By: Marie Huret, Went Chevelkina
In Moscow, "the Bitch Academy" offers lessons of seduction to townswomen eager to find the man of their life, preferably rich . Guaranteed success in a socially upset Russia.
Fur coats are hanging in the entrance hall. The room with the blue curtains overlooks a snow-covered court: it is - 10 degrees this evening, in the theater district of Doubrovka, in Moscow. Outside, it is very white. Inside, it is disconcerting.
A brunette in miniskirt wavers on stiletto heels. Her bag falls on the floor. She bends down, reveals her fishnet stocking. A blonde girl with red boots approaches a man, touches his shoulder. "Is it all? chokes Vladimir Rakovski getting up from the sofa. Throw him a glance as if you wanted to make love to him!"
"To be a bitch has become an art"
"He" is the prof. The expert in seduction. The mentor with the round belly and pitiless judgement. "Be like wildcats!" he repeats to his pupils. Frightening cats, stalkers of a volatile prey: the Russian man. Twice a week, a score of young women, coeds, civils servant, marketing consultants, attend the classes of this psychologist converted to a guru of love at first sight. They learn the art and the how to snag a fiancé. Billionaire, if possible.
Called the "Bitch Academy", this establishment is already gathering followers in ten large towns of Russia and Ukraine. "All their childhood, these thirty year old women have heard their mother saying over and over: If you assert yourself, you are seen as a whore, underlines Vladimir Rakovski. But time has changed, women are earning money, buying apartments. Men don't run after them any more. So , you have to run after them. In our country, being a bitch has become an art, a weapon to handle with care."
That costs her 5 000 roubles (145 euros), in Oxana. A fifth of her wages as a housekeeper in a certification company . She is 27 years old. A nose like Julia Roberts, curly hair that she shakes as she was taught here. "It is a laboratory, she says. You get in six weeks what take you five years to understand in life." So what? Techniques not really revolutionary, but for a long time has remained taboo for this young lady from the province. "When I arrived in Moscow, I was lost, she explains. I needed to raise my female qualification. I learned how to play several parts: the mistress, the little girl, the confidante. I am more confident now."
"You see that men are not that dangerous!"
Like in theatre, the apprentice seductress must rehearse moves that she thought she were incapable of doing. This is the key to the Rakovski's method , a mixture of behavioral therapy and company coaching. Today' s lesson is written on the blackboard: "To create a sexually attractive image ". Incorrect behaviour required. Their guinea-pig? a ripe age Viktor, with red cheeks, the stopwatch around his neck. This sport trainer comes to play the game at the end of his class, just beside. "Come on fatty, I need you!" Vladimir Rakovski tells him. A girl adjusts her skirt, then approaches with a mischievous look: "The weather is so hot!" The girls burst out laughing. She invites Viktor to play pool: "Take off your jacket, you will be sweating!"
Next. Julia. In a black dress, gilded heels. She sits on Viktor's lap. Plays with his hair. The psychiatrist gloats: "You see that men are not that dangerous!"
At the school of women as at the School of fans, marks are given: 5, "I am ready to marry you"; - 4, "I cross the street to avoid you". One polishes her voice, one refines her looks. All is pretext to cast a spell at the male target: to miss her plane, to fall in the street. Be careful, not anywhere: in front of the Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament. In the morning, the cars of deputies parade. "Let yourself be rescued", advises Rakovski. Like a woman-object that one pickup on the street? "The goal, on the contrary is to return power to women", he answers.
Interpret for the Canadian embassy, Ina, 22 year old, was entangled in her shyness. No father at the house, she takes care of her mother and her sister. "I was afraid of men, she confides. I knew I was attractve, but I was shy. Here, one does not dwell on the disease, you are taught to work on your weaknesses.
Destabilized by new rules
Freed from the patriarchal cocoon, thirsty of independence, but destabilized by the new rules of the game of love, more liberal, the young town people need advices. Need to share their anguishes as fas as couples are concerned, in a society where the nuts which locked the family model have loosened since the fall of the Soviet Union.
From 1990 to 2003, the annual number of divorces in Russia jumped from 560 000 to 800 000. And no need to get married in order to make babies: downtown, the proportion of natural children has gone from 15% to more than 30%. "The blogs, the meeting sites on the Internet are disrupting relationships, raises Alexandre Avdeev, demographer at the Lomonossov university, Moscow. In the 60's, there weren't enough men in the country, more than 20 million people had been killed in the war, it was necessary to catch a husband and keep him, even if he was not a nice guy. Today, all has changed."
The women want to choose. Like Irina, 47 years old, divorced after twenty-six years of marriage and who is wearing, this evening, a sexy red dress for the first time of her life. This businesswoman collects diplomas: in economy, in art, psychology and, from now on, seduction. Her new companion, a financier, believes that she is taking evening third cycle courses . "I was born a bitch", she says with a triumphant smile. Today, she is improving herself.
Marie Huret, with Went Chevelkina
Translated from l'express.
