Although prostitution can be contained to a specific place or zone, the violence present in sex trafficking is the main cause of death for the people working. The violence shown in sex trafficking is displayed with anything from weapons, to rape, to suicide. Prostitution has a huge impact on violence, leading the main causes of death for sex workers to be drug abuse, physical violence and suicide. Many of the workers are affected by violence due to the client they are working with, but the clients are also affected by violence due to the process of prostitution which could even result in PTSD. Writers have been researching the violence associated with prostitution due to the high risks of physical and emotional violence, including deaths, that sex working has. Violence is in the nature of the sex industry.
In the Nevsky Prospect, violence seen within the client is very present. During this time, going to the zones where prostitution was allowed in St Petersburg was very harming to some people, like Piskarev. Pikarev was amazed by the beauty of the so called “young beautiful woman” and decides to follow her. The young beautiful woman was a prostitute, and when he was brought to where the women stand on the streets to sell themselves, he was extremely disturbed by the sight of all the ignorant woman. He approached one beautiful woman, which had resulted in rejection. Piskarev shortly after cannot void the sickened feeling brought by the sex trafficking scene, and decides to slit his neck open in order to kill himself. This is a common ending to clients lives in stories based on prostitution, it shows the power and intensity the sex working industry has on not only the workers themselves, but also the people that become involved. Another example of violence created by a prostitute in the Nevsky Prospect was the relationship between Pirogov, his wife, and Piskarov. Pirogov was beaten by two men sent by Piskarov prior to him coming home and finding his wife with Pirogov. The process of hiring two men to beat Pirogov was an example of how jealously from client to client can be more harmful than the actual process of prostitution. The role of violence impacts not only how the worker views commercial sex, but also how clients become involved in the dangers brought by the industry.
Along with the Nevsky Prospect, prostitutes have been seen as ‘Paradoxical’ figures in Russian literature, according to UA researcher, and our professor, Colleen Lucey. She uses observations from famous writers and the common belief that women prostitutes sacrificed in order to contain male desire. Dostoevsky writes about a situation where a prostitute is forced to sell herself in St Petersburg due to the lack of support from her family. The role violence plays in sex trafficking affects the standards of society and how we relate to the industry in St Petersburg. Throughout the history of Prostitution, the image of a prostitute is formed by male poets in French culture. This is a huge influence on how the dangers of prostitution are viewed. Novelists believe prostitutes are living in “splendor and misery”.
Most writings regarding prostitution in St Petersburg express the glamor of prostitution, and generally the stories end in misery or savior. Boule de Suif, a short story from Guy de Maupassant, is an example of French writing that results in self-sacrifice. The prostitute heroine is pressured by peers into giving service to a Prussian officer representing the occupying forces of France, and rises from her working-class to infect the upper class with her desire for sex. In the end result, she is still seen as an outcast. The drive and desire for sex that prostitutes have, gives them room to move from a lower class to the higher ones. Although this can be seen as a savior for themselves, but generally results in an unhappy life style for the prostitute.
Maupassant also conveyed the natural aspect of danger in selected trafficking zones, like St Petersburg. “Then a profound calm, a shuddering, silent dread, settled on the city. Many a round-paunched citizen, emasculated by years devoted to business, anxiously awaited the conquerors, trembling lest his roasting-jacks or kitchen knives should be looked upon as weapons”, Maupassant adds to explain the fear and darkness that comes with the night life in these zones. Many of the places that were made for legal prostitution can seem completely safe during the day, but at night the scene completely changes regarding to the sex traffickers working at dusk. These zones generally attract violence because of the atmosphere of sex trafficking.
The way women prostitutes are written about all relate to the idea of the “fallen woman”. Prostitution through literature seems to base around violence, and the idea of praising a better life for the prostitute. Generally, the stories result in some type of intense death with the client of the prostitute, or someone who is involved in the sex trafficking. The prostitute is always painted as a wrecked figure, generally unhappy with there lives leading to prostitution, regardless if they decided to work in the sex industry. Overall, the reasons that French and Russian literature focus on this idea of violence through sex trafficking is due to the high intensity and culture that prostitution has. (word count: 903)