Russian Strip Club Threatens to Take Job-Hunting Website to Court for Refusing to Publish Dancer Vacancy · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

The “Golden Girls” ready for a court battle. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
A Russian striptease club is threatening to take a job-hunting website to court over the latter's refusal to publish a job ad for a show ballet dancer at the club. The Russian Striptease Club Association is supporting the club in question.
According to a report by the website “theRunet,” the club “Golden Girls” claims it has previously posted other job ads on the website, Superjob, without any issues. However, this time, the moderator at Superjob blocked the job opening. When Golden Girls asked the website why the ad wasn't published, a representative reportedly said, “Historically, we don't work with bordellos. It's nothing personal.”
So now the club plans to sue Superjob for “defamation of character,” calling it a necessary measure to protect its “business reputation,” according to Evgeny Shapovalov, a spokesperson for both Golden Girls and the Striptease Club Association:
Вакансия подразумевала просто хореографические номера, не имеющие эротического элемента. Но, видимо, чрезмерно ретивый сотрудник этого удивительного агентства ликвидировал вакансию, а когда мы с ним стали выяснять в переписке, почему, он ответил «с борделями мы не работаем».
[…]
…таким образом целый класс людей оказывается выведен за рамки правового поля, а, согласно конституции, каждый человек имеет право на труд.
The job opening referred only to choreographic activities, without an erotic element. But apparently, the overly industrious employee of this wonderful [job] agency deleted the job ad, and when we contacted him to ask why, he said “we don't work with bordellos.” […] This means a whole class of people ends up outside the legal limits, and according to the constitution, every person has a right to labor.
The job portal's CEO, Natalya Godzhayeva, initially vented her frustrations with the strip club's complaint in a post on Facebook, but she later deleted the text (or threw it behind a privacy wall). (Nevertheless, theRunet recorded a screenshot of the original post.)
Мы баним такие вакансии. Ну правила у нас такие и все тут. Нужны повара, секретари, проджекты, программисты, приходите. Если ищете стриптизерш, извините, не поможем.
We ban such job openings. Those are our rules, period. If you need chefs, secretaries, project [managers], programmers, you're welcome. If you're looking for strippers, sorry, can't help you.
Incidentally, this isn't Golden Girls’ first time in the limelight. Three years ago, in 2013, together with the Association, it was instrumental in creating a special photo calendar for Russian President Vladimir Putin, themed around Russia's involvement in the Syrian conflict and titled “Make Love Not War.”
Superjob's president, Alexey Zakharov, told reporters he has no official comment regarding the incident, “just yet.”
Если эти мутанты поведут себя неправильно, тогда мы их будем учить правильному поведению. А пока не вижу смысла нигде упоминать название этого борделя :) Это же для них бесплатная реклама. Обойдутся :)
If these mutants do it wrong, then we'll teach them how to behave properly. For now I don't see any point in mentioning this bordello's name anywhere. This is free advertising for them. No way:)
Roman Alypov, a lawyer, told theRunet that the strip club had a good chance of proving in court that comparing it to a “bordello” could be construed as an insult. Alypov says Superjob could end up being compelled to publish the job ad, after all.
Golden Girls and the Association say they're willing to wait for 30 days for an apology from Superjob, and then they say they're taking the matter to court.