Managing Vice

Prostitutes solicit at dockside nightclubs in Cape Town and Durban to make money for themselves. They care very little about the financial health of the club owners. The see the clubs as a business pick-up joint. And if they had it their way, they'd whisk away the guys as soon as possible and take them out for business.

The owners need women at their clubs, otherwise the sailors won't come. But they also need them to inspire the seamen to spend money on alcohol before going off for sex. Otherwise the club won't survive.

So there is a delicate balance of interests between the club owners & prostitutes. The owners put up the money for the joint, pay the levies, employ the staff, and so on. And their outlay provides a space for the women to solicit in relative safety and comfort. To cover these expenses and make a profit, they need the sailors to buy lots of alcohol. That's how they make their money. (The women pay very little money themselves, letting the seamen buy them drinks, cigarettes and food.)

The sugar girls know that their presence is all-important to the profitability of the club. Without them, sailors wouldn't bother to come. And the club owner wouldn't have a business. Thus they feel entitled to the bulk of the seamen's cash. While they like drinking and dancing with the guys at the clubs, they don't want them to blow all of their money there. They want them to save it for sex afterwards. So they try to leave with the guys as soon as possible, depriving the club of alcohol sales, but protecting their own earnings.

To arbitrate these competing needs and desires, the club owners have instituted a simple rule: if a prostitute leaves the club before 2 A.M., she must pay a fine of 100 rands ($14). This is called a "bar fee." It ensures 2 things. That bored women remain at the club (even if it is dead) so that the club retains a vibey atmosphere if any sailors might pop in. And—for women who leave with clients before 2 A.M.—the fee represents the money that the sailor would have spent on alcohol had the prostitute not taken him early for sex.

In this way, the owner doesn't allow the women to abuse his hospitality by coming and going as they please. For the privilege of soliciting at the club, the ladies must hang around even if there is no action and they must pay a fee if they take a sailor too early. After 2 A.M. though, they're free.

The women grumble about the rule, but they understand it. Heck, they even enforce it: if a woman sneaks off before 2 A.M. without paying the fee, her rivals at the club will make sure the owner finds out and fines her!

Gentle vs. Grabby Sailors

Foreign sailors who go to dockside nightclubs in Durban tend to treat the club prostitutes with greater respect than the sailors in Cape Town. None act violently toward the women, but the seafarers who berth in Cape Town tend to handle the ladies more possessively than their counterparts in Durban. They are "grabby" in comparison. Why?

I think four reasons explain this difference:

Numbers: 60-80 women regularly solicit from the sole remaining seamen's club in Durban. The ladies often equal or outnumber the 50-100 sailors who arrive at the club each evening. This makes for a relatively relaxed atmosphere for the men. They rarely have to compete against each other for a woman's attention. Partners are usually available.

But in Cape Town, only 40-60 women (in total) regularly solicit from 3 dockside clubs. Relative to the 60-130 men per evening, the ladies are in short supply. On some occasions, the imbalance is extreme. Add alcohol to the mix and some men get anxious they may not get a companion for the evening. This inspires them to act possessively with the women. They sometimes grab or grope the ladies on the dance floor or as they pass by. It signifies a desperate attempt to get the women's attention in what is clearly a solicitor's market.

Time: In Durban, the guys are literally "here today, gone tomorrow." Because they are on container ships that have rapid turn-around times in the harbor, the typical solicitation cycle with a sailor is one night. If a guy acts rude during the evening, the women can just ignore him and focus on other men. They need not cater to him any further.

But in Cape Town, the sailors typically work on deep-sea fishing trawlers that berth in Cape Town for spells of 5-30 days. These men come to the clubs every night they're in town. The women do not feel they can snub the rude men because, within a few days, they may become valuable clients. The women do not want to close the door on any guys because, given their long stays in port, they may become sources of money in the future.

Frequency: Most sailors in Durban visit the port a few times in their lives. Or perhaps just once. They rarely go there on a consistent basis.

But in Cape Town, the trawlermen return multiple times during their South Atlantic voyages. They typically visit Cape Town every 4 months during their two-year contract. (Then they go home, get another contract, and start the sequence again.) They may be regular callers for years. This encourages the women to see solicitation as a long-term strategic process. Thus, they put up with a man's touchiness because they don't want to lose access to him as a potential client. Any of the guys might become repeat-clients for many years, a prospect too good to ignore.

Class Status: Durban is Africa's premier container port. Most seafarers who work on container vessels are middle-class or middle-class aspirant. Thus they tend to be rule-followers who behave themselves overseas. They're rarely troublemakers with locals (unlike the old cargo ship salts of yore).

But in Cape Town, most of the sailors are East Asian trawlermen, drawn from the poorer sections of China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines (while the wealthier officers come from Japan, Taiwan & Korea). The women say that these guys party harder, have a tougher work life, and are less refined in their flirtations than the container ship seamen. They see the trawlermen as having "lower class" standards of interpersonal relations.

Thankfully, this touchiness is never violent, even if it is annoying. Cape Town's dockside prostitutes say that they do not face client violence like streetwalkers often do. But the women do wish that the trawlermen would act gentler with them like the container ship crews.

Where's the minis & high heels?

Dockside prostitutes in Cape Town rarely wear "sexy" clothing. They almost never wear minis, high heels or bright make-up. Rather, they sport casual androgynous streetwear: jeans, t-shirts & takkies (tennis shoes). This stands in contrast to Durban's dockside sugar girls who emphasize their sexy couture.

So why this difference? Why are Cape Town ladies more conservative in their attire than their Durban counterparts? I think there are two primary reasons. Maybe three.

1 - In Cape Town, most dockside ladies travel from their homes in the townships to the downtown nightclubs by public transport—buses, taxis, trains. They leave at 6:30 in the evening and return on the first taxis back in the mornings at 5am. The last thing they want to do is call attention to their work by wearing sexy clothing as they travel to and from their communities. It would attract negative attention and potentially reveal their source of income. So they seek to blend in by wearing casual clothing.

But in Durban, the women hail from upcountry locales, so they don't live at home. They reside in the blighted city center, surrounded by transient strangers of the shadowland. There's no community surveillance to worry about. They can wear snazzy clothing without their families or communities getting wind of their activities. Sexiness is not a threat to their reputations at home.

2 - Cape Town can get bloody cold at night, especially in the winter. The wind & low temperatures make slinky clothing a bad idea. So the ladies protect themselves with jeans, polo necks, hoodies, and heavy jackets.

But in Durban, the sub-tropical heat allows women to wear "come hither" attire most months of the year. In summertime, they almost have to wear such thin outfits because of the humidity.

3 - Another possible explanation might be the "Americanization" of fashion amongst coloured township-dwellers in Cape Town. While all South Africans are influenced to some extent by American cultural fads—in music, film, fashion, etc.—Cape coloureds seem to draw the deepest inspiration from the States. Especially from black American cultural styles. (In fact, when Cape Flats kids are allowed to wear casual clothes to school on Fridays, they call it "American Day.")

African women from KwaZulu-Natal also draw from American aesthetic influences, but not with the same commitment as coloureds do. They draw from a variety of ethnic inspirations: indigenous, pan-African, European & American.

So in Cape Town, dockside pros use clothing to camouflage their work while Durban women use it to advertise theirs. CT ladies dress warm to avoid the cold; KZN women dress lightly to deal with the heat. And coloured women embrace a casual style that fits with their community's cultural inspirations while Durban women adapt their attire to suit the competitive solicitous environment of the clubs.

Undressing Durban

I recently published an article titled "The Women of Durban's Dockside Sex Industry" in Undressing Durban, a collection of essays edited by Rob Pattman & Sultan Khan, sociologists at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban.

The article looks at the lives of female prostitutes in Durban's dockside sex sector who solicit at a nightclub catering to foreign sailors. It considers their experiences as sex workers and how they deal with stigmatization, family concerns, chemical abuse, moral dilemmas, diseases, and violence. It assesses their fears & frustrations and their dreams & longings for what they hope to achieve through this work.

It concludes with the idea that dockside women are relatively empowered compared to their streetwalking & brothel-working counterparts. Since most hail from upcountry locales, they successfully live "double lives" that protect them from family and communal reprisal. Since their clients are foreign transients, the men pose no threat to their identities (ie. they have no social power outside the dockside world). And because the women solicit from a safe nightclub, they retain the right of refusal. And because they're the knowledgeable locals, they choose the location of sex, which enhances their power to insist on condom-use.

Ironically, these "upcountry" women are perhaps the most cosmopolitan citizens of Durban as they entertain dozens of nationalities every evening.

The book comprises a fascinating collection of 52 short essays by scholars and graduate students who are researching some aspect of Durban's social life. Many of the pieces deal with the shadowy and seamy side of the city. For more info on Undressing Durban:

www.undressingdurban.blogspot.com

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Click on the PDF icon to download article:

Trotter, Henry. "The Women of Durban's Dockside Sex Industry", in Rob Pattman and Sultan Khan (Eds.), Undressing Durban (Durban: Madiba Press, 2007), pp. 441-452.

Breaking Up Brawling Sailors

The other night at one of the dockside clubs in Cape Town, a dozen Chinese seamen stood poised to brawl with 8 Filipino sailors.

The trouble started by the pay phones. A Filipino guy bumped into a Chinese who was busy talking to his family on the phone. The Filipino failed to apologize and the Chinese shoved him in return. They got in each other's faces, growling in their respective tongues. Then the Chinese went back to the phone while the Filipino stomped off.

Soon after, the Chinese guy complained to his shipmates who immediately demanded redress from the Filipinos. The atmosphere at the club changed. No more good times, no more touchy-feely with the ladies, no more happy-go-lucky jacks. The crews flexed their sinewy muscles, ready for fisticuffs. The women stood helpless as their johns abandoned them to stand by their mates. Their honor was on the line.

Such displays of testosterone and rigor are regular features of dockside interaction. Insobriety, jingoism, and competition over females put the sailors on edge with each other. Usually nothing happens, but if the macho tension becomes too great, bedlam can ensue.

A few months ago, a group of Vietnamese sailors stabbed a Chinese seamen to death in one of the clubs. A Vietnamese guy had a drunken dispute with the Chinese over a prostitute. When the Chinese left and stumbled over to another club, the Vietnamese sailor rounded up his mates and followed him. There they surround him while one of the gang finished him off with a single stab.

When I was in Durban last year, Korean and Indonesian sailors cracked each other's skulls with pool cues. Two women—unhappy with the fees they had negotiated with the Koreans—tried to see if they do better with the Indonesians. A big NO-NO. When the Koreans saw the women with the other guys, they waylaid them. Two had to go to the hospital. And the women left empty-handed.

So what is the club owner to do? Bouncers typically get between the opponents, establish their dominance, and send one of the parties outside. In this situation by the phone, the Chinese were escorted outside.

But the owner called the Chinese guy back inside and insisted the Filipino sailor apologize to him. The Chinese accepted with a handshake and joined his mates outside. But they refused to accept it. So the owner sent out two 6-packs of beer that mollified them. Cops and security guards kept an eye on their public drinking—shrugging off the illegality—but the problem was defused.

The next night, the same group of Chinese and Filipinos were at the clubs again, sitting right across from each other. But they carried on as if nothing had happened. Such is the power of alcohol-based conflict-resolution strategies by savvy club owners.

Dockside Solicitation Strategies

One of the key aspects of my upcoming book, Sugar Girls & Seamen, concerns solicitation strategies employed by dockside prostitutes. This blog entry offers a brief look at what's involved.

Dockside prostitution is a specialized niche in the sex trade. This is because the clientele—transient foreign seamen—face different constraints than the clients of other sectors (streets, brothels, truck-stops, and agencies). Prostitutes must cater to these salty waifs in unique ways, taking into account their transience, foreignness (legally & culturally), and social needs (for male-bonding & female companionship). This blog entry highlights some of the solicitation strategies used by Cape Town & Durban sugar girls.

First, imagine the scene: a South African dockside nightclub. On any given night you'll find dozens of foreign sailors sitting around enjoying themselves with beers and whiskeys. They sit in booths, at tables, or at the bar. Every club has a dance floor, a pool-table room, and a couple of them have karaoke rooms. They meander between them throughout the evening.

From 8pm, prostitutes start to stream in. In Cape Town, they tend to be 'mixed-race' coloureds and in Durban they're mostly provincial Zulus. When they arrive, they greet their friends, ignore their rivals, and order up their first drink from their favorite spot. They chill for a few minutes, usually in pairs or small groups, and survey the scene.

As they talk, they establish what kind of action is available for the night: Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Croatians, Germans, Senegalese, Samoans, etc. Then they chat about what ships are supposed to be in the harbor and whether this will impact their evening's activities. Perhaps a returning client is on one of the ships. That would definitely raise hopes.

After awhile, some of the girls head to the dance floor to show off their curves and availability. They make sure they're visible to any promising clients. Other women head straight for a table to join a group of men, asking for a light to initiate the connection. Then they're able check them out up-close and personal. Others sit alone at the bar, looking mysterious, above the fray. If a sailor likes a challenge, he'll be enticed by the seeming disinterest such aloof women display.

This is only the first move, part of a marketing campaign to get the attention of the seamen. Once contact is established, a woman will usually settle in at a booth with a sailor and his mates. They'll greet and incorporate her into the group, offering her drinks and cigarettes. She'll oblige.

For the next 3 or 4 hours, the woman will work hard to keep her man's attention. AND she will continue checking out other options while gauging whether this guy is worth the time. Throughout the evening, she'll make provisional claims on a number of men—with one guy typically being the primary—while the men also make make claims on multiple women. A promiscuous flirtation saturates the flitty relationships at the clubs.

Conversation, dancing, drinking, smoking, and touching fill the hours. But throughout, a woman guides the sailor toward a negotiation for a sexual contract after the club. For even if the seaman treats her to drinks and cigarettes, maybe even proffering 'taxi fare' or some cash for the good times, the real money is made through a sexual rendezvous. She might score some 'taxi fare' (R30/$5) or a hundred rands ($16) for the companionship but if they can the chance to provide sexual services, they can demand R200-300 ($30-50) for poorer crewmen and R500-1000 ($80-160) for wealthier officers.

Most sailors resist the offer, stumbling back to the bosom of their ships instead. Many go to the clubs for male-bonding with their mates or for some casual comfort and companionship from a lady. Drinking is crucial too. And if they're not very well-paid crewmen, then they may be even more reluctant. But most sailors do, at some point, take advantage of the sexual services provided by the port sugar girls.

Thus, even though many women go to the clubs 6-7 nights per week, they may average about 2 or 3 post-club hook-ups. The rate is higher for Durban because the women deal with overnight container-ship sailors while Cape Town women deal mainly with long-stay fishing trawler seamen. In other words, Durban provides more sailors for shorter durations, allowing for more potential clients. In Cape Town, the fewer sailors tend to stay longer. But, even though Durban women get more clients, they also charge less, making monthly earnings between the C.T. and Durban women about the same.

In conclusion, solicitation takes hours, requiring a range of social skills. Conversational abilities are important, foreign language skills can be a big plus, willingness to touch and caress on the spot is crucial, attractiveness is a bonus (but not necessary), and savvy clientele choices are de rigeur.

Unlike other sex sectors, it's not enough to just show up and be 'available.' The women have to actively solicit in a competitive atmosphere. The difference between success and failure is hundreds of rands on any given night. Hence, in-club skills makes up the most important aspect of sugar girls' work (more than actual sexual skills). Though it is not formally paid for, solicitation not only makes the sailors feel great at the clubs, but it steers their attention toward the girls for post-club extravaganzas.

These interpersonal club activities have a big impact on the women's social lives, cultural investments, and sense of identity as prostitutes. Obviously their work incorporates so much more than just sex. Their solicitation techniques are socially complex and culturally sophisticated.

The next blog entry will compare solicitation at the dockside to that of other prostitution sectors.

The Nocturnal Dockside Scene

In downtown Cape Town & Durban there exist nightclubs devoted solely to the pleasure of seamen.

They cater to seafarers by ensuring their safety, by enticing "working girls" to solicit from the club (to "entertain" the seamen, as the owners like to say), and by barring local men who might try to interfere with the sailors' good times. From the outside, these clubs look like seedy dives. (It's the same inside.) But the nautical paraphernalia strewn about the entrance lets you know that this joint is for mariners. Somehow, the "straight" crowds that dominate Long Street in Cape Town and Florida Road in Durban know that these clubs are not for them. They stay away from this shadowland.

The club scene for seafarers dates to the 1970s when the containerization of cargo and the apartheid government's Group Areas Act destroyed the dockside communities that had serviced the passing seamen for generations. At The Point in Durban and the District One docklands (Waterkant area) and District Six in Cape Town, numerous "suikerhuisies" (Afrikaans sugar houses, ie. brothels) offered carnal delights to the transient waifs.

Once the brothels passed out, Greek entrepreneurs established clubs in the downtown areas. They struck a bargain with the local sex workers: as long as they encouraged the men to buy alcohol at the clubs for a few hours, they were free to solicit them for post-club sexual contracts.

It's a pretty fair deal. And it's been relatively stable for 30-odd years. The club owner provides a festive atmosphere for the sailors by having sexually available women around; this encourages them to party and buy drinks at the clubs. The owner is therefore able to secure his livelihood from these alcohol sales. The presence of women are central to that process. As one club manager said, "A club without chicks is dead."

So the owners have to do right by the ladies. The main thing they do is give them the right to solicit in relative safety and anonymity. Many women find this an attractive alternative to the exposure of streetwalking and the boredom of brothel work. They are also able to elude legal prosecution because solicitation techniques are indistinguishable from activities at "straight" clubs (dancing, touching, drinking, talking, singing). Thus, very few women have had any problems with the police in the last few years. (During apartheid it was another matter; but more on that later.)

But let there be no doubt: all of the women's efforts at the clubs are part of a highly competitive and complex solicitation strategy. They do not come to the clubs to "party," though it is a handy explanation if the cops confront them. They come to work. What looks like fun-n-games to outsiders is really just an attempt to make a living. No more, no less.

There are three major points you need to understand about dockside prostitution:

1. solicitation techniques are socially complex
   
2. sugar girls' success rests on skills that are quite different from those needed in other sex sectors
   
3. the needs and constraints of of foreign, transient seamen determines the logic and structure of this prostitution niche