I WENT UNDERCOVER IN THE WORLD OF SYRIAN WHOREHOUSES - PART 1
TEXT BY VICE STAFF
PHOTOS BY FALKO SIEWERT
While I was in Damascus last summer, my friends from the Serbian Embassy took me to a brothel. It looked like a regular nightclub. It was well lit, music blared, and people hung out. I would not have thought: This is a place to buy sex. I got to talking with a group of Iraqi girls. I told them I was a “colleague from East Germany” on vacation. They were slathered with makeup and topped by massive, overstyled hair. They explained their situation to me: They fuck for 20 or 30 dollars. They are forbidden from leaving their shady hotels during the day—they aren’t allowed out until they are picked up for work at 8 PM. Then they go to the club and, until dawn, alternate between sitting around and having sex with Syrian strangers. This is what their day is like, every day.
 As we were talking, the club’s manager entered the room and clapped his hands. This was the signal for all the girls to get onto the dance floor. I followed them. It felt like the right thing to do. The girls didn’t really know how to do pole dances, so I hopped on to give it a shot. It was my first time on one, but I had been drinking and they kept on cheering, so I really let loose. Afterward, the manager approached me and asked me whether I would work at his club. He said he could see I had fun doing what I was doing and he liked that, and his clients liked that.
I wanted to see what I was worth in Damascus, so I agreed to meet his boss the next day. He wore a suit and had an air-conditioned, windowless office in a building on the other side of town. After offering me tea, he told me my strengths and weaknesses. He said that I was a bit old, but I wasn’t too insulted, because many prostitutes in Syria are 12 to 14 years old. He suggested that I would be suitable for “rich and demanding Saudis with elevated desires.” It was sort of awful, but I was flattered that he said I was “not for a Syrian who is only looking for an extramarital fuck.” The boss said he would offer me at an hourly rate of $400. The club manager asked, somewhat heatedly, for a 15 percent commission.
TO BE CONTINUED:
I WENT UNDERCOVER IN THE WORLD OF
SYRIAN WHOREHOUSES | 1 | 2 |
 Anonymous, on Aug 13, 2009 wrote:
the mothers keep their garb on so they are not beat silly by their husbands | | Anonymous, on Jul 24, 2009 wrote:
i had no idea this was going on in syria. i can’t believe these mothers are still wearing hijab. when youre selling your daughter’s body, there’s really no reason to pretend like youre religious. | | Anonymous, on Jul 23, 2009 wrote:
The text of this article has been changed, and the original comments questioning the article’s veracity have been erased. The original version mentioned Palestinian camps immediately north of Damascus, of which there are none. The camps near Damascus are south of the city; none of the camps are in Damascus, contrary to the current version. Given that Vice continues to screw up that detail, I’m convinced that the author (I don’t recall whether the original version was written by "Vice Staff," but I seem to recall that it wasn’t) is fabricating much of this story. | |
| Dilettante, on Jul 23, 2009 wrote:
Human trafficking is a huge issue here in the US, I witnessed it first hand in Greensboro where mothers and daughters were brought there from overseas and promised "jobs" that turned out more like indentured servitude and prostitution and there was one of these spas on every block downtown and yet most people who lived there ignored their existence even after many were exposed by law enforcement and mysteriously never shut down. Child prostitution is an international problem | | Anonymous, on Jun 14, 2009 wrote:
yes, I saw this happening in Saudi Arabia. The Embassy of the Phillipines kept a special rest area to house the poor wretches who managed to run away from their employers before they were allowed to leave the country. | | Anonymous, on Nov 26, 2008 wrote:
I do not live in a JT Leroy novel and I do not read novels. I am living in the Real World. Go to Innocence Lost on the internet and read about the ongoing FBI investigation by that name. Then tell me how common truckstop prostitution is. The girl which I wrote about earlier is a real mess from her experiences. | | Anonymous, on Nov 26, 2008 wrote:
Unless you live in a JT Leroy novel, truckstop child-prostitution is nowhere near as common as you think. | | Anonymous, on Nov 26, 2008 wrote:
To anonymous who is happy to live in the USA you had better take another look. Everyday girls as young as 12 or 13 are being sold in truckstops, gambling casinos and highway rest areas by their own parents to support their own drug or gambling habits. I know because I used to live next door to a very beautiful young girl that her mother was selling for these reasons. The girl in question is now a 20 year old with very low self esteem and many mental issues due to the abuse she endured. This is a horrible story but what makes it even more horrible is that it is 100 percent true. | | Anonymous, on Nov 25, 2008 wrote:
very little part of sociatiy do this thing in syria
that true
you can trust whit me | | Anonymous, on Nov 24, 2008 wrote:
Sad and cruel reality.
| | Anonymous, on Nov 23, 2008 wrote:
it’s stories such as this that make me happy to live in the USA... | | Anonymous, on Oct 22, 2008 wrote:
i need to see | | Anonymous, on Jun 23, 2008 wrote:
I KNOW THIS JOURNALIST AND I HAVE BEEN TO SYRIA IT IS ALL TRUE AND GETS MUCH WORSE EVERY DAY. MANY CHILDREN HAVE BEEN SOLD TO THE GULF STATES AS WHATSOEVER SLAVES. ONLY THE LUCKY REFUGEE KIDS MAKE IT WITH THEIR PARENTS TO SYRIA. ONLY THE LUCKY ONES GET MONEY. THE SOLD GULF-KIDS ARE ABUSED FOR FREE PLUS THEY HAVE TO WORK IN THE HOUSE BEFORE BEING FUCKED IN THE NIGHT.
THIS IS NEITHER ISLAMIC NOR TRADITIONAL, IT IS JUST A FUCKED UP SOCIETY. | | |
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