Brothel. Brothels

Which, however, does not mean their absence. In a number of countries they have official status.

Brothels known in history for many centuries. In 1862, during excavations in Pompeii, an ancient Roman lupanarium (from the Latin. lupa- she-wolf, simple. bitch in meaning harlot). Later it was turned into a museum as part of the general museum complex Pompeii. The Pompeii Lupanarium was reopened to tourists after restoration in the summer of 2006.

Figurative sense

Words brothel And mess often used to mean "clutter" (e.g. "glove compartment" in everyday life it is often called a box in the cockpit passenger car, where it is customary to store all sorts of little things). In addition, all variants of the name are used when talking about a place that has become famous for corruption or moral decline.

Famous brothels

Works of art that deal with the theme of brothels

Literature

• “The Splendor and Poverty of Courtesans” (novel by O. de Balzac)
• “Resurrection” (novel by L. N. Tolstoy)
• “The Lady with the Camellias” (novel by A. Dumas (son))
• “Intergirl” (story by V. V. Kunin)
• “The Love Story of a Lonely Man” (novel by Ihara Saikaku)
• “The Kreutzer Sonata” (story by L. N. Tolstoy)
• “Dangerous neighbor” (poem by V. L. Pushkin)
• “Les Miserables” (novel by V. Hugo)
• “Pelagia and the Black Monk” (novel by Boris Akunin)
• “Crime and Punishment” (novel by F. M. Dostoevsky)
• "Plum Blossoms in a Golden Vase" (novel by the Lanling Mocker)
• “Black Obelisk” (novel by E. M. Remarque)
• “The Pit” (story by A. I. Kuprin)

Music

Classical music

• La Traviata (opera by Giuseppe Verdi)

Movie

• “Horny House of Horror” (dir. Yu. Tsugita)
• “The Splendor and Poverty of Courtesans” (dir. M. Kaznev)
• “Resurrection” (dir. M. A. Schweitzer)
• "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (dir. R. Altman)
• “Moulin Rouge” (dir. B. Luhrmann)
• “Birdcage Hotel” (dir. Kim Ki-duk)
• “Paprika” (dir. T. Brass)
• "Bad Guy" (dir. Kim Ki-duk)
• “Lovely Child” (dir. Louis Malle)
• “Crime and Punishment” (several film adaptations of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky)
• “Red Light District” (dir. K. Mizoguchi)
• “The Pit” (dir. S. N. Ilyinskaya)
• “Lola (film, 1981)” (dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
• “Sucker Punch” (dir. Zack Snyder)

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Notes

Literature

• Martynova E.I. The oldest profession. - Krasnoyarsk: Krasnoyarsk University Publishing House, 1992. - 192 p. - 50,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7470-0332-1.

see also

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Brothel

- What, barchuk, you are pushing, you see - everyone is standing. Why climb then!
“So everyone will climb in,” said the footman and, also starting to work with his elbows, he squeezed Petya into the stinking corner of the gate.
Petya wiped the sweat that covered his face with his hands and straightened his sweat-soaked collars, which he had arranged so well at home, like the big ones.
Petya felt that he had an unpresentable appearance, and was afraid that if he presented himself like that to the chamberlains, he would not be allowed to see the sovereign. But there was no way to recover and move to another place due to the cramped conditions. One of the passing generals was an acquaintance of the Rostovs. Petya wanted to ask for his help, but thought that it would be contrary to courage. When all the carriages had passed, the crowd surged and carried Petya out to the square, which was completely occupied by people. Not only in the area, but on the slopes, on the roofs, there were people everywhere. As soon as Petya found himself in the square, he clearly heard the sounds of bells and joyful folk talk filling the entire Kremlin.
At one time the square was more spacious, but suddenly all their heads opened, everything rushed forward somewhere else. Petya was squeezed so that he could not breathe, and everyone shouted: “Hurray! Hurray! hurray! Petya stood on tiptoes, pushed, pinched, but could not see anything except the people around him.
There was one thing on all faces general expression tenderness and delight. One merchant's wife, standing next to Petya, was sobbing, and tears flowed from her eyes.
- Father, angel, father! – she said, wiping away tears with her finger.
- Hooray! - they shouted from all sides. For a minute the crowd stood in one place; but then she rushed forward again.
Petya, not remembering himself, clenched his teeth and brutally rolled his eyes, rushed forward, working with his elbows and shouting “Hurray!”, as if he was ready to kill himself and everyone at that moment, but exactly the same brutal faces climbed from his sides with the same shouts of “Hurray!”
“So this is what a sovereign is! - thought Petya. “No, I can’t submit a petition to him myself, it’s too bold!” Despite this, he still desperately made his way forward, and from behind the backs of those in front he glimpsed an empty space with a passage covered with red cloth; but at that time the crowd wavered back (in front the police were pushing away those who were advancing too close to the procession; the sovereign was passing from the palace to the Assumption Cathedral), and Petya unexpectedly received such a blow to the side in the ribs and was so crushed that suddenly everything in his eyes became blurred and he lost consciousness. When he came to his senses, some kind of clergyman, with a bun of graying hair back, in a worn blue cassock, probably a sexton, held him under his arm with one hand, and with the other protected him from the pressing crowd.
- The youngster was run over! - said the sexton. - Well, that’s it!.. it’s easier... crushed, crushed!
The Emperor went to the Assumption Cathedral. The crowd smoothed out again, and the sexton led Petya, pale and not breathing, to the Tsar’s cannon. Several people took pity on Petya, and suddenly the whole crowd turned to him, and a stampede began around him. Those who stood closer served him, unbuttoned his frock coat, placed a gun on the dais and reproached someone - those who crushed him.
“You can crush him to death this way.” What is this! To do murder! “Look, cordial, he’s become white as a tablecloth,” said the voices.
Petya soon came to his senses, the color returned to his face, the pain went away, and for this temporary trouble he received a place on the cannon, from which he hoped to see the sovereign who was about to return. Petya no longer thought about submitting a petition. If only he could see him, he would consider himself happy!
During the service in the Assumption Cathedral - a combined prayer service on the occasion of the arrival of the sovereign and a prayer of thanks for the conclusion of peace with the Turks - the crowd spread out; Shouting sellers of kvass, gingerbread, and poppy seeds appeared, which Petya was especially keen on, and ordinary conversations could be heard. One merchant's wife showed her torn shawl and said how expensive it was bought; another said that nowadays all silk fabrics have become expensive. The sexton, Petya’s savior, was talking with the official about who and who was serving with the Reverend today. The sexton repeated the word soborne several times, which Petya did not understand. Two young tradesmen joked with the courtyard girls gnawing nuts. All these conversations, especially jokes with girls, which had a special attraction for Petya at his age, all these conversations did not interest Petya now; ou sat on his gun dais, still worried at the thought of the sovereign and his love for him. The coincidence of the feeling of pain and fear when he was squeezed with a feeling of delight further strengthened in him the awareness of the importance of this moment.
Suddenly, cannon shots were heard from the embankment (they were firing to commemorate peace with the Turks), and the crowd quickly rushed to the embankment to watch them shoot. Petya also wanted to run there, but the sexton, who had taken the little bark under his protection, did not let him in. The shots still continued when officers, generals, and chamberlains ran out of the Assumption Cathedral, then others came out not so hastily, the caps were taken off their heads again, and those who had run away to look at the cannons ran back. Finally, four more men in uniforms and ribbons emerged from the cathedral doors. "Hooray! Hooray! – the crowd shouted again.
- Which? Which? - Petya asked around him in a crying voice, but no one answered him; everyone was too carried away, and Petya, choosing one of these four faces, whom he could not clearly see because of the tears that had come into his eyes with joy, concentrated all his delight on him, although it was not the sovereign, shouted “Hurray! in a frantic voice and decided that tomorrow, no matter what it cost him, he would be a military man.

A brothel, a mess, a house of fuck; indecent house, den, lupanar, lupanarium, boarding house without ancient languages, fun house, den of debauchery, boarding house for girls without ancient languages, establishment, Chinese monastery, brothel, brothel, house under the red... ... Synonym dictionary

Brothel- PUBLIC, oh, oh; chen, chna. Dictionary Ozhegova. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Brothel- An establishment where prostitutes live and receive visitors. We came to a brothel. Zarubin, in the loud voice of a regular, began asking the tall, thin, crooked housekeeper: Is Lida healthy? What about Capa? (M. Gorky. Life unnecessary person) … Phrasebook Russian literary language

Brothel- A brothel, a mess, a house of fuck... Dictionary of the criminal and semi-criminal world

Brothel- Just kidding. 1. Jarg. stud. Dormitory. 2. Jarg. school School. Maksimov, 115 ... Big dictionary Russian sayings

BROTHEL- Former Leningradsky hostel state university(Moika river embankment, 104). Nowadays there are apartments for university staff... Petersburger's Dictionary

brothel- An establishment where prostitutes live and receive visitors... Dictionary of many expressions

WHOLE HOUSE OF EMPEROR NICHOLAS II- So at the beginning of the 20th century. called the People's House of Emperor Nicholas II in Alexander Park. IN Soviet time was converted into the Velikan cinema, which now houses the St. Petersburg Music Hall... Petersburger's Dictionary

Bloody brothel- Bloody brothel Bordello of Blood Genre Horror Film Comedy Director Gilbert Adler Producer Gilbert Adler Alexander Collette Dan Cracciolo Screenwriter William Gaines Bob Gale ... Wikipedia

dating house- Brothel... Dictionary of many expressions

Books

• Love joys of bohemians, V. Orion. Brothel, brothel, brothel - whatever it is called - this temple of corrupt women has always occupied a significant place in the history of morals. On the pages of the book, based on evidence... Buy for 500 rubles
• Yama, Kuprin A.I.. A brothel is a completely common phenomenon for Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Women end up here various reasons: someone was sold by their own mother, someone lost faith in God and the church, and...

IN modern world The phrase “house of brothel” is not often encountered. This is a term that was once very common throughout Europe and even in Tsarist Russia. But over time, the phrase has completely fallen out of use and is now found only in literature or feature films. So, what is a brothel?

Meaning of the term

If you carefully leaf through dictionaries, you can find a definition that sheds light on the phrase “house of brothel.” This term characterizes the place where women of easy virtue are found. They make a living by selling their own bodies, that is, prostitution.

House of Tolerance: synonyms

Over the entire history of the existence of the oldest profession, which is prostitution, quite a lot of synonyms have been invented for the names of establishments where women sell themselves. The most common and famous of them are the House of Tolerance. However, still in ancient world there were establishments with their own unusual names where men could spend free time with cheerful and beautiful girls.

A little history of the issue

It is unknown when women of easy virtue first appeared, but most likely they are an invariable attribute of the development of human civilization. After all, even in Egypt, Ancient Greece and in Mesopotamia, prostitution was a well-known occupation to which society was very tolerant. For many ancient civilizations, a brothel was an absolutely natural phenomenon, and even kings and emperors did not hesitate to use the services of corrupt women, who were often among the most educated people in the state.

For example, during the excavations of Pompeii, the ruins of a lupanarium were discovered - a brothel where the city's nobility met with beauties. It is worth noting that the name of the establishment comes from Latin word, which can be translated as “harlot.” It is known that the Romans greatly valued women who knew how to not only please men in bed, but also entertain them with conversation. Typically, such ladies were successful and financially wealthy, as they had one or two wealthy patrons. An interesting fact is that in Ancient Rome Absolutely any woman who declared this in a master's program could become a prostitute. She received special permission to operate and had to wear yellow clothes with red shoes. History knows of cases where even the wives of emperors worked at night as priestesses of love.

In the Middle Ages, the concept of a “cheap brothel” became more widespread, where girls who had no other way to earn a living worked for pennies. The priests actively tried to eliminate prostitution as a phenomenon and sought to completely cleanse the cities of harlots, but they failed to eradicate brothels. They especially flourished in the land of love - France.

French brothels

I would like to clarify that not so long ago the phrase “house of tolerance” appeared in Europe. Definition (though it has a slightly different sound with an identical semantic load) arose during the Great french revolution, when the worldview of society and its attitude to moral standards were actively changing. In the eighteenth century, due to revolutionary ideas The French decided that the country should have a more tolerant attitude towards priestesses of love. Therefore, their activities were legalized, and French residents were obliged at the legislative level to treat them with respect. Brothels were renamed houses of tolerance, which by its name alone characterized how the French should perceive corrupt women.

Houses of tolerance were very common in the land of love and romance; in the eighteenth century, priestesses of love earned fortunes for themselves by working for two or three years. After all, clients often paid them with jewelry looted from the houses of French aristocrats. Many ladies eventually retired and opened their own brothels, as similar establishments were often called in Europe.

What about Russia? How did we come up with the term “battery house”? It's pretty interesting story, deserving special attention. Let's remember her.

Before the war with Napoleon, Russia had its own term that characterized establishments with women lung behavior. They were usually called fornications, that is, places where fornication and debauchery took place. But the War of 1812 slightly changed the attitude of Russians towards such establishments.

It was the French who brought with them the concept of “house of tolerance,” but in Russia it changed a little and acquired a more understandable sound for our compatriots - a house of tolerance. This meant that what was happening outside the walls of the institution was condemned by society, but still took place. We can say that society turned a blind eye to the priestesses of love themselves and their work.

Russia: houses of tolerance

By the way, in Russia, before the 1917 revolution, prostitution was a legal occupation and even gave ladies some advantages and benefits. Of course, each priestess of love had to be officially registered; as confirmation, she received a certificate with a yellow cover. Without him, she could not get a job in any brothel. Thanks to these certificates, the police could easily track corrupt women, and they also had to regularly report to police stations. Medical care in brothels was placed at a very high level, because it was also mandatory for ladies working in brothels.

It is interesting that corrupt women in pre-revolutionary Russia they themselves could choose a brothel in any city. They could not be restricted in their movements. Although some other segments of the population were firmly tied to their places of residence. They could also freely come to places of hostilities and were not subject to the law on vagrancy.

It can be said that brothels at the beginning of the twentieth century were an integral part of Russian society, although talk about it in high society was not accepted. It was also prohibited this topic in the presence of ladies and young girls.

Priestesses of love in literature

The theme of prostitution and brothels was very often exploited by writers of different eras. For example, Honore de Balzac in his work “The Splendor and Poverty of Courtesans” spoke quite openly for his time about the fate of girls who sold their bodies.

L. N. Tolstoy did not ignore this fertile topic in his novel “Resurrection,” as well as A. I. Kuprin in his story “The Pit.” He wrote on the topic of prostitution to A. Dumas, V. Hugo and Boris Akunin. To this day, stories about fallen women are favorites of writers all over the world.

Cinematography about brothel houses

Writers and directors also could not ignore the theme of brothel houses and quite often use it in their work. One of the most interesting films this series was released seven years ago. Film under a telling name"House of Tolerance" is a creation French masters. The story falls into the category of "drama" and tells about the difficult fate of girls working in a brothel in a brothel. A whole series of events will unfold before the audience, which will reveal all the secrets of this closed world, where fun should always reign, and main violin rustling bills play.

It is worth noting that the film caused mixed assessment critics and was even nominated for participation in the Cannes Film Festival. Many viewers admitted that it touches the deepest strings of the soul and is extremely pleasant to watch.

Of course, the topic of brothel houses is extremely sensitive. And even in our enlightened age, when almost all prohibitions are erased, it is not customary to talk about this in society. And this can only mean one thing - the term, once introduced into use, turned out to be extremely correct. After all, society continues to tolerate what it does not want to admit and what it does not want to talk about out loud.

12 floors, 120 rooms and the same number of girls. All this can be found in the largest brothel in Europe.
The brothel is called "Pasha" and is located in Cologne (Germany). An average of 1,000 people pass through each day.

The brothel is very popular, but the owners do not spare money on advertising.

In a brothel you can get a tattoo with the establishment's logo. A man with such a tattoo can get free for life
use the services of girls. By the way, about 40 people have already agreed to this proposal.

Business relations between brothel owners and prostitutes are based on a simple scheme - the girl pays for the room
160-180 euros per day and she decides when she goes to work and what price to set for her services.
Entrance to “Pasha” costs 5 euros.

German brothels have always been famous for their professionalism, practicality and high level hygiene. “Pasha” is no exception,
therefore, many fathers bring their sons here so that they can learn the basics of sex from professional prostitutes.

An hour of love costs no less than 150 euros, but German democracy works here too - you can stop by for half an hour.

For those who want everything at once, but do not have enough finances, group orgies are organized weekly.
Four girls work from 11 am to 7 pm. For 100 euros you can try all four.

Girls are ready to fulfill any man's whims. “Pasha” has several sadomasochistic rooms, as well as one “dark room”.
For just 20 euros, a girl will satisfy a man through a hole in the wall.

Clients are a diverse group of people. Old people and young people, poor and rich, smart and stupid come here. Girls treat everyone
with respect - these are primarily men.

The busiest hours are from 8 pm to 5 am. Therefore, prestigious men often drop into the establishment for lunch and at the same time
have fun with a girl, relieve stress, so to speak.

Ivan Kramskoy (1837–1887). "Unknown" (1883). This painting, which often adorned the lid of chocolate candies during Soviet times, depicts a prostitute, or rather a camellia - the highest rank of free-spirited women. Camellias gave themselves up to rich lovers to support them. It happened that a considerable fortune of their admirers passed to them. The canvas shows that the left seat in the stroller is free - this was a sign “I’m looking for a partner-sponsor”; decent ladies never rode like that: the seat next to it was intended for the husband or servant.

In one of his essays about Blok (1880–1921), Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) cites a prostitute’s story, recorded by him, about a funny episode that happened to the poet in one of the rooms of a dating house on Karavannaya Street in St. Petersburg.

One day in the fall, very late and, you know, slush, fog […] on the corner of Italianskaya, a decently dressed, handsome man, a very proud face, invited me, I even thought: a foreigner […] They came, I asked for tea; he called, but the servant didn’t come, then he himself went into the corridor, and I, you know, was tired, cold and fell asleep sitting on the sofa. Then I suddenly woke up and saw him sitting next to me […] “Oh, excuse me, I said, I’ll undress now.” And he smiled politely and answered: “No, don’t worry.” He moved to the sofa with me, sat me on his lap and said, stroking my hair: “Well, take another nap!” And - imagine! - I fell asleep again - scandal! I understand, of course, that this is not good, but I can’t! He rocks me so gently, and it’s so comfortable with him, I’ll open my eyes, smile, and he’ll smile. It seems that I was even completely asleep when he shook me carefully and said: “Well, goodbye, I have to go.” And he puts twenty-five rubles on the table. “Listen, I say, how can this be?” Of course, I was very embarrassed, I apologize [...] And he laughed quietly, shook my hand and even kissed me.

Fornication for free

In our opinion, this story very accurately conveys one of the features of Russian culture - its certain asexuality, in comparison with the civilization of the West. Here too the young lady did not show herself as a woman. And they pay her for it, they pay not a woman, but a person - a suffering person without gender. Agree that in France or Germany such an episode was hardly possible. One of the manifestations of this feature of our value system was the long absence of brothels in Russia. Unlike Europe, we have not inherited an ancient sexual culture, the principles of which could successfully compete with Christian ones ethical standards: before early XVIII centuries in Russia, church courts still tried cases of “sexual crimes.” Thus, according to church norms, during intercourse only the missionary position was allowed, when the man was on top. The “woman on top” pose was punishable by repentance from three to ten years. The man-from-behind position was called bestial fornication and could be punishable by excommunication.

Until the middle of the 17th century, we have no evidence of the presence of brothels in Muscovy. No, of course there was debauchery in the sense of extramarital affairs, and it is condemned in Domostroy, but one has to speak very carefully about corrupt debauchery. Of course, a number of secret brothels existed in taverns. However, carnal love here was usually limited to rough, drunken copulation in the backyard. There is no need to talk about any eroticism similar, for example, to the eroticism of the Renaissance.

Nicolaus Knüpfer, 1603–1660. "Scene in a Brothel" (1630s). Russia did not know anything like this until the 19th century, but then it was possible to hire a blank prostitute in most restaurants and cafes major cities. In the essay “Kwisisan” (1910), publicist Yuri Angarov described one of them this way: “An ugly sight! Here and there a mass of colorful fabrics, boas, jackets, ribbons, and huge hats dazzles the eye. The cynicism of poses, gestures, conversations defies description […] They kiss, hug, press women’s breasts...”

From tavern to brothel

We only know for sure about the presence of prostitutes in Russia from the moment the state begins to fight them. In 1649, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1629–1676) issued a decree instructing patrolmen to ensure that there were “no whores on the streets and alleys.” From the decree of Peter II (1715–1730) in 1728, we know that there were already secret brothels in St. Petersburg. However, we do not know how different they were from the old taverns. The first aristocratic brothel is described in a 1753 case brought against the owner of a secret brothel - a certain German woman from Dresden who settled in St. Petersburg. The employees of the establishment were foreigners.

However, these and subsequent attempts by the state to fight prostitution were not particularly successful, and the authorities changed tactics. Now the task was to bring prostitution under state control, primarily in order to stop the spread of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. These efforts culminated in the publication of a decree in 1843 legalizing prostitution. From that moment on, the police began to issue permits for the opening of legal brothels under medical government control. The “golden age” of Russian prostitution began, which lasted until 1917 and, of course, influenced the formation of Russian sexual culture, but never managed to help it go beyond the boundaries of teenage romanticism.

In Russia there were two main categories of prostitutes: ticketed and blank. These included priestesses of love registered with the police. The first lived in brothels and were required to undergo a rather humiliating medical examination twice a week to detect sexually transmitted diseases. They did not have passports: they had to leave it with the police, receiving instead a “yellow ticket” - the only document identifying them and confirming the right to practice their profession. It was not allowed to exchange it again for a passport. “Free-riding” prostitutes were punished with fines.

The origin of the name “yellow ticket” is not entirely clear. The paper was white, but probably of poor quality and quickly turned yellow. Another version recalls the decree of Paul I (1754–1801), which ordered all prostitutes to wear yellow dresses. True, due to the death of the emperor, the decree was not executed.

Formal prostitutes differed from ticket prostitutes by the presence of a rented apartment and relative freedom of movement under the control of pimps, who replaced the girls as brothel owners. The identity card it issued - a “blank” - was similar to a “yellow ticket”, but allowed its holders to look for clients on city streets and to appear for a medical examination only once a week. According to the 1889 census, 1,216 brothels in Russia offered their services, housing 7,840 prostitutes. There were more blank ones - 9763. In total - 17603 supervised girls of easy virtue.

The same “yellow ticket”. “And ancient beliefs waft/Her elastic silks/And a hat with mourning feathers/And a narrow hand in rings...” (A. Blok. “The Stranger”). The artist Yuri Annenkov (1889–1974) writes in his memoirs: “The students knew Blok’s “Stranger” by heart […] Two girls from the same housewife from Podyacheskaya Street, Sonya and Laika, dressed as sisters, wandered along Nevsky, attaching black ostrich hats to their hats. feathers. “We are a couple of Strangers,” they smiled, “you can get an electric dream in reality. You won’t regret it, cute little mustachioed one (or pretty little shaven one, or a cucumber with a beard)....””

Brothel fears

The ranks of women in the free profession were replenished mainly from two sources - the peasantry (47% of total number prostitutes) and philistinism (36%). The latter in the past were, as a rule, maids, seamstresses, dressmakers, and sometimes factory workers. Most of them ended up in love houses while looking for work. Special agents tracked them down and, colorfully depicting the carefree living conditions of free women, turned those who trusted them into living goods. However, according to statistics, the total number of those recruited into brothels was insignificant compared to total number peasant and bourgeois women who found a more respectable way to earn a living. This question makes us think about the psychological characteristics of women who dedicated their lives to serving Priapus.

Based on observations of pre-revolutionary and modern psychologists, first of all, Yuri Antonyan, with a certain degree of probability we can say that one of the basic feelings of a woman who decides to become a prostitute is anxiety, which is mainly formed from the complete lack of emotional contacts with parents in early age. The anxiety of prostitutes has two properties, which are often intertwined - fear of material need and fear of not being liked by men. As a result, they are susceptible to bouts of depression, accompanied by feelings of inferiority and the perception of themselves as dependent, insignificant and even insignificant.

Wherein spiritual world prostitutes are very poor - they do not read or go to the theater (we are talking about the 19th century), their personality remains immature, which is sometimes mistaken for childish spontaneity. For this reason, the desire of girls of easy virtue to find a lasting social status often focuses solely on the desire to lead beautiful life freely managing money. In the 19th century, spiritual food for prostitutes was replaced by “romances” with regulars of their chambers or with one of the servants, and perhaps with one of the friends in the establishment. After all, they were locked up almost all the time: the “yellow ticket” ban was in effect, depriving them of the right to freely go into the city. However, all these attachments were fleeting: a year the prostitute changed two or three brothels. This was the rule for the entire network of brothels: the client should not have a feeling of satiety with its workers.

But basic anxiety is only one of the factors that sends a woman to the panel. The second is sexual indifference. It, as a rule, is formed in a child who early understood what sexual love is. And I must say that in many peasant families the parents' sexual relations were not hidden. So if the father and mother were overly expressive or rough in their sex life, the child was at risk.

Third and most important factor, according to Antonyan, is desomatization, depersonalization of one’s own body, natural feature character type. A desomatized person subconsciously feels his flesh as something alien, isolated from his own Self, which can be freely manipulated. This is precisely what explains the amazingly careless attitude of prostitutes towards sexually transmitted diseases, the possibility of being beaten and even killed. All this is perceived as a cost of their craft.

I hope everyone understands that the majority of women with the psychological characteristics described above do not become prostitutes; for this there must be some accompanying factor that sends them to the panel: need, disappointment in life, etc.

Van Gogh Vincent (Van Gogh) "Whorehouse" (1888)

Sonechka Marmeladova - 50 kopecks

Brothels were divided into three categories. In the first hour of lovemaking cost from 3 to 5 rubles. Night - from 10 to 25 rubles. In houses of the second category - 1–2 and 2–5 rubles, respectively. Students, officials, junior officers and people of liberal professions came here. Third-class dens were the cheapest and were intended for factory workers and general workers: 30–50 kopecks were left here for an hour, 1–2 rubles for a night.

The silver ruble of the 19th century is approximately equal in purchasing power to a modern thousand. Oddly enough, today's prices for call prostitutes, whose status can be compared with the inhabitants of brothels, almost coincide with the prices of a hundred years ago.

The working day in brothels began at five o'clock in the evening. Everyone started preening: whitewash, rouge, antimony... All this was generously applied to the face, often turning the girl into a nesting doll - the village idea of ​​beauty was reflected - “what is red is beautiful.” Some had tattoos on their forearms: a heart with an arrow, doves, the initials of lovers or mistresses. Tattoos were also applied to intimate parts bodies, but their appearance, according to the doctors who examined the inmates of the brothel, was “shamelessly cynical.”

IN major cities brothel owners sought to locate their establishments near the center, so that potential clients could easily reach them and not be intercepted by street prostitutes. But not in the very center, so as not to be an eyesore to the authorities. In the provinces, on the contrary, red light districts were moved to the outskirts.

Madame, the owner of the house, greeted visiting clients. The visitor was taken to the hall where he could choose the young lady he liked. Usually they expected him topless. IN expensive houses they undressed completely. The vast majority of brothels were small - 3-5 young ladies, in large cities - 7-10. The life of the brothel itself was not too long - 5–10 years. Although there were older ones, they were few.

Moscow. House on the corner of Plotnikov Lane. His bas-reliefs depict Russian writers attracted by priestesses of love. But if in relation to Pushkin (1799–1837) the plot looks quite natural, then how Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) and Gogol (1809–1852) got here is a mystery. Both were high and sincere moralists. Thus, the hero of Tolstoy’s “Kreutzer Sonata” (1889) recalls his visit to a brothel: “I remember that immediately, there, without leaving the room, I felt sad, sad, so that I wanted to cry, cry about the death of my innocence, about forever ruined attitude towards women. Yes, sir, the natural, simple attitude towards women was ruined forever. Since then I haven’t had and couldn’t have a pure relationship with a woman. I have become what is called a fornicator."

Oh, this is not an easy job...

The class of the brothel depended on the level of service: the number of ladies “in the juice” (from 18 to 22 years old), the presence of “exotics” (“Georgian princesses”, “marquises of the times” Louis XIV", "Turkish women", etc.), as well as sexual delights. Of course, the furniture, women’s outfits, wines and snacks were different. In the first category brothels, the rooms were covered in silks, and the workers were wearing sparkling rings and bracelets; in the third category brothels, the bed had only a straw mattress, a hard pillow and a washed blanket.

According to Dr. Ilya Konkarovich (1874–?), who studied prostitution in the 19th century, in expensive houses prostitutes “are forced by their mistresses to the most refined and unnatural debauchery, for which purpose in the most luxurious of such houses there are even special devices, expensive , but nevertheless always finding buyers. There are houses that cultivate one type of perverted debauchery and have become widely known for their specialty.” These brothels catered to a small number of wealthy regular clients.

There is an opportunity to talk in more detail about one of the ideas of expensive brothel houses. It's about about rooms decorated with mirrors. Several couples gathered there, lit alcohol lamps, and began drinking. After some time, the courtesans began to dance and undress... in the end, it all ended in an orgy, repeatedly reflected in the mirrors in the flickering light of alcohol lamps. They say the “attraction” was popular.

The daily “norm” of prostitutes in first category brothels was 5–6 people per day. The second category is 10–12 and the lowest category is up to 20 (!) people. Thus, the “average” prostitute earned up to 1,000 rubles a month. But she gave ¾ of them to madam, with whom she stayed on full board. However, even with this, the earnings of 250 rubles were very considerable (a unpaid prostitute earned half as much and also shared with the pimp). For comparison, a servant received 12 rubles, a textile factory worker received 20 rubles, a worker of the highest category received 100 rubles, and a junior officer received 120 rubles. Of course, prostitutes with their psychological characteristics and did not think of leaving their profession while their chest was high.

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Renting linen in a brothel. 1894

However, such a more or less comfortable existence was sent to them for quite a long time. short term. Sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol and age were their destructive companions. According to statistics from medical committees, in late XIX centuries, at least 50% of prostitutes were sick with syphilis, which, due to the lack of antibiotics, was incurable, although doctors knew how to slow down its development. Almost no one could escape this infection. Sooner or later, the disease brought its owner to a hospital bed, and from there there was only one way - to the slums, to live out her short life. It is surprising why the medicine of that time did not recognize the need to use condoms, which already existed and were called condoms.

Alcohol also contributed to the early aging of prostitutes. Former peasant women were especially partial to him, most of whom, after 10 years of work, turned into alcoholics. Their status decreased, they moved from brothels of the highest category to lower ones and eventually died, thrown out onto the street.

The tradition of hanging red lanterns on the facade of a brothel dates back to ancient times, only then instead of a lantern there was a red phallus. According to the same Yuri Angarov, the entire Nevsky Prospect should have been illuminated with red lanterns. In the evenings, “whole crowds of idle people prone to debauchery go there. Flirting girls […], St. Petersburg Nyushas who want to get a profitable job with support […], ladies in mourning are malingerers. To some they say that their husband has died; others lie that they have lost their fiancé, and then go to a restaurant.”

Halo of suffering

Well, now let’s return to the conversation about the asexuality of Russian culture, which we started in the first paragraphs. The view of Russian visitors to brothels on its inhabitants was radically different from the European one. Thus, the French bon vivant looked at courtesans as slaves who were obliged to do for the buyer everything that his sophisticated sexual fantasy required. In Russia, lovers of sexual delights were not very common as a percentage of all brothel visitors. Moreover, in the eyes of the main brothel clientele - students and officers who visited prostitutes primarily out of “natural need” - the sophistication of voluptuousness seemed something low. For example, there is a known letter from Chekhov (1860–1904), a frequenter of brothels, in which he very irritably characterized the work of Emile Edouard Charles Antoine Zola, 1840–1902, calling him a “gastronomer and connoisseur of fornication”, ready to use a woman “in 33 ways, almost on the edge of a knife.”

In the end, the Russian intelligentsia turned prostitutes into another source of their guilt complex towards the people. Known at the time literary critic Alexander Voronsky (1884–1937) summarized:

The image of a prostitute seemed to have absorbed, in the eyes of an intellectual, all the injustices, all the violence committed over the centuries against human personality, and became a kind of shrine.

The image of Sonechka Marmeladova alone is worth it! After all, for a Russian intellectual, if someone suffers, he is already a half-saint. Going to a prostitute for him is not only sex, he also needs to talk about life, to console the immaculate soul of the brothel young lady, hidden behind visible corruption. This idea of ​​courtesans was in most cases a fantasy. Yes, they had to endure a lot of suffering, but with this suffering they only paid for the desire to live beautifully.

V. Makovsky. Consecration of the brothel 1900

No sex!

The social-idealistic period in the history of Russian sexual culture comes to naught at the beginning of the twentieth century, in the era Silver Age who finally paid attention to the passion of love itself, to pleasure beyond any complexes. The essence of this transformation was well expressed by Vyacheslav Ivanov (1866–1949): “All human and world activity comes down to Eros. There is no longer either aesthetics or ethics - both are reduced to eroticism, and every boldness born of Eros is sacred.

But the process was interrupted by the events of 1917. The revolutionary government banned brothels and sent prostitutes to Siberia for settlement. By the mid-1930s they were finished. Only a few remained to serve Soviet elite and foreigners (usually for intelligence purposes). But Soviet people I didn’t regret closing the brothels at all, Soviet culture she was still distinguished by the same asexuality - there was nothing to regret.