Lebanon’s Sex Industry

We all know it exists but one reporter actually went into the, euh, trouble of investigating how “super night clubs” work:

In order to speak with one of the female “artists,” a customer must order “Champagne” and select the woman whom he wants to have sit at his table. The Champagne has little to do with the bottle of alcohol that arrives: the term is merely super nightclub-speak for having one of the artists sit at a customer’s table for exactly an hour and a half. Champagne usually costs about $60 to $80 (the government adds a value added tax of 10 percent to all purchases).

Here’s an insightful bit about how the Lebanese police is complicit with the club owners.

The date [with the prostitute] can be set for any day between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., when the girls have “free time.” Lebanese regulations say the women must be in the super nightclubs between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. Between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m., they must be in their hotels. This allows the police to keep the industry tightly regulated; it also allows the club owners to dominate the women’s lives and restrict their movement.

which explains their staggering profits:

“I usually make $10,000 to $12,000 a month in profit,” the owner said. But in the summer, with Lebanese expatriates back home along with visiting foreign tourists, he says he usually makes more, ranging from $15,000 to $20,000.

Read the whole thing. It’s a fascinating look into a shady underworld. 
 
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