Bodyguards in skirts: new occupation for masculine women
Female bodyguards may tell lots of unusual details of their work. It is an open secret that they sometimes have to help their clients out of restaurants and parties when the latter are absolutely drunk. Women working as bodyguards of well-known singers, looking absolute macho on the stage, have to escort them even to WC because these men turn out to be panicky afraid of the rest of the world. And it may happen that a female bodyguard must be ready to repel sexual harassment toward their clients. Victoria Korchagina loves her job and she dreams of working with President Putin some day. “This work would be interesting for me from the professional point of view first of all. And also it would be a good chance to learn what kind of a personality the president is. It is also interesting to know what is done for the president’s security,” Russia’s first female bodyguard says.
The history of female bodyguards is really very long. It is known that Chinese emperors had some female bodyguards; women also served as bodyguards in ancient temples of India, Egypt and Mideast. The tradition was not typical of Russia at all. It was under the Soviet regime only that female bodyguards appeared for the first time. First female astronaut Valentina Tereshkova was always escorted by a woman belonging to security services who obviously performed the bodyguard functions.
Today, about 500 women (approximately 2 percent of the total number of bodyguards in Russia) are personal bodyguards. They are usually paid not more than $1,500-2,000 for 15 workdays a month.
Zurab Kekelidze from the Serbsky Institute of Social and Forensic Psychiatry says that both male and female bodyguards have their advantages. But it is a proven fact, he says, that women easier overcome stress than men, they seldom take to alcohol to cope with stresses. What is more, women are usually more careful about their psychological and physical health. They never reject medical aid if it is required, which is not always typical of men. Besides, the expert says that men are guided basically with logic while women also employ their emotional flair and experience. Women often act correctly thanks to their intuition. So, the expert recommendation is that clients wishing to employ personal guards should have a team consisting of both female and male bodyguards.
Translated by Maria Gousseva
Discuss this article on Pravda.Ru English Forum
