your mind and you will often remember it with satisfaction and pleasure.”

For men who want more than just a one-night stand, the internet has also spawned a new generation of mail-order brides. Agencies and websites are marketing women from the former Soviet Union and developing countries as desirable mates for Western men. The sites are bursting with cookie-cutter bios and snapshots of attractive, fresh-faced, smiling women. The typical scenario involves male clients selecting up to a dozen women to “interview.” Once they make their selection, the agents promptly arrange a seven- or fourteen-day tour to the woman’s homeland. Judging from the price tag and the tour descriptions, marriage is the last thing on the minds of most of these men. The package offered, more often than not, is nothing more than a sex vacation extravaganza. And email-order brides aren’t just the latest trend; they’re a growing, multi-million-dollar business. The net is now the marketing tool of choice for so-called marriage agents worldwide, offering a faster and more cost-effective means to rotate the inventory and reach potential clients.

One site extols the attributes of Slavic brides, noting that Russian women “are much more patient” and tolerant than their Western counterparts. According to the site, “They are more considerate and dependable. They are partners, not competitors.” It goes on to say that Russian women “have very low self-esteem,” and that “while Western women think that they are goddesses and able to cope with anything on their own, a Russian woman will rarely leave a bad (really bad) husband because of the fear that she won’t find another one. For many years the state and men have been oppressing them, and they don’t think much about themselves.” The offering concludes that Russian women are “well groomed, stylish and intelligent” and that “they are rarely overweight—probably, because of permanent stress and food that is expensive.”

Russian women are particularly popular, as are women and girls from neighboring countries like Ukraine. The Russian International Marriage Agency, for example, marks itself out as having “the best girls and women” from the former Soviet Union. The agency’s site begins by painting a tempting picture of romantic and family bliss: “Gentlemen, do you have dreams of a loving touch? Of a beautiful firm body in your bed? Of a happy child’s laughter?” The last comment is particularly offensive. In the world of sex trafficking, it’s a code—a signal to pedophiles that the offerings include girls. If the “gentleman” answers yes to the question, he’s told, “You’ve found the right place!” And “Your dream can come true in a few minutes.” The whole thing sounds pretty romantic until the reader gets to the part about the naked pictures: “Our ladies will not hide anything,” the agency proclaims. “You will see them as they are—in the nude. Most of them have sets of photos. You will see everything you want to see. You won’t ever be disappointed. We promise you won’t be sorry.”

These sites are simply fronts for buying and selling women. The first telltale clue is the erotic photographs. Surely a man in search of a wife would never make his selection from a nude catalog posted to the web! Furthermore, these agencies are not only issuing an invitation to sex; they’re opening the door for women to be purchased and sold, not as potential wives but as virtual slaves. The agencies don’t conduct any checks, nor do they screen any of the men who want to join. The only requirement is monetary: if the client pays the membership fee, he’s in. This is not to say that some of these sites aren’t legitimate. Some are. A lot of women do get marriage proposals and some end up with a husband who treats them right. But there are far too many tragic accounts of women being duped by men who offer them marriage only to traffic them into prostitution or turn them into their slaves in a far-off foreign land.

For those men who want excitement without the risk of travel or disease, the internet offers the ideal compromise: live interactive sex shows, or peep shows with a twist. Thanks to the latest in real-time communications and video-conferencing— yet more technologies developed by computer companies expressly for the porn industry—a voyeur in Miami can slip into a brothel in Minsk, order up a woman, sit back, undress and tell her how to move and how loud to moan. All from behind the shield of his computer terminal, a continent away! He watches her, but remains out of sight. The only thing she hears is his disembodied voice. Separated by thousands of kilometers, but connected through the net, they engage in a perverse game of Simon Says.

Bruce Taylor of the U.S. National Law Center for Children and Families considers these interactive sex shows as an extension of the trafficking problem. He notes that although law enforcement officials have long known that women and girls are forced into prostitution against their will, “now there is a new twist. The act can be sold around the world on the internet.” According to Taylor, “People can get so selective that they can now see a particular type of woman doing a type of act.” The problem, he stressed, is that over time, this will increase the demand for real sex slaves.

PORING OVER POSTINGS on the World Sex Guide, you find that most of the men sharing their steamy tales of their purchased conquest aren’t the least bit interested in the dignity and rights of the women themselves. Post a comment about whether the women they use might have been forced into the trade and these lusty exploiters become downright incensed. Consider the debate sparked by Arab Man Observing when he pointed out that many of the so-called foreign prostitutes in the United Arab Emirates are nothing more than slaves. He wrote:

He went on to describe how many of the women get trapped and what happens to them once they arrive in the UAE. “Those girls don’t know anybody in the country, they don’t have money to buy an airplane ticket back home, they don’t trust their embassies to help them and they are scared to go to the police because the pimp manipulates them into believing that the police will arrest them and throw them in jail.” What’s worse, he noted, is that many of their families think they’re working abroad for a respectable firm and saving money.

Then came the replies. One of the sharpest was from Fenster:

A similar tempest erupted when a man called Hunter recounted his trip to the Czech Republic: “I took a little trip to Dubi/Teblice in June. The two villages are close by and the easiest way to find them is to drive towards Dresden from Prague on motorway E-55. Dubi is closest to the German border and is full of bars with dancing girls, some very good looking, not many over 25, price range is about 50 DM for half an hour.” The account droned on and on.

Hunter’s review prompted a scathing reprimand from Anonymous: “Do you assholes know how many of those girls in that particular location are basically sex slaves who have been kidnapped from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.? What if that was your sister being forced to [service] 10 to 20 assholes like you a day?”

Hunter fired back. “What can I say, it’s a dirty business, if you don’t like to read about it I suggest you skip this site. I have a hard time seeing you changing anything by whining at the posters.”

Coming to Hunter’s defense, another online regular crowed: “These chicks are poor and I’m helping feed their family.”

His assessment prompted a stinging rebuke from a woman who happened to be checking out the forum:

Then the self-named Wild Man bounded into the debate:

This is distorted logic at its worst. If these men truly wanted to help a destitute woman, they would give her a hand up without demanding sex in return. Playing the charity card is the absolute height of hypocrisy. The actions of these global sex prowlers are directly responsible for the explosion in the trafficking of women and girls. Their insatiable demands have led to the kidnapping, forcible confinement and repeated rapes of millions of young women. And they cannot absolve themselves by saying they didn’t know. Not bothering to investigate whether the women they’re using have been forced into the flesh trade is akin to a murderous soldier saying “I was only following orders.” And if they prowl the internet in search of sexual gratification, chances are they’ll eventually trip onto a message posted by someone with a conscience, like Arab Man Observing. Then they will have no excuse.