Published: Just now
Entrepreneur Alex 35, bought sex once a week. Now he is disgusted by it.
The twist was the 200-second revelation that Ukrainian women on the run sell sex to support their families.
– It made me quit. It was an eye opener, says Alex.
In April last year, 35-year-old Alex started buying sex from women. It quickly became an addiction he couldn’t live without.
– I am a parent almost full-time and am only free on Fridays and Saturdays. I felt like I didn’t have time to meet girls. Silly as it sounds, this is quickly finished and you have your needs, says Alex.
But the revelation of Aftonbladet’s 200 seconds that Ukrainian women on the run are forced into prostitution was an eye-opener.
– I got a lump in my stomach and thought “What have I done?”. I was disgusted with myself.
Then Alex decided. He promised himself that there would be no more sex purchases. A promise that he has so far managed to keep.
– It’s terrible. It is women who fled the war and are forced to do this in order to send money to their families, he says and continues:
– Then it’s also the case that now the police have noticed this and you don’t want it on your CV. I’d rather drink drive than that.
“Two out of three do it”
Buying sex is not unusual in Alex’s male circle of acquaintances. It has become a hobby for some and an addiction for some, he explains.
– Two out of three do it. A large number are married, but then the gang goes to Poland and then it happens. It’s everything from 20-year-olds to 60-year-olds.
The first time often happens on trips abroad with boyfriends and with a lot of alcohol in the body, says Alex. He has also noticed that some foreign companies add visits to prostitutes as part of the payment to the client.
– It is a bribe to bring the person into the business.
Acting
Alex tells about a meeting with a woman from Ukraine. She was from Kherson. There she had run a beauty salon.
– She told me that it is no longer there because of the war. She was here temporarily to earn money for her family.
Alex felt a little bad when he realized she was from war-torn Ukraine. But it was only with the 200 second reveal that he understood that this was a widespread phenomenon.
– Before you brought this up, I didn’t even think along those lines. Because when you meet them, they smile and are very nice. But everyone can play an act. They probably do – because they come from a war-torn country where a lot is destroyed.
What are you most ashamed of?
– That I have bought a service from them where they have been in a situation where they don’t really want to do it.
Dull guilt
In the past, he and his friends reasoned with each other that it is okay to buy sex from women – because they charge quite a lot. It has numbed the guilt. After 200 seconds of exposure, he thinks differently.
– They must provide for others as well, probably. You have to think about that.
How would you have felt if it had been your daughter who had to sell sex?
– If it had been my daughter, I would have gone crazy. So crazy that I can’t tell you what I had done with that person. It’s not okay anywhere. You take advantage of a person in a dependent position.
Why did you want to tell about this in Aftonbladet?
– I have had an awakening and I want other men who buy sex to stop, he says and continues:
– I want to say to whoever deals with this: “How would they have felt if it was their sister, daughter or their mother who had to sell themselves because there was war in their country”?
Alex is actually called something else.