EU-Ukraine relations
Yulia Tymoshenko
Euro crisis
Verkhovna Rada
Chornobyl
Georgiy Gongadze
Libel law
Oct. 28 parliamentary election
Ukrainian vs. Russian language
Rising sex tourism unwelcome
Aug. 6, 2008, 8:04 p.m. | Ukraine — by Mark Rachkevych
Good-looking women can be a country's greatest attraction. But they can also bring unwelcome attention. This seems to be the case in Ukraine, which is becoming a prime European destination for sex tourists.
Eight skimpily clad female college students held placards reading “Ukraine is Not a Bordello” in many languages on Kyiv’s Independence Square on July 30. They were protesting the advent of increasingly more sex tourists coming to the country.
The 50person, awarenessraising show – complete with male ballet dancers acting as pimps in flashy suits – caught the public’s eye and brought the issue to the forefront.
“This is insulting to us [women] and it harms the country’s image since we’re increasingly becoming a country of destination for tourists whose sole purpose is to have sex with our women,” said Anna Hutsol, the leader of FEMEN, a looseknit women’s movement of mostly female students who organized the provocative demonstration.
“We take this issue very seriously. We are pushing for legislation to forbid sex tourists from entering the country. We are sick of men looking at us like pieces of meat,” Hutsol added.
Nongovernmental organizations like FEMEN are not the only ones who have noticed the new sex tourism boom. Government officials, public relations professionals and those in the entertainment industry are also starting to say something needs to be done to counteract the trend and Ukraine’s image as a haven for sex tourists.
“Ukraine has a competitive advantage, simply put, our women are the best in the world,” said Vasyl Myroshnychenko, a partner at CFC, a strategic communications, government relations and investment consulting firm. “What Ukraine needs to do [to improve its image tainted by corruption, sex tourism and other problems] is to conduct a positive image campaign with systemic, consistent and coordinated support from the top.”
Hutsol says Ukrainian women are already equated with prostitutes abroad – an image that adds headaches to women seeking visas and facing embarassing interviews with foreign embassies.
Some observers attribute the increase of sex tourists to the government’s visa regime relaxation in 2005.
“There’s a definite correlation between the new visafree regime and visitors to my club, as is true in other places in Kyiv such as, Arena and Avalon,” said Ray McRobbie, director of entertainment and marketing at River Palace, whose night club is reputed for shortterm matchmaking.
It is virtually impossible to track the statistics of socalled “sexpats” traveling to Ukraine, however.
“The growing amount of sex tourists entering Ukraine has not escaped us, but it is very difficult to measure their numbers,” said Andriy Shenin, an expert at the state tourism administration.
In 2007, 23 million foreigners visited Ukraine, according to the administration, up 22 percent over 2006. The vast majority of foreigners came mainly from former Soviet republics. However, the greatest rise in the numbers was from the European Union and other nonCIS nations. That category showed a 96 per cent rise, or 725,000 more visitors.
Police told Korrespondent, the Kyiv Post’s Russianlanguage sister publication, that some 12,000 prostitutes operate in Ukraine's $700 million sex industry. The figure is comparable to the annual profits of RosUkrEnergo, a Swissregistered intermediary company that supplies Ukraine with gas, but pales in comparison with Thailand’s multibillion dollar sex industry. The Interior Ministry’s press service said this number is “very high” for Ukraine where prostitution is prohibited under law.
Hutsol said police figures heavily underestimate the situation. Low student stipends and the capital’s high prices are pushing more young women into prostitution, she added.
“Most women I spoke with are ashamed and do this out of poverty but some also do it out of material desire,” Hutsol added.
A 45year German businessman who runs a sex tourist web portal says there are too few wellpaying jobs for universityeducated women. “They see luxury cars and houses and they want it now so they either compete for sugar daddies or willingly sell themselves,” he said.
One example he gave was about a smart, openminded recent graduate who works for an insurance company, but who also services VIP clients at a rate of $2,000 per month. He calls it the “I want everything and I want it now” mentality of young women from 19 to 22 years of age. Prices for their services start from $20 for oral sex and can run up to $5,000 per hour for VIP clients, but usually fall in the $100$300 range.
The German portal owner said Ukraine’s proximity to Europe and its relatively inexpensive prices makes it a good destination for sexseeking enthusiasts. His site contains 32 subdirectories for Kyiv alone billed as “everything you need for a pleasure weekend."
"The girls here are tall and slim, and getting them into bed is easy. Moreover they are fun to party with,” he said.
The party can be booked online. A twoday sex tour advertised and priced on www.kievtour.com runs $1,250$1,600, depending on the type of girl and her Englishspeaking skills. The site offers confidentiality and discreet billing, private cottages outside of Kyiv or apartments in the capital, roundtrip transport to Boryspil airport and discounts for longer stays.
Lack of moral values is also cited as a factor driving Ukraine's sex business. Barely legal girls released from staterun orphanages and boarding homes are especially atrisk, said Iryna Konchenkova, head of the international nonprofit School of Equal Opportunities. Her organization combats child labor, child pornography and trafficking.
“Morals are not instilled at the stateoperated orphanages. When I speak to the older girls at these institutions, all they talk about are cigarettes, cars and so on without realizing how much they cost or how much they have to work to purchase them,” Konchenkova said.
This materialist approach leads them to prostitution as the fast track to acquiring the things they want, Konchenkova said pointing to street children and rural residents as two other atrisk groups because of their low educational levels and lack of parental guidance.
Hutsol is concerned that the Euro2012 Soccer Championship will bring an influx of male sexpat tourists.
“We are developing an action plan leading to the 2012 cup. We are a fastgrowing organization with a strong network and so we’ll build on this to hang social billboards on city life which will feature photo sessions with famous people, and partner with other organizations doing similar things to build a strong coalition,” Hutsol added.
The 50person, awarenessraising show – complete with male ballet dancers acting as pimps in flashy suits – caught the public’s eye and brought the issue to the forefront.
“This is insulting to us [women] and it harms the country’s image since we’re increasingly becoming a country of destination for tourists whose sole purpose is to have sex with our women,” said Anna Hutsol, the leader of FEMEN, a looseknit women’s movement of mostly female students who organized the provocative demonstration.
“We take this issue very seriously. We are pushing for legislation to forbid sex tourists from entering the country. We are sick of men looking at us like pieces of meat,” Hutsol added.
Nongovernmental organizations like FEMEN are not the only ones who have noticed the new sex tourism boom. Government officials, public relations professionals and those in the entertainment industry are also starting to say something needs to be done to counteract the trend and Ukraine’s image as a haven for sex tourists.
“Ukraine has a competitive advantage, simply put, our women are the best in the world,” said Vasyl Myroshnychenko, a partner at CFC, a strategic communications, government relations and investment consulting firm. “What Ukraine needs to do [to improve its image tainted by corruption, sex tourism and other problems] is to conduct a positive image campaign with systemic, consistent and coordinated support from the top.”
Hutsol says Ukrainian women are already equated with prostitutes abroad – an image that adds headaches to women seeking visas and facing embarassing interviews with foreign embassies.
Some observers attribute the increase of sex tourists to the government’s visa regime relaxation in 2005.
“There’s a definite correlation between the new visafree regime and visitors to my club, as is true in other places in Kyiv such as, Arena and Avalon,” said Ray McRobbie, director of entertainment and marketing at River Palace, whose night club is reputed for shortterm matchmaking.
It is virtually impossible to track the statistics of socalled “sexpats” traveling to Ukraine, however.
“The growing amount of sex tourists entering Ukraine has not escaped us, but it is very difficult to measure their numbers,” said Andriy Shenin, an expert at the state tourism administration.
In 2007, 23 million foreigners visited Ukraine, according to the administration, up 22 percent over 2006. The vast majority of foreigners came mainly from former Soviet republics. However, the greatest rise in the numbers was from the European Union and other nonCIS nations. That category showed a 96 per cent rise, or 725,000 more visitors.
Police told Korrespondent, the Kyiv Post’s Russianlanguage sister publication, that some 12,000 prostitutes operate in Ukraine's $700 million sex industry. The figure is comparable to the annual profits of RosUkrEnergo, a Swissregistered intermediary company that supplies Ukraine with gas, but pales in comparison with Thailand’s multibillion dollar sex industry. The Interior Ministry’s press service said this number is “very high” for Ukraine where prostitution is prohibited under law.
Hutsol said police figures heavily underestimate the situation. Low student stipends and the capital’s high prices are pushing more young women into prostitution, she added.
“Most women I spoke with are ashamed and do this out of poverty but some also do it out of material desire,” Hutsol added.
A 45year German businessman who runs a sex tourist web portal says there are too few wellpaying jobs for universityeducated women. “They see luxury cars and houses and they want it now so they either compete for sugar daddies or willingly sell themselves,” he said.
One example he gave was about a smart, openminded recent graduate who works for an insurance company, but who also services VIP clients at a rate of $2,000 per month. He calls it the “I want everything and I want it now” mentality of young women from 19 to 22 years of age. Prices for their services start from $20 for oral sex and can run up to $5,000 per hour for VIP clients, but usually fall in the $100$300 range.
The German portal owner said Ukraine’s proximity to Europe and its relatively inexpensive prices makes it a good destination for sexseeking enthusiasts. His site contains 32 subdirectories for Kyiv alone billed as “everything you need for a pleasure weekend."
"The girls here are tall and slim, and getting them into bed is easy. Moreover they are fun to party with,” he said.
The party can be booked online. A twoday sex tour advertised and priced on www.kievtour.com runs $1,250$1,600, depending on the type of girl and her Englishspeaking skills. The site offers confidentiality and discreet billing, private cottages outside of Kyiv or apartments in the capital, roundtrip transport to Boryspil airport and discounts for longer stays.
Lack of moral values is also cited as a factor driving Ukraine's sex business. Barely legal girls released from staterun orphanages and boarding homes are especially atrisk, said Iryna Konchenkova, head of the international nonprofit School of Equal Opportunities. Her organization combats child labor, child pornography and trafficking.
“Morals are not instilled at the stateoperated orphanages. When I speak to the older girls at these institutions, all they talk about are cigarettes, cars and so on without realizing how much they cost or how much they have to work to purchase them,” Konchenkova said.
This materialist approach leads them to prostitution as the fast track to acquiring the things they want, Konchenkova said pointing to street children and rural residents as two other atrisk groups because of their low educational levels and lack of parental guidance.
Hutsol is concerned that the Euro2012 Soccer Championship will bring an influx of male sexpat tourists.
“We are developing an action plan leading to the 2012 cup. We are a fastgrowing organization with a strong network and so we’ll build on this to hang social billboards on city life which will feature photo sessions with famous people, and partner with other organizations doing similar things to build a strong coalition,” Hutsol added.
READ MORE IN SECTION
-
-
Kyiv Post discusses Ukraine-EU relations with experts (part 1)
-
-
Analysts say events in Kyiv on May 18 had negative impact on position of authorities
-
Russia's consul general to Simferopol resigns over remarks on Crimean Tatars
-
Russian Gas Society: Gazprom will have to lower gas price for Ukraine
-
-
The Cabinet of Ministers will allocate Hr 684 million to construct and renovate regional objects
-
Yanukovych: Ukraine to use Euro 2012 experience and worthily prepare for EuroBasket 2015
Advertising link
- •Yacht Charter Turkey – Luxury Yacht Charter in Turkey
- •Trips to China – One of best China Tour Operator
- •Leatherelement.com – Wholesale Handbags
- •Latest music hits – listing
- •Bitbonfire – book reviews
- •Academi – listing
- • DinoDirect.com – listing
- •MyCustomWriting.com – Custom writing service
- •Directory listing – listing
- •Сhina wholesale – the world's leading B2B online trading marketplace for China wholesale products
- •Sports news – by expert handicappers at BangTheBook!
- •China Products – global market
Web links to Kyiv Post material are allowed provided that they contain a URL hyperlink to the www.kyivpost.com material and a maximum 500-character extract of the story. Otherwise, all materials contained on this site are protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced without the prior written permission of Public Media at news@kyivpost.com
All information of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency placed on this web site is designed for internal use only. Its reproduction or distribution in any form is prohibited without a written permission of Interfax-Ukraine.
These women are victims of their own circumstances adevertising On dating Sites for older men and publishing photos from a Studio 3 yrs ago.,and in real life they are dreadful.They scam men unshamedly.A decent man makes the journey from Texas to Kharkov a 36 hr trip only to find that the girl of his dreams has a live in lover and she brings him along to a swish Restaurant accepts a piece of Jewelry from the man worth $2000 then she tells him she doesnt want him.After 48 hrs the man makes the journey home distressed to the point of suicide.Or try the "RusHotel" in Kiev where the girls display themselves with the managers permission and releives men of up to $800 a time.Both stories are true.
Only 2 yrs ago the President was aproached on the subject only to say his people had to survive somehow.I can go as far as to say Ukraine houses the worst devious,cunning,scheming women in the world.Really what other purpose would a man have to visit Ukraine.
Ukraine women are NOT the worst in the world, if you are a gentleman you will find the lady of your dreams, BUT not in the sex industry.
A true GENTLEMAN would not be looking at the street ladies if he was a TRUE GENTEMAN believe me
Anyway, it's racist to go to Ukraine with such intentions. Prositutes can be obtained far less expensively in, for example, India where standard of living is much lower. What value does Ukraine offer in this equation - simply that the women are white? Racist!
That is my experience also - and you don't have to settle for just one either.
The so-called "guest" who wrote this drivel is an absolute idiot with a brain the size of a pea. His mindless comments shows clearly that he hates women. I will bet the house that he is some over-weight, balding, aging "decent" fool who went to Ukraine to find a young wife only to be ridiculed and laughed at ... and deservedly so.
Get a life. Why would a man visit Ukraine, you ask. Decent men visit Ukraine to see the beauty of an amazing nation. Garbage goes to Ukraine to abuse its women and girls. If you can't see the difference, then you're an idiot.
So don't blame Ukraine and its women for your failure and inability to establish a relationship. Look in the mirror and point the figure of blame at your reflection!
The current visa regime makes it easy for Ukrainians who are citizens of other countries to return to visit their family who remained in Ukraine. The problem is foreign men who got this idea of Ukrainian women that we will be their sex slaves. The easiest thing to do is let only ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians into the country. Don't allow single men who arent ethnic Ukrainian/Russian into the country.
My God! That's insane. The problem is a domestic authority that doesn't enforce legislation designed to protect its own citizens, and a civil society that's all but collapsed. Don't shut the borders -- clean up the corruption. If the statistics haven't changed in the last several years, 70% of those who pimp Ukrainian women are WOMEN.
So let me see if I understand this: I visit Ukraine several times a year for research into a book of WWII campaigns. The people in charge at the museum in Kiev treat me like a long lost brother. I have no interest in traveling to Ukraine on a sex tour and I am neither Ukrainian nor Russian.
I am however single.
Are you really saying I should be barred from entry based on the fact that I'm single ?
So all the "happily married" men who travel to Ukraine for a week-end of paid fun with some girl young enough to be their grand-daughter are ok but I should be barred from entry ???
You might want to reconsider your criteria. In any case, I'm still young enough to get my fun locally - I don't need to travel 2000 miles for a leg over.
Few western Europeans or Americans are really ugly pigs, but the majority is smart and invest lot of money in Ukraine. The exploitation of women is everywhere in the world and it is perhaps a discover for Ukraine. I hate this sex industry but it's worst in Russia, only for Moscow there is an estimation of 100.000 prostitutes, and 20% of them are Ukrainian coming through relatives or agencies. Don't forget, 300.000 ukrainian women are abroad exploited in sex industry !
It would be better to fight against this agencies or this modern slave exploitation in and out of Ukraine than to blame foreigners.
I find it hard to believe that not once does this article pinpoint the perpetrators of prostitution in Ukraine. Don't blame the foreigners; blame the locals. Ukrainian women are sold around the world like cattle not by foreigners but by Ukrainians. Ukrainian brothers, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts -- they are the ones selling their sisters and mothers into prostitution. I have never met a more despicable and overly opportunistic group of people -- Ukrainians really need their head examined. If FEMEN really wants to do something, try protesting every night in front of the River Palace. See what happens! You'll get your heads bashed in by Ukrainian thugs -- not foreigners.
absolutely CORRECT!
The US-controlled orange whores turned the rest of the Ukraine into alike.
The prostitution have strong connection with the country's economy health and social foundations. Obviously the orange-led Ukraine have neither.
always blame the Johns for what these girls do voluntarily.. they don't have to do anything they don't want to .. GREED is driving their decisions.. not the MEN..
How is it that 99.9% of women refuse to sell their bodies for any price no matter what country they live in?. Do the small minority who can't keep their cloths on when they see money need sympathy or a kick in the pants?.. who makes the choice to engage in prostitution? Is money that powerful that these women cannot see right from wrong? If money couldn't convince a women to engage in prostitution then the sex industry would stop cold.. who's choice is it? Every hooker should look in the mirror...
Just a thought, but probably NOT a good idea to point out where sex tours can be booked online. If the article is serious about curbing prostitution and sex tours in Ukraine, then its probably best NOT to give links to sites where such tours can be booked.
Maybe I'm wrong, in which case, apologies.
It would be a great help if prostitution in Ukraine would be made legal.
If women or girls older than 18, want to earn money pleasing men, and they do this out of their own free wil, then there is nothing bad or imoral about this.
It is a service like any other and a good paying one too.
Why would girls who have the body and the mind to do it, work in dull offices for a tyrant boss and for a bit of money, when they can make so many men happy, be treated as princesses and earn a decent amount of money?
When I'm in Germany and visit the FKK-clubs, it is full of Rumenian and Ukrainian girls, who drive mercedesses, look beautifull and gorgeous and they seem very happy.
Why shouldn't this be possible in Ukraine?
I'm repeating the sentiments of other commentators here, but isn't it a bit ironic to run a story of this nature and then display adverts for dating agencies on the same page, or at least elsehwere on the website?
I think its great the Ukraine has sex tourism, the more girls that come into the industry the better for us Westerners (EU Citizens). I havent been to the Ukraine cause I am holding off spending till the crisis wanes a bit. Its always handy having that golden EU Passport. Thank god I was born in the West (EU). Man I love Soviet girls