Paying for sex on the Ramblas

Sadly everything has a price on it in life. Barcelona is a magnate for stag weekends from the UK and Ireland who bring with them some who wish to pay the price for sex whilst on their jaunt. However many dont realise the real price.

Talking with the owner of the Queen Vic English pub in Barcelona where I often go to watch the Premiership football (not on Sky Sports but Canal plus), I get to hear the stories of how the lads on the Barcelona stag weekends often fancy playing away from home.

Unsuspectingly (or maybe just drunkenly) they approach the black hookers who ply their trade at the lower end of the Ramblas, where most of the English and Irish Sports Pubs and Bars happen to be. Given that there are no brothels in the old town area and given that these guys rarely speak Spanish its the logical and easy option for them. Whether blatantly in the middle of the street or after scurrying off into some secluded dark alley way they wouldnt dream of stopping the wandering playful hands of these girls from drifting below the belt. Just as the groping starts the brain disengages and the wallet disappears.

Not a week goes by when theres not some poor tourist sat on a bar stool in some English or Irish Pub downtown in the Gothic Quarter telling how he was robbed by some black hooker on the Ramblas. So much so the owner of the Queen Vic commissioned a local design company, Lactucoloco to design a range of T-shirts which say "I was robbed in Barcelona". Maybe not so funny for the guy whose just been relieved of his beer money and maybe not what the tourist board was hoping to promote the city with but hey, bloody good idea!

The scourge of these black hookers on the Ramblas and the Raval, known locally as the 'barrio chino' is sadly part of Barcelonas identity now. Coming from North West Africa they seem to be quite happy with what they do on the face of it so maybe they havent been kidnapped and smuggled in for someone to live off their earnings but that doesnt mean that theyre not being exploited by someone somewhere wanting to take advantage of them. Lets face it, its a fair guess that theyre here illeagally with no papers, not many rights, in an illicit trade which is conducted illeagily on the streets of the Ramblas. Not a comfortable position to explain away to the police if you had to report a crime against you or you were being exploited.

This raises the question how these girls in such a precarious legal situation carry on night after night, year after year working in the same places in the Ramblas in front of the Guardia Urbana station with dozens of Guardia passing by, dozens of Mossos Esquadra passing by and maybe the occaisional Policia Nacional too? Laws passed specifically to clean up Barcelona and the anti-social behaviour exhibited by many especially in the Gothic Quarter mean the hookers shouldnt be out on the street and make it simpler for the Guardia Urbana to arrest and/or fine them. But oddly the Guardia Urbana seem to turn a blind eye. Is there some other type of exploitation going on here?

And if theyre not being exploited by some type of pimp or the police, who is it that makes sure that its only the black girls on the Ramblas plying for the easy tourist money? Did someone quietly ask the Latinas, the Spanish, the Chinese and the Eastern Europeans to not come out and play? 

Whatever the truth is where sex is paid for theres some kind of exploitation going on.

In the case of the black hookers on the Ramblas, yes, they surely must be exploited in some way at some time by somebody. However with their attitude, actions and reputation the general public simply loose respect for them and care little for their well being and security thereby leaving them even more vulnerable. And who can blame them?

Another example of the real price of paying for sex.