You don’t have to look hard to find these foreign “hostess” girls in the “high-dollar” Asian markets.  They are in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and perhaps other places where I have not yet traveled.  I am a well-traveled American, and I have seen prostitution in all forms, just about everywhere on the planet. I neither condemn nor applaud “sex-work”, and, as a lustful guy, I don’t deny having partaken of it.  A victimless crime?  Yes, I used to believe that.  Now, I am not so sure. I am on a new business assignment.  I’ve been here (I won’t say where) for over 6 months now.  I had noticed quite a few “Russian” girls around the first place that I stayed.  They were from many of the former Soviet Republics.  A few were “very Caucasian”, and were from the Ukraine and Russia.  Most of the girls that I met were very “exotic” looking to my American eyes, having the most beautiful blend of Middle Eastern and Asian features.  These girls are from places like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Unlikely bar girls, these innocent angels from the East.  Most were raised repressively as good little Muslim girls.  Now, they smoke, they drink, and they must endure the unwanted advances of many men, young and old, clean and dirty, gentle and unkind. These girls were tricked into signing contracts in their homeland.  Now, they live in a nether-world of sexual bondage. They agreed to, and signed, “contracts”, that range from 6 months to 9 months, on average.  They work in hostess bars, selling “juice drinks”, and talking to patrons. Every club is different, but some rules are universal:  If you are a man with enough money, you can pay the “bar-fine” to mama-san or to papa-san, and pay the girl her fee, and she is yours for an hour, a night, a weekend, whatever you can afford. I met a girl from Uzbekistan.  Her name means “flower” in her language.  I met another girl that I got to know very well, her name means “honey” in Kyrgyzstan. Both girls worked for one thing - - to send money home to their parents and to their siblings, so their family can eat every day.  Noble young lasses, or very sad?  Yes.  Both. And, whom do they work for?  Ah, that gets interesting.  Mama san and papa san are usually native to the local area.  Their “manager” is often a shady ex-Russian type that I think of as being ex-KGB or “Russian Mafia”.  The girls earn a “salary” that their managers thoughtfully “keep safely” for the girls.  The girls are promised a paid return ticket home when their contract is finished. The girls usually set their own fees for intimate time with a man.  Some have the good sense to bank that money, or to mail their earnings directly home.  Others are tricked into giving their extra earnings to their managers for “safe keeping” and “investment”.  Many girls never see any of their money. Every girl has a different story, a different set of circumstances. I have met some of these “Russian” girls that have a good basic education, even complete with a year or two of University.  Others can barely read in their own language, and are not too quick with the most basic of arithmetic.  The girls run the gamut of intelligence and language skills. There is more, which is so unique from one girl to the next.  This “hostess girl” life style seems to change these girls. Many of them were naive and innocent, and then they were thrust into something that they don't enjoy nor fully understand.  Even the more "sexually experienced" girls (typically from the Ukraine, or Russia, or from the Philippines), seem to develop an odd attitude about men, and they all seem to suffer from low self-esteem.  But, they put on their false-smiles for their clients, and they learn the “game”.  They learn quickly that men can be “used”.  They learn that men, especially foreign men with high-paying jobs, are good sources of money, gifts, and the basic needs of life. I can’t imagine that any of these girls will easily re-assimilate into their society when their period of servitude ends.  Certainly not these Muslim girls.  Back home, they will be forbade to drink, or to smoke, or to “date” without a bother or their father tagging along. I feel sorry for all of these girls, of every race, color, and culture.  I feel sorry for any girl that is tricked into this kind of servitude.  But, in all honesty, I especially feel sorry for these Muslim girls, raised in often-repressive societies.  In their world, if they marry, it is their custom that they are expected to be “good girls” and to be virgins on their wedding night.  It is a custom in some of these Muslim cultures, that the new husband will call upon his mother-in-law the day after the wedding (and, presumptively, after the bride is deflowered…) He is to then thank his mother-in-law for doing such a good job of raising a chaste girl.  To the more liberal of us, this is scarcely believable, yet it is a fact of their culture.  Many of these girls feel, in their hearts, that they have accepted a short tour of prostitution as a sacrifice for their families.  Many girls falsely believe that they will get rich from their work.  What the Muslim girls also know for certain is that when they go back home, that they will be outcasts, and that they will probably not be able to ever marry within their own culture.
You have to wonder, do the “companies”, the “managers”, and the “clubs” care at all about what they are doing to these girls?
Each club seems to have different living standards and working conditions for its girls.  And, every girl is treated differently by her mama-san.  Some girls are well taken care of, are well-fed, and receive monthly medical checks.  Some girls are relatively neglected, or worse.  One very young girl that I met was naturally small and thin.  She was quite “model-like” when she first came to this area.  The combination of regular meals and the extra hormones from the birth control injections had a stunning, and predictable affect on her young frame.  She filled out, and became more womanly and curvaceous looking.  Mama-san decided that the girl should stay petite, and the girl was restricted to just one meal each day. Most girls are perpetually sad, living a life that begins at about 4:00pm each afternoon, and may end at about 3:00am each morning.  They endure the risk of ruining their bodies with tobacco, alcohol, and restricted diets.  They are sad inside, yet they learn the tricks of the trade, and they smile genuinely at every new customer.  They learn the “greeting-routine”, asking in broken-English, “how are you, where are you from, what is your name, please sit down, would you like a drink, would you please buy me a drink? In one case, I actually saw “The Book” that the girls memorized all of the standard questions, answers, and phrases from.  What a deal.  Great working conditions, and a free education. But, what if the girls learn that this life is not so glamorous?   And, what if they try to run, to break free of this indentured servitude of the tawdry sort? Their managers hold their passports and their work visas.  The girls are convinced that if they run, they will be arrested.  I don’t know, they may be right.  Others fear that if they run, that agents of the recruiting company back in their homeland will do harm to their families. Some clients have the opportunity, as I did, to “buy” the girl’s contract and to set her free. It was relatively expensive, but I was repaid a thousand times over when this gentle 21-year-old girl cried her goodbyes to me.  Sad tears, saying goodbye to me.  Happy tears, knowing that she was finally free to go home.  I saw her last when she got on the airplane, later to connect with another flight for her home in Kyrgyzstan.  Home, to rejoin her family, to see her papa, that she sorely missed.  Papa hasn’t got a clue what his baby girl has been doing. Maybe it is better that he does not know.

Judge Dred

These prostitution rings (In American and other countries) is exactly why prostitution should be legalized all over the world.

1. Russia is not the only place where this is happening. This kind of exploitation is happening all over Europe. About a year or so ago they (American cops) busted a "Mexican Prostitution Ring" in Texas. The Mexican girls were led to believe that they would be housekeepers and babysitters in America. Once they got here these women were kept in a rundown motel with no running water, heat or air conditioning (the toilets didn't even flush). They slept on mattresses on the floor with no sheets or blankets, about 10 to a room. They serviced their clients(up to 20+ a day per girl) in a common room for $20 each, $2 of which the girls got to keep. The girls had no protection (condoms) and when they got pregnant they were sent home in shame. They were illegal aliens, what were they going to do, call the cops? That ring was busted, but I'm sure there are dozens more like it all over America with illegal aliens of all races.

2. Prostitution is the Muslim countries "dirty little secret". A man "marries" a prostitute for a night, and then divorces her in the morning. This way he can have his fun and still adhere to his moral and religious beliefs. The prostitutes are paid about .50 cents (American), but most of the time they are just beaten and not paid. I'm not saying that ALL Muslims frequent prostitutes, but to imply that there is no prostitution in Muslim countries is a joke. (The Taliban [devout Muslims] also grow and supply heroin to America, their biggest cash crop. A lot of the people there are heroin addicts - yet another dirty little secret - I had to throw that in there)

3. You are blaming the "shady types" for exploiting these girls. How about blaming the "GOVERNMENTS" in those countries that cant get it together enough to feed their own people and provide them with legal employment? If these ladies could actually find jobs as maids and babysitter's I'm sure they would. How do you think they get "tricked" into prostitution in the first place? They are looking for REAL WORK as maids and au pairs and are willing to move to another City or Country to get it. These women "ARE" sad and desperate (and poor and hungry), and the men who exploit them know this. These men trick these women into prostitution and then keep all of their money...no wonder these women have an "odd view of men".

Don't get is twisted; "shady types" aren't the only people responsible for getting young girls into prostitution. Prostitution is also a "choice" that parents make for their daughters in many countries. In India it is common for fathers to SELL their 13-year-old daughters to brothels for money to feed their families. It's a pretty hard to resist when your choice is: A). Work 18 hours a day (if you can find work) and make $20 (American) to feed your family for a MONTH, or B). Sell your daughter for $800 (American) which will feed your family for year. Just like you said, the daughters are told that this is the ultimate sacrifice for the family. Asian countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, etc) are also notorious for this type of thing. Prostitution is a matter of survival in some countries, and has been big business in Russia ever since the fall of communism.

4. The very same thing is happening on our own streets. Some slick guy comes along and gives a girl some drugs, and eventually "turns her out" onto the streets all over America every day. When we see our own women (of all races) on the streets we judge them because they are "on drugs" or they should "Get a job", and perhaps they should. The "Street Girls" in America have Pimps and Johns who beat them, rob them, etc. The "Green River Killer" killed over 35 prostitutes...never heard of him? Of course not, a serial killer who goes around killing "prostitutes" barely makes the paper/news. If he had killed Co-eds or Nuns you would have heard about it, but nobody cares what happens to prostitutes on our very own streets. We drive right past them, mumbling about how "they should do something about that". We don't even ask ourselves how they got there, who's daugher is she?...we don't even see them as human. But why is it that a once innocent 15 year old American girl who got "turned out" is so much worse than when some slime ball made a "chaste and saintly" Muslim or Russian woman drink and smoke...Turning these girls out is SAD and WRONG on any continent.

I feel sorry for the women ("girls") who are tricked into prostitution no matter what country they are in/from. NONE of these girls (Russian, Muslim, Asian or American) can leave - their "pimps" would hurt them very badly or even kill them if the tried. At least in America the "independents" get into this business by choice. Prostitution should be legalized all over America (and the world). The good thing is that the prostitution ring scams in other countries has been exposed and a lot more foreign women aren't falling for it. These men can exploit women because it "IS" illegal, the women cant go to the police for help. If prostitution were LEGAL then these shady men (agencies, clubs, whatever you want to call them) wouldn't be able to trick these women into sexual slavery and/or exploit them.

I couldn't agree more. The laws need to be changed so that escorts can be protected under the law just as all other workers can be. This reminds me of the immigrant farm worker situation (but I view this situation as worse). Farm workers being imported illegally to work in fields (or sweat shops, or as domestic servants or whatever...) and being exploited because they will get punished under the law if they came forward to report the abusive situations they are in. Beyond that, they may also be unaware of what legal rights (if any) they have and they likely have more fear of the "organizations" they are working for than of the police or immigration authorities anyway.

As a society, we must stop punishing people that are trying to make a living for themselves and their families. The legalization of "the oldest profession" would make things safer for the providers, the customers, would free up LE to go after real criminals and would save untold millions of dollars in court and jail processing of these folks. Not only that, the proper taxation of the trade would make a tidy profit for communities that embrace it too!

It's time to take the lead as Americans and do the right thing. It's amazing how much effort we as a country are willing put into changing things in other parts of the world "for the better" (translate to: "for our advantage") and how little effort we are willing to put into the enaction of progressive laws that would produce tremendous positive change for our own society.

And so it goes...

-Satori-

I don't know if you are a real judge, but in my humble judgement, if you really did buy that girl's contract and send her home, you have a heart as big as the whole planet!!!!!  BRAVO!!!