Big Sister (brothel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big Sister is a brothel and associated voyeuristic paysite, located in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the first and only brothel where customers can use the women's services for free, subsidized by paying Internet viewers; live video and audio streams and archived videos of the activity in the brothel are available on the website for a fee.[1] These subscription fees, as well as sales of DVDs of the recorded action, represent the company's main source of income.
Prostitution in the Czech Republic operates in a legal gray area, being neither allowed nor forbidden. As customers do not pay for the women's services, from a legal point of view the project is not directly involved in prostitution. The produced video content contains coverage of the guests with the women, as well as amateur couples that come into the house, and coverage of the shooting of adult productions that take place in the house.
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[edit] Creation, ownership, location
Big Sister opened as a regular brothel in May 2004, and the Internet operation began in April 2005[2]. It was created for about 5 million € by two Austrian businessmen[3][4]. They have been active in the Prague night life for seven years and also own other Prague establishments[2], including the Prague sex club K5.
The brothel is located in the Smíchov district of Prague, Nadrazni 46, .
[edit] Operation and equipment
Male customers pay an entrance fee of 500 crowns (about US$ 23); females and couples have free entrance. Reservations ahead of time are recommended. All customers are required to present identification papers[3] and sign a multi page contract: they purchase the production of a DVD recording their actions in the club (which they can take home afterwards) for about 30 € and at the same time sell the rights to distribute the material online and on DVD for the same amount. The length of each visit to a room with a prostitute is limited to one hour.[5] Visiting couples who have their sex acts recorded receive a compensation of about 30 €. Subscription to the website is 30 € per month[1]; this includes access to the live streams, the video archive and a chat room; live video chat with the working women has to be paid extra.
The prostitutes (about 12 every night as of late 2005) receive a fixed salary and additional money per recorded sex act and per online show for the website subscribers, for an average compensation of about 3,000 € per month[3][6]. Fellatio and vaginal sex is almost always performed with condoms[2], and most women do not allow cunnilingus. Almost all women come from the Czech Republic or the Slovak Republic[2]; some are from Brazil.
The club is equipped with about 58 cameras, including some in the living quarters of the prostitutes[3][6][7]. Three employees direct the cameras and select the audio/video streams to be broadcast and archived.[2][8] The name of the club is an obvious reference to the Big Brother franchise of reality tv series.
While most of the recorded video is only available to paying subscribers, an associated "fan club" website features hundreds of free photos, several free video clips and a free live video stream from the club, as well as a discussion forum.[9]
[edit] Promotion and media campaigns
The start of the internet operations in 2005 was followed by a heavy publicity campaign in Europe, leading to some 40 media reports in German, English, French, Czech, Italian and Russian, including reports by the largest TV stations in Germany and the largest newspapers in Germany and Switzerland.[10] One angle of the company's advertising is to allow women inside views into a brothel. [8]
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany in the summer of 2006, the company undertook a unique marketing campaign together with Heat TV. They visited Munich, Leipzig, Hamburg and Cologne with their "love truck", a brothel on wheels with six prostitutes that offered customers free sex in exchange for publication rights of the recorded video.[11][12]
Former European lightweight box champion René Weller attempted to boost his fledgling singing career by introducing his new music CD in Big Sister on May 10, 2006.[13]
In October 2006, scenes for Eli Roth's horror movie Hostel: Part II were shot in Big Sister, as was described on his blog[14] and the Big Sister site[15]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "You are watching Big Sister", Penthouse Australia, February 2006
- ^ a b c d e "Red Light Online", Escort Swingmag, No. 1, 2005
- ^ a b c d "Big Sister", Focus TV, Pro 7, 13 November 2005. (German TV.)
- ^ "Big Brothel", Maxim UK, September 2005
- ^ Big Sister FAQ, accessed 3 September 2006
- ^ a b RTL Magazin Extra, RTL, 25 June 2005. (German TV.)
- ^ Video Production Equipment, bigsister.net. Accessed 30 September 2006
- ^ a b Akte 05, Sat.1, 9 June 2005. (German TV.)
- ^ Big Sister Fan Club, http://www.nightclublive.net/news/ . Accessed 18 November 2006.
- ^ Press Room of Big Sister, http://www.bigsister.net/en/pressroom.php , accessed 12 August 2006. Contains copies of press coverage and TV reports.
- ^ Spiegel TV Extra, Vox, 4 May 2006. (German TV.)
- ^ Nachspiel im Rotlicht, MDR, 27 June 2006. (German TV.)
- ^ Brisant, ARD, May 11, 2006. (German TV.)
- ^ Eli Roth's MySpace blog, October 29, 2006
- ^ Big Sister Blog, 15 October 2006; Big Sister blog, 17 October 2006
