Putting a Price on the Bottomline of Human Morality in Manila's Sexual Entertainment Quarter
The entertainment strip of the town is always packed with people and lights. Perhaps not crowded with visitors but always full of guys and gals of the nights peddling condoms, massages, and themselves. Every joint has decorated heavy metal doors under their shiny neon lights advertising the best experiences and girls in the strip. And it is into those heavy metal doors that the author, along with his friends, casually strolled in, full of smiles and expectations that a whole new world was behind the premise guarded by a perpetually serious security guard/bouncer.
And indeed it was a whole new world of some sort. Under the pouncing remixes of the latest pop tunes reminiscent of "regular" dance clubs in the city, girls walked about, covered with only a strip of cloth for "pants" and a pairs of suspenders hanging over their necks and clipped onto their "pants" to cover up their torso. As they moved about, parts of their buttocks and their nipples regularly slipped through their costumes. They made no effort to cover up, but instead slowly placed their hands suggestively over their breasts and groin as patrons took notice of their "wardrobe malfunction."
But as much as the girls reflexively did their best to up the sexual tension of the customers, the author spotted a sense of unease among the girls. Even as they walked about the floor eyeing patrons nursing their bottles of San Miguel at their tables, few show any smiles on their faces. They try to move about to their thumping music, but few really shows any effort. Most just stood there or sat at tables, fully desensitized by their surroundings as they waited for a hand or a chat. Most never get to, as the number of girls overwhelmingly exceeds the number of paying customers in the club.
In a "meat market" such as this, at least the author believes, market value of a girl is not exactly correspondent to her natural beauty or sexiness but how she interacts with patrons. Tipsy, lonely patrons are much more likely to shell out cash for talkative, aggressive girls than good-looking but passive ones. The author was indeed tricked into buying a drink for a jumpy one who had no qualms about placing his hand on her firms breasts and her hand on his firming groin within five minutes of meeting. So it is rather surprising that not more of girls in the club is like this one.
Yet, as the author found out more about how the business works by talking to the girls and a friend who frequents such haunts, the insensitivity of girls become more understandable. The sex-club business, at the end, is a buyer's market. Clubs, standing next to one another with little to distinguish themselves, compete hard on prices, and the girls take the brunt of that price competition. For each drink she coax the patron to buy (at around 6 USD for the most expensive), she will perhaps get 30% maximum cut from the club. There is no basic wage for the girl just being there for the night.
Even if the girl gets extremely lucky and gets taken home for the night, she will get at most 50 USD, more than a third of which must be surrendered to the club as "service charge." But of course, to develop that intimate relationship with any particular patron is extremely difficult given the relative soberness of the patrons (for self-protection - its a rough neighborhood, unlike where dance clubs are) and their short attention span due to so many equally beautiful women flaunting their stuff. So try hard (like the author's girl) but most end up disappointed (again, like the author's girl)
The author has always been a believer of people putting a price on certain bottom line of their morality. In simple words, if you are willing to pay enough, people will do anything, no matter how criminal or morally reprehensible. So it comes at great sorrow for him to see that the girls at the club are exceeding their bottom lines for, well, not all that much. Regular ones will get enough for dinner and a jeepney ride back home in the morning, lucky ones will be able to afford a nicer dinner and a taxi ride home, while the unlucky ones - the vast majority - will be losing money for the night...
And still, they have to let these old fat men forcefully rub their youthful breasts and try to carry on interesting conversations with people they have absolutely no interest in, as friends or mere sexual partners. Yet, with lack of proper employment, they come back to an industry that everyone usually assumes will pay well if one is willing to hit all the right notes and play all the dirty tricks. Unfortunately, at the expense of a patron putting his dirty paws all over her naked body for the price of his morning breakfast platter, the girl is violated both financially and physically...
And indeed it was a whole new world of some sort. Under the pouncing remixes of the latest pop tunes reminiscent of "regular" dance clubs in the city, girls walked about, covered with only a strip of cloth for "pants" and a pairs of suspenders hanging over their necks and clipped onto their "pants" to cover up their torso. As they moved about, parts of their buttocks and their nipples regularly slipped through their costumes. They made no effort to cover up, but instead slowly placed their hands suggestively over their breasts and groin as patrons took notice of their "wardrobe malfunction."
But as much as the girls reflexively did their best to up the sexual tension of the customers, the author spotted a sense of unease among the girls. Even as they walked about the floor eyeing patrons nursing their bottles of San Miguel at their tables, few show any smiles on their faces. They try to move about to their thumping music, but few really shows any effort. Most just stood there or sat at tables, fully desensitized by their surroundings as they waited for a hand or a chat. Most never get to, as the number of girls overwhelmingly exceeds the number of paying customers in the club.
In a "meat market" such as this, at least the author believes, market value of a girl is not exactly correspondent to her natural beauty or sexiness but how she interacts with patrons. Tipsy, lonely patrons are much more likely to shell out cash for talkative, aggressive girls than good-looking but passive ones. The author was indeed tricked into buying a drink for a jumpy one who had no qualms about placing his hand on her firms breasts and her hand on his firming groin within five minutes of meeting. So it is rather surprising that not more of girls in the club is like this one.
Yet, as the author found out more about how the business works by talking to the girls and a friend who frequents such haunts, the insensitivity of girls become more understandable. The sex-club business, at the end, is a buyer's market. Clubs, standing next to one another with little to distinguish themselves, compete hard on prices, and the girls take the brunt of that price competition. For each drink she coax the patron to buy (at around 6 USD for the most expensive), she will perhaps get 30% maximum cut from the club. There is no basic wage for the girl just being there for the night.
Even if the girl gets extremely lucky and gets taken home for the night, she will get at most 50 USD, more than a third of which must be surrendered to the club as "service charge." But of course, to develop that intimate relationship with any particular patron is extremely difficult given the relative soberness of the patrons (for self-protection - its a rough neighborhood, unlike where dance clubs are) and their short attention span due to so many equally beautiful women flaunting their stuff. So try hard (like the author's girl) but most end up disappointed (again, like the author's girl)
The author has always been a believer of people putting a price on certain bottom line of their morality. In simple words, if you are willing to pay enough, people will do anything, no matter how criminal or morally reprehensible. So it comes at great sorrow for him to see that the girls at the club are exceeding their bottom lines for, well, not all that much. Regular ones will get enough for dinner and a jeepney ride back home in the morning, lucky ones will be able to afford a nicer dinner and a taxi ride home, while the unlucky ones - the vast majority - will be losing money for the night...
And still, they have to let these old fat men forcefully rub their youthful breasts and try to carry on interesting conversations with people they have absolutely no interest in, as friends or mere sexual partners. Yet, with lack of proper employment, they come back to an industry that everyone usually assumes will pay well if one is willing to hit all the right notes and play all the dirty tricks. Unfortunately, at the expense of a patron putting his dirty paws all over her naked body for the price of his morning breakfast platter, the girl is violated both financially and physically...
Comments
Post a Comment