“Caution does not guarantee safety for lives of SWs” / About war and sex work in Ukraine with Polina Shyshkova, Kyiv

We are talking to POLINA SHYSHKOVA, the leader of the initiative group of sex workers of CO ‘LEGALIFE-UKRAINE’ in Kyiv.

Natalia Dorofeeva, CO “Legalife-Ukraine” (ND): Almost a year has passed since our last interview. Tell us how are you, what important changes have taken place in your life since then?

Polina: Fortunately, there have been no changes in my personal life over the past year. But in my work as the leader of the initiative group, I have met many new people.

I managed to meet many sex workers to hear their life stories, and meet their family members. I realised how difficult it is to be heard when society stigmatises you just for your work and doesn’t even give you a chance to tell your story.

Not all women have sad stories, for many of them this is a job that gives them time and opportunity to work on their own creative projects and grow in their creativity. I am now even invited to various art events ‘for my own’. One of the members of the initiative group introduced me to people from the visually impaired community. Sometimes I provide support services as a volunteer and have the opportunity to look at the world around me from a different perspective.

Thanks to my work at Legalife-Ukraine, I had the opportunity to talk to Svyatoslav Sheremet and Valeria Rachynska at the training, and I really wanted to have a chance to talk to them. I also got to know Max Mishkin, the regional coordinator of Alliance Global (ГО «Альянс Глобал»), and a long time ago I was tested for HIV in their office.

In the photo: Polina Shyshkova with Valeriya Rachynska and Sviatoslav Sheremet during an advocacy training

ND: And yet, how does the war affect you personally, I mean the economic instability and the difficulties associated with it?

Polina: It has become harder than last year. Due to the increase in prices in stores, it is now harder to buy some of the products we used to. My friends always give me clothes and shoes, so I don’t need to buy what I want. But I think that reusing clothes is useful because it reduces my carbon footprint (laughs).

I have a few other part-time jobs besides working at Legalife-Ukraine. I do office and residential cleaning, elderly care, hairstyling, haircuts, and make-up. I am mostly approached by people I know, from the initiative group and from my hometown. But all these part-time jobs are not enough to cover all my needs. I rent an apartment. There are a lot of activities in different parts of the city, so I have to travel a lot, and it’s not cheap.  A lot of help comes from people from the communities I volunteer for from time to time. I received clothes and four pairs of shoes from the visually impaired community, for example.

ND: And how are your wards from the initiative group doing?

Polina: There are more activists, new people who are interested in communication and community development. Some of the participants started looking for work in another field because of their age and finally found what they were looking for. By the way, our humanitarian aid helped them a lot in the transition period.  Some of them decided to undergo long-term treatment thanks to the support of the group. Moral support works wonders. We learn from each other.

We also have some male sex workers, not many yet, but we already have one activist.

In the photo: participants of information meetings for members of the initiative group in Kyiv

ND: It seems that in the third year of this war people are very tired, and it is clear that tensions are growing. From your experience, is this reflected in the attitude towards sex workers and sex work?

Polina: It depends on where you find clients and where you provide services. It has become more dangerous on the road, the attitude of men passing by is just disgusting.

The attitude is dismissive, and cases of sexual violence have increased. In particular, ‘stealthing’ is when a partner removes a condom during sex without the partner’s knowledge, even though she did not agree to it.

Girls providing services in apartments have seen an increase in the number of unbalanced clients who come to take out their anger on the world. And in the higher price segment, there are fewer clients because they have left the territory of Ukraine.

ND: Does your inner circle support your ideas and initiatives for sex workers?

Polina: Yes, my mother supports my work and often gives me advice as a psychologist. We discuss the topics of information sessions. My friends sometimes join information sessions and situations where sex workers need help. For example, they often send clothes and things for sex workers or help with contacts of friendly specialists on various issues.

ND: Do you feel support from activists from other regions of Ukraine?

Polina: Yes. I recently met with Maryna Pohorila, and we discussed what is happening in our regions and how we can influence it. I also call her sometimes to ask for advice on work.

ND: How do social networks react to your position on decriminalisation and protection of joint ventures?

Polina: On social media, in particular Facebook and Instagram, people often call me a whore, trying to reduce the value of my opinion in comments. But, as one person said, you need to respond with ‘are you jealous?’. If it’s impossible to change their minds, I just sit back and laugh at how commenters are looking for something to hurt me, but it just misses.

ND: Over the past year, have you noticed any changes in the relationship between SWs and police? From your own experience with law enforcement, is this situation getting worse or vice versa?

Polina: Police officers have more responsibilities now than last year. They have much less contact with sex workers working on the street. But there are still cases of fines for ‘prostitution’. Communication is polite enough and within the framework of the current legislation, but there is still some alienation and marginalisation of sex work. 

Law enforcement officers are now trying more to find brothels and girls through Telegram groups and social networks, but most sex workers have already learned to distinguish them by the style of correspondence. As for my experience, most often I do not contact police officers on my own initiative. The last time it happened spontaneously was at one of the ‘points’ where the girls work. Police officers are frankly unhappy when representatives of charitable organisations observe their work, because it controls their behaviour and makes it impossible for them to show human qualities, in the context of stigmatisation of sex workers as a marginalised group.

ND: And what about access to medical services: is it easier or more difficult for sex workers to get medical care in Ukraine today? 

Polina: It’s easier because there are young doctors now who are open and interested in working with communities. In particular, there are doctors who are interested in learning more about the needs of sex workers and providing their services for professional self-development. 

ND: In some regions, SWs complain about the deterioration of HIV prevention and treatment services.  Are there any problems with these services in Kyiv?

Polina: At the 100% Life Medical Centre, I was offered to do HIV testing this year using oral tests. It turned out to be extremely interesting for the girls, because there is no need to prick their fingers. Many of them are afraid of injections and blood sampling.

For many sex workers who are contacting me, the problem is the remoteness of the trust office from their area of residence or the hours of reception in these offices.

However, in general, services for testing and receiving humanitarian condoms and lubricants are quite accessible and in high demand. Everyone I personally come into contact with is generally satisfied with the quality and accessibility of these services provided by NGOs.

In the photo: Polina with Max Mishkin during a working meeting at the Alliance Global

ND: What complaints and problems have sex workers come to you with lately?

Polina: The main complaints of sex workers are the lack of clients, high competition and the mental state of men. This doesn’t mean that cars don’t come or girls aren’t ordered through the manager to go out. The point is that in 80% of cases, sex workers refuse to provide services to men who behave rudely and incorrectly, commit emotional and physical violence.

But even caution does not guarantee the absence of life- and health-threatening situations. Because sex workers cannot call the police on a client without being recorded as ‘engaged in prostitution’, they often risk their lives and endure mistreatment by clients in an unstable mental state.

The most important needs are combating stigma, protection in cases of threat, and assistance in survival for those who cannot, for whatever reason, change their field of activity of their own free will and have low income.

In the photo: humanitarian aid for SWs

ND: Have you noticed any differences in the needs of community compared to last year? 

Polina: There have been more requests for humanitarian aid, some people apply for it one-time to survive the lack of income for a while.  There is a demand for psychological help, and I am increasingly asked for the phone number of our psychologist. Of course, legalisation would make it possible to get protection from the police and help prevent violence.

ND: What problems of SWs do you manage to solve, and can you recall the last cases when you helped or somehow supported SWs?

Polina: For example, I helped them to learn how to write a good CV with no work experience, which helped them to find another job. I helped one girl find herself and get out of a state where she didn’t like everything about herself. We talked for more than six months, went to clothing stores together, exchanged stories, etc., and at some point she changed from the inside out, became a different person.

The last case: a woman needed a passport for a Ukrainian citizen, but she had no money. In a personal conversation with me, she found out that the organisation would reimburse the cost, and we went to write the application the next day.

In general, this is group work, and each member of the initiative group has a part to play in spreading the word about the organisation and its services and attracting new people. I’m not the only one doing this.

ND: Polina, what is your personal motivation for working in the field of sex workers’ rights protection, why is it important?

Polina: If we don’t do this now, it will be ten times harder when the war will be over. At a time when people are stressed and do not see their future beyond 12 hours, it is necessary to prevent the perpetuation of unlawful attitudes towards vulnerable groups, both by the state and society.

ND: What is your main achievement in human rights protection work?

Polina: So far, I consider only the trust of my clients to be an achievement. They started to trust me more and tell me more about their problems.

ND: Polina, more and more Ukrainian YouTubers have started to pay attention to the topic of sex work in Ukraine. How do you assess these initiatives? What would you like to convey to them from yourself and to wish them?

Polina: I mainly watch what I disagree with in order to think of arguments for my opponents in advance. There are more of them than friendly ones.

Sexual services are a very difficult job, which is inappropriate to advertise as an alternative to the so-called ‘work in a factory for a penny’. I think we need to talk less about sex and more about personalities. Specifically, about how a sex worker fights burnout, not just provides services. This is important to avoid the false impression that this is an easy job for fools.

ND: With the legalisation of medical cannabis by the Verkhovna Rada and the adoption of a new, more democratic HIV law, do you expect sex work to be decriminalised in the near future?

Polina: I hope without hope (laughs). Perhaps they will legalise it, because if sex work is brought out of the shadows, a lot of taxes will flow into the treasury. OnlyFans and PornHub will not let you lie.

ND: At the end of our conversation, I suggest you make a wish for the next year for everyone who stays in Ukraine. 

Polina: I wish everyone to legalise sex work and cannabis. No one will be worse off if everything is done with the opinion of sex workers and people involved in the community. And cannabis is for mood, especially since it is legal in many places in Europe.

In the photo: Participants of the National LGBTIQ Conference, 2024

Interview by Natalia Dorofeeva, CO “Legalife-Ukraine”