Replying because I can tell that the subject of brothels is making a number of people very, very uncomfortable, and that's always fun...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "seventhray1" <steve.sundur@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Can't speak for anyone else, but I was saying, "I > > enjoy the company of beautiful women, and somebody > > else is paying my entrance fee to this lovely club > > and all my drinks, so I think I'll sit here at the > > bar and write for a while." > > Well, I guess here the story gets filled out some. Every > stripper club I have ever attended had a high price for > weak drinks, and most had an admission charge. Of course > at a high end brothel I would imagine that the drinks > would be more expensive, but at least strong. Don't know > about the admission charge. You did not indicate in your > original post that you were the guest of someone. I wasn't a one-time guest; I had basically a free pass, at least "downstairs," due to a favor I'd done for the owner (or something he perceived as a favor). This definitely influenced my decision to hang there because the entrance fee was something like 200 Euros, which then included all of your drinks (only top shelf stuff). > The overall impression I got was that you were there for the > ambiance and conversation and met some fellow bar mates who > were interested in the same. After my first visit, I definitely kept coming back for the ambiance, and for the conversations. So did the folks I described in my original story. All of these guys were wealthy, and attractive enough that some women would have paid *them* for sex. So that really wasn't the attraction. Also, the very idea of paying for sex (other than dating or...uh...marriage) is highly overrated. It's something that guys who have never done it find attractive, as a fantasy. The reality is not nearly as satisfying (based on my experiences at age 15, at least). > > > Maybe you get your jollies by just having the come on, without > > > a strong intention to consummate, but that also says something, > > > and I think it is guaranteed that consummation is not to far > > > away. > > > > Again, I suspect that your "guarantees" come from > > a completely fictional experience of brothels. Mine > > does not. I liked the Tantric nature of the environ- > > ment, as a kind of energy nexus that inspired me to > > write. Toulouse-Lautrec felt the same way, and used > > it to inspire his paintings, and so did many of the > > Ukiyo-e painters from the "floating world" of Japan. > > I understand how the sexual energy of that environment > can be stimulating. You really don't. A really high-end brothel like this is less sexually-charged than your average bar or disco on a Friday night. It's VERY low-key. At a high-end joint like Yab Yum, subtlety would be the word, something that you could never in a million years say about a bar or disco. Also, the music was very soft, and in the back- ground, so you could actually TALK, which is something you can't do at many bars or discos. As I tried to say before, what I liked watching was the *subtlety* with which the women attracted a potential customer from across the room, and how the men in ques- tion then responded. Did you take note of the entrance fees and what these women charged? It's not as if the joint was full of drunken yahoos with double-digit IQs and five-digit yearly salaries. Since I'm not rich, it was one of the rare opportunities I've had in my life to *hang* with the rich in an environment in which they felt comfortable and at home. It was FUN. All of this supposedly changed in its last years. Word on the street has it that the owner I knew was black- mailed and threatened into selling it either to the Mafia or the Hells Angels (depending on which story you believe). Soon afterwards the elegance and subtlety turned into its opposite and a VERY different crowd began to frequent the place. It was closed down by the city of Amsterdam (by revoking its license) after the new set of patrons got too drug- and crime-oriented. But at the time I got to go there is was a bastion of Old World Old Boy elegance, and I feel privileged to have experienced it. The funniest story I know about Yab Yum is that at one point (before it started to go downhill) they petitioned the city to be able to open a branch as Schiphol Airport. My one-liner at the time is that if that had been allowed to happen it would have given all new meaning to the term "layover." :-)
