Sexot - who is this? In what country and in what year was this term born? What do sexots do? You will find answers to all these questions in our short article.
“Sexot”: meaning of the word
This term arose at the beginning of the twentieth century in the Russian Empire, was fixed in the times of the USSR and is still actively used throughout the post-Soviet space. The word itself is a masculine noun (in the plural - sexots), derived from the colloquial reduction of the phrase "secret employee" (pay attention to the first three letters in each of these words).
So who is this sex? This is a person who provides any secret information to an interested party. Most often, a sex worker is a law enforcement officer secretly rooted in a gang or criminal group in order to collect the necessary information about her. This role can also be played by an ordinary person who cooperates with law enforcement agencies voluntarily or by force.
Synonyms for the word "sexot": scammer, informant, informant, spy, agent and others. Slang and slang words are common, having a similar meaning: snitch, earpiece, speck, whisperer, rat, six, etc.
Sexots in the USSR
As we have already found out, the term originated in the days of the Russian Empire. That is what the agents of the so-called "secret police" (the structural organ of the tsarist police, which sought and identified political criminals and conspirators) were called. The word safely survived the October Revolution of 1917 and migrated to the document circulation of already Soviet special bodies (in particular, the Cheka and the NKVD).
The term "sexot" after the turbulent Soviet repressions of the 30-40s received a pronounced negative coloring. Increasingly, they began to use it in the context of other synonyms: such as “informer” or “traitor”. Later, the word "sexot" in the official and secret documents of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was replaced by the neutral term "source of operational information." Currently, Russian intelligence agencies, as a rule, use the term “agent”.
Sexots in the USA
The so-called sexots are widespread in the US law enforcement system. Here they are called by different names: informant, singer, snitch, etc. As informers (in the good sense of the word) in the United States, often invisible members of society act as priests, taxi drivers, tramps and beggars, postmen and others.
In the USA, informants play an important role. They help to declassify terrorist organizations and groups; prosecutors often use them as witnesses in court trials. Moreover, secret informants are often rewarded for their activities. The reward may be a cash bonus or exemption from criminal liability. Some sexots in the USA even manage to make a living with this difficult and rather risky occupation.