PORTFOLIO | REPORTAGE | JESSICA - A STRIPPER

Jessica, a 19 year old Russian stripper, is the queen of “The Second Floor” -- a striptease club in Tel Aviv. At the end of a long working night, Jessica turns into Natasha -- a shy girl from a Tel Aviv suburb, who sleeps in a room full of dolls.

Ten striptease clubs, fifteen “Peepshow” clubs, and over ninety whore houses disguised as escort and massage clubs operate in Tel Aviv. An industry which embraces over a thousand employees, who give services to tens of thousands of people. The clients come from every walk of life -- soldiers, orthodox Jews, married men and teenagers -- who come to seek the love of young and desirable girls, for money.

More than anything, this phenomenon points to a norm which has developed in Israel following the great wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union in the beginning of the nineties, together with the huge number of foreign workers who have also arrived in Israel in recent years. Jessica is merely a small peg in a well-oiled industry with a turnover of hundreds of thousands of dollars per day.