In the works of Russian writers of the late XIX - early XX centuries, the phrase “yellow ticket” is sometimes mentioned. What's this? Today's reader is not hard to guess from the context, and at the time of writing stories, novels and novels by Dostoevsky, Bunin and Tolstoy, all adults (children, as a rule, were protected from indecent information about the vicious aspects of life) knew that this was an indispensable attribute of a woman, selling her own body.
Replacement document
Any woman of reproductive age who was forced to do so by life circumstances or for other reasons could receive a yellow ticket in the Russian Empire. To do this, it was necessary to express such a desire, write a corresponding petition and hand over your passport to the police station at the place of residence. From that moment on, the passport was no longer needed; it was replaced by a booklet consisting of eight pages with a lemon-colored cover. In addition to voluntary “cure”, there was also a compulsory order that was in force in the event of incrimination in occupation by an ancient profession, even if only once. This could have happened during the round-up, at the denunciation of a landlady, a jealous wife, or another person who indicated the details of a woman engaged in indecent business without registration.
Ticket Content
The yellow ticket on its four U-turns contained the following information:
- Cover - the inscription "Replacement document" and "Sight ticket."
- First U-turn - passport format photo, name, surname, place and date of birth.
- Then published the approved rules for the supervision of public women, consisting of thirteen paragraphs.
- Pages five through seven listed the sixteen paragraphs of the Rules of Conduct that were binding.
- The last, eighth, was used to mark medical supervision, which confirmed the prostitute's health and the absence of sexually transmitted diseases. The regularity of inspections was supervised by the police. This was done for state reasons, to prevent epidemics.
A one-way ticket
In Russia, selling your body was always considered a shameful occupation, and when exchanging a passport for a “yellow ticket”, the woman understood that although a return move was theoretically possible, although it was connected with a long bureaucratic red tape, it was almost impossible to do in practice. Despite the rather high level of law-abidingness, there were some ladies of easy virtue who tried to engage in this trade illegally, leaving themselves the chance to abandon it and again become “honest”. Collaboration with law enforcement agencies could have saved some of them from police harassment. The criminal investigation department and other gendarmerie units used the services of sex workers (secret officers), including prostitutes, who were very valuable sources of information. Customers often, after drinking excess, blurted out girlfriends for one night with various relevant information from the life of the criminal world or banned organizations, including terrorist ones.
Working under secret surveillance allowed some of the prostitutes to hide their shameful pursuit even from their relatives. Such holders of a passport did not need a “yellow ticket”, and they had to take care of their health on their own.