Students sponsored for sex

3rd February 2012

An article in the Polish press this week states that as many as one in five Polish students could be selling their bodies in order to help see them through university.

According to TVN24, ‘sponsoring’ - as the activity is known - is booming across Poland as students struggle to pay their way through further education whilst still maintaining a healthy social life.

It claims that by setting aside just a couple of evenings each month, girls are able to take home several thousand zlotys, as well as having the opportunity to enjoy luxuries such as weekend trips away, five star hotels or nights at the opera.

The phenomenon was apparently first highlighted several years ago in France. However with a new Polish film (‘Sponsoring’) based on the subject hitting the cinemas next month, it seems that now as many as 20 percent of female students in this country may be getting involved.

“I started looking up the figures on Internet surveys and it was an intimidating number,” says Malgorzata Szumowska, the film’s director.

“It’s immersed in the modern world of consumption. ‘I want to have this, I want to have that...’ and so on.”

Sociologist Renata Gardian and Professor Jacek Kurzepa were two of the first to address the problem here. Gardian met with eight girls involved who wrote down their thoughts on the matter. While they all began confident and relaxed, some began to regret their actions over time.

The problem, according to Kurzepa, is that sponsorship is addictive and it’s wreaking havoc on the psyche of young people.

“This is the future elite we are talking about - these are students,” he points out. “And they are going on to build Poland as prostitutes?”

---

Readers Comments

---

This article is over 90 days old so comments are now closed