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TOPIC: sex worker

Society

Russian Sex Workers — Invisible Victims Of The War In Ukraine

With increased aggression from clients, police repression and a sudden decrease in their livelihoods, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is impacting this already-vulnerable group of women.

MOSCOW — “When you are sitting in a prison cell wearing only a thong, you’ll sign anything to get out."

As the war with Ukraine rages on, this is the reality for Russian sex workers: Their lives include increasingly aggressive clients, and police taking advantage of them.

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Since the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the number of sex industry clients has also declined, which many drafted to fight, while others have fled Russia.

One autumn day in 2022, Kristina (whose name has been changed at her request) was in the middle shift at a brothel. She did not want to reveal the city in which she works, or what her specific place of work looks like. But, knowing what we know about the Russian industry, brothels are typically located in a three-story detached house, apartment or basement.

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Brother Boys, The Real Lives Of Hong Kong's Male Sex Workers

Hong Kong only decriminalized homosexuality in 1991, but there had long been an underground LGBTQ+ culture, including male sex workers. They have learned to survive in difficult conditions, but their experiences are far from how they're portrayed in films.

HONG KONG — David's working place is in an old Cantonese style building from the sixties, with a massage bed placed right in the center. There is a TV and a sofa, with walls painted his favorite shade of white. The room is bright and cozy – unlike how certain films would portray the working environment of sex workers.

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David entered this profession 20 years ago "as an act of impulse". Now nearly 70 years old, he speaks of his job with a smile on his face. His clients ranges from 18-year-olds who call him "uncle/daddy", to elderly people in their nineties who still have sexual needs to be fulfilled.

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Confessions Of A Modern Male Prostitute

Ralf Winkes has tried his hand at a number of different careers: waiter, taxi driver, stock broker. But the 44-year-old German may have finally found his calling...

KREFELD-HÜLS - To his friends, 44-year-old Ralf Winkes is a hero — a guy who gets paid to do what millions of men pay to receive. He is, yes, a male prostitute.

While he originally trained as a baker — past jobs include waiter, housepainter, floor layer, taxi driver — he’s also sold stocks over the phone, manicured nails and butchered lambs and pigs.

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