When September comes around, so does the Monaco Yacht Show. This tiny country to the south of France is a year-round haven for the lavishly rich; in fact one in three residents are millionaires. But it's the famous yacht show that really brings in the cash. This show is a veritable playground for millionaires and billionaires who are in the market for their perfect yacht.
Sofia Tindall, a freelance investigative journalist for Cosmopolitan UK, had the un fortunate opportunity to experience this annual trade show first hand. As a writer drawn to complex gender issues, Tindall's fiery piece on the yacht show for Cosmo UK was full of poignant observations. But in a recent conversation with SWAAY she was able to give us even more details on this patriarchal party capital.
Though Tindall is no stranger to "wealthy environments," the degree of luxury on display at the yacht show was "overwhelming. The tradeshow attracts an unprecedented number of wealthy professionals as a "super-charged environment to grow your business. For many attendees, the Monaco Yacht Show is the place to spend money, but for some, in particular young women, the show offers a uniquely lucrative opportunity to earn it.
Tindall recalls that "there were seven men to every three women," and generally these women weren't there to buy yachts. Amidst the thralling crowds of grey-haired men the median age of attendees is 45 to 55 you are likely to find a few statuesque "twentysomething women. With the gender representation skewing so distinctly male, it should come as no shock that the environment would be somewhat sexist, but what Tindall experienced there was truly otherworldly.
And not in a good way. Though prostitution is legal in Monaco, at the Yacht Show this carried a different meaning for the women who worked at the events. One of the only two women entrepreneurs she met there advised her to be wary as a young woman entering this strange new world, "almost like a pre-warning,".
