Yellow ticket, order of receipt and contents of the document

In the works of Russian writers of the late XIX -beginning of the XX century, the phrase "yellow ticket" is sometimes mentioned. What's this? Today it is easy to guess from the context of this, but at the time of writing stories, stories and novels of Dostoevsky, Bunin and Tolstoy, it was known to all adults (kiddies, as a rule, from obscene information about the vicious aspects of life) that this is an indispensable attribute of a woman, which sells its own body.

The replacement document

Get a yellow ticket in the Russian Empire couldany woman of reproductive age, forced to life circumstances or for other reasons. To do this, it was necessary to express such a desire, write an appropriate petition and hand over your passport to the police station at the place of residence. From that moment the passport was no longer needed, it was replaced by a book, consisting of eight pages with a cover of lemon color. In addition to voluntary "extermination", there was also a compulsory order that acted in case of incrimination in the occupation of the ancient profession, even if only once. This could happen during the round-up, according to the denunciation of the landlady, a jealous wife or other person who indicated the data of a woman engaged in an indecent matter without registration.

Ticket Contents

The yellow ticket on its four spreads contained the following information:

• Cover - inscriptions "Replacement document" and "Inspection ticket".
• First photo - passport size photo, name, surname, place and date of birth.
• Then the approved rules for the supervision of public women, consisting of thirteen paragraphs, were printed.
• Sixteen paragraphs of the "Rules of Conduct", obligatory for execution, were listed on pages five to seven.
• The last, the eighth, served for the marksmedical control, certifying the health of a prostitute and the lack of sexually transmitted diseases. The police conducted regular inspections. This was done for public reasons, to prevent epidemics.

A one-way ticket

In Russia, the trade in your body has always been consideredand, exchanging the passport for the "yellow ticket", the woman understood that although the reverse move is theoretically possible, although it is connected with a prolonged bureaucratic red tape, but in practice this is almost impossible. Despite the rather high level of law-abiding, there were some ladies of easy virtue who tried to engage in this trade illegally, leaving themselves the chance to quit it and again become "honest." From the police persecution of some of them could save cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Criminal investigation and other gendarmerial units used the services of sex workers (secret employees), including prostitutes, who were very valuable sources of information. Clients often, having drunk a lick, shuffled to their girlfriends for one night different actual information from the life of the criminal world or banned organizations, including terrorist ones.

Work under secret supervision allowed some of theprostitutes hide their shameful occupation even from relatives. Such owners of the passport "yellow ticket" was not needed, and they had to take care of their own health on their own.