Press photographs of prostitutes plying their trade right out on the street have reignited a debate about the practice in Spain, where it has seen rapid growth over the past 15 years.
Traditionally perceived as relatively marginal, prostitution is increasingly seen as “normal,” with ever younger men preferring to pay for sex rather than taking the trouble of trying to pick up girls.
Prostitution is again making headlines after the daily newspaper El Pais published pictures of prostitutes and their clients having sex on the street at night in a Barcelona tourist neighborhood.
Barcelona had become increasingly lax in applying a 2006 municipal ordinance that stipulated fines of up to 750 euros (US$1,050) for sex workers or their clients, critics complain. The ordinance was aimed at eradicating such practices from central districts.
Associations representing local residents or the prostitutes themselves urged a legalization of the trade, describing it as the only way to guarantee prostitutes adequate working conditions.
The city, however, only deployed more police to chase the sex workers off the streets in the Raval neighborhood.
The debate revealed a problem affecting, not just Barcelona, but all of Spain, where — like in many other European countries — the authorities have been unable to choose between a Swedish-style ban and a Dutch-style legalization of prostitution.
The practice has thus been left in legal limbo, which makes it more difficult for police to pursue criminals trafficking in prostitutes, leaving thousands of women at the mercy of pimps coercing them into the trade.
The influx of immigrants has led to the growth of prostitution in Spain, where up to 300,000 women are estimated to be selling sex in flats, hostels, streets, parks or at around 2,500 “clubs” functioning as brothels.
One of the world’s most lucrative criminal trades moves an estimated 18 billion euros in Spain annually.
Around 90 percent of the sex workers are migrants from countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Nigeria, Romania or Russia.
There is abundant judicial evidence that many of the women have been lured to Spain with false promises and forced into prostitution with threats, beatings, rape and even outright torture.
“Sexual exploitation rings are very cruel, the roughest I have seen in my career,” police officer Carlos Igual said.
However, prostitution is not technically illegal, and police can only act in cases in which prostitutes report their pimps for coercion. That is something that the women, who may be in the country illegally and may not even speak Spanish, are often afraid of doing.
Yet prostitution has also not been clearly defined as a legal activity, preventing police from inspecting brothels to make sure that sex workers are adequately treated.
It is mainly on a local level that authorities have taken sporadic action such as information campaigns, closing premises or placing video cameras in neighborhoods to dissuade potential clients.
Nearly 30 percent of Spanish men admit to having bought sex, according to the National Statistics Institute and may downplay reports of violence or oppression.
“They wouldn’t do it if they didn’t like it,” a Madrid taxi driver commented.
The abundant offer of cheap women with a variety of exotic looks has made many young men regard prostitution as a normal leisure activity, with the average age of the clients dropping to around 30, El Pais quoted psychologists and other researchers as saying.
The growth of prostitution reflects “a culture of immediacy, the will to get casual sex fast and without effort,” the daily wrote.
Some experts see the increase of prostitution as a new form of oppression against women, but the issue is made more complicated by the fact that some prostitutes do enter the trade voluntarily.
“I could be cleaning stairs, but now I earn 2,500 euros a month,” one sex worker said in the southern town of El Ejido.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS