Spain, Marriage and Puticlubs

Spain, traditionally a catholic country where divorce was virtually impossible and carried a huge social stigma. Now its catching up with the rest of Western Europe with its new laws bringing higher divorce rates.

However its still a long way away from disposible marriage system enjoyed in the USA where you can get married in Vegas dressed as Elvis and Marilyn and then get divorced before the photos have come back from the printers. This is perfectly summed up by the great Bart Simpson "marriage? im not ready for a 3 year commitment yet"

Coming from the UK which is not too far behind the US cultural acceptance of rotating door marriages i can make some interesting comparisons between the more traditional Spanish system and the the more liberal UK.

Spain - hard to get out of marriage, lots of brothels

UK - easy to get out of marriage, few brothels*

*ignoring the Eastern European explosion of the last 5 years

It seems that since escaping an unhappy marriage is harder in Spain so brothels became more acceptable than divorce. Is this the case? Email me and let me know!

Another thing i notice is that in this country of lower divorce and seperation rates is that the communities seem more secure with less crime where Spaniards are involved and less evidence of social problems which sociologists in the UK try to relate back to single parent society. However the news is full of wives getting beaten to death by their husbands.  Anyone wish to discuss this hot potato of divorce V social integrity?

My final controversial question for the day is that with Spain having a ridiculous number of brothels and the UK so few by comparison, has anyone ever compared the rape and sexual crime statistics? The reason i ask this is that in the UK i have lots of female friends who live in fear of getting raped especially in the cities. I agree that this is probably more down to a percieved threat than a real threat but when they come to Spain they feel totally safe. I know that statistics on the subject will only count reported cases but even the figures i found suggest that after adjusting for population sizes the UK still has twice as many cases of rape compared to Spain. Is there a corolation between sexual assults and access to paid sex in a society?

These are just over-a-beer observations, I havent conducted a huge socialogical study of the subject but I would be interested to hear from anyone who has a view on this and i hope it can stimulate some useful debate.

Clubs, Whorehouses, Brothels, Massage Parlours, Brasshouses, Discrete Apartments and Knocking Shops in Spain

Yep, loads of words for them but basically theyre places where a guy goes to pay for a sexual experience.

In the UK massage parlours and saunas are the terms i hear most since brothels and whorehouses per se are illegal. With tougher new laws being suggested all of the time this terminology isnt likeley to change.

First thing to get straight is that in Spain a sauna is for gay men. The second thing is that any sign that says 'club' is most likely a brothel. Not a sports club, not a night club. Ok thats out the way now, we dont need any more funny stories about people discovering these two facts the hard way.

The most common term in Spain is puticlub, where the word puti comes from prostituta. Along with club de alterne and whiskeria your looking at the 3 most common terms for a bar or club type layout where you can go into a bar, order a drink and meet the girls.

Piso is the word for apartment, the 'pisos' in Spain are pretty much unregulated (as opposed to the clubs which sell alcohol) and therefore synonymous with the darker side of the trade although there are many well established 'pisos' with very proud standards which simply operate a cheaper alternative to the 'club' type establishments.

I hope this clears up a few vocabulary and cultural issues!

Is prostitution legal in Spain?

From my understanding of the current Spanish law, prostitution is not illegal and being a client is not illegal. Since prostitution is well and truely on the Spanish cultural map and the government is male dominated ive never heard of anything more than chat about banning it here either. 

The illegal part comes from the practices that surround it and how its controlled. 

Human trafficking: the sick trade of human trafficking for sexual slavery is about illegal as you can get in any country. Proving guilt and having the political will to find the criminals and follow through is a bit controversial here in Spain where huge amounts of girls from the Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America are brought in to satisfy the huge local market for raping trafficked women.

Extortion and exploitation: where theres the means to make money theres always someone who wants to control it. Prostitutes, especially foreigners, are often very vulnerable to exploitation due to weak personal or social circumstances, drug dependancy, financial problems, sticky legal situations or simply being a woman in a dangerous enviroment. These weaknesses leave them wide open to exploitation from pimps, 'boyfriends', dealers, corrupt police and criminals. 

Corruption: as with any business on the edge of the law, protection and mitigation of risk is needed and it usually comes from non too legal sources. To avoid trouble from the authoritiesbribes are sometimes paid to stay off the authorities radar.

Working with no papers: you dont need to have been a victim of traffickers to be working in Spain as a prostitute with no visa or papers. Work permits are needed for all non EU citizens to get legal employment in Spain. There are many women who work as prostitutes simply because they wish to live in Spain but cant earn a decent living without working visas and papers. Given that prostitution is traditionally a cash in hand business its a viable option for those have crossed the moral bridge of selling their bodies to maintain a certain lifestyle.

Paying no tax or social security: when money is earned the state wants its piece of the action. In return it offers security and if you dont kick back you get threatened with prosecution and disruption to your activities ......mmmm sounds a bit like extorsion to me. Never the less cases have come up whereby clubs and bars which operate as brothels, even when the girls are earning for themselves and not the club, have been forced to employ the girls as it was viewed that theyre at a place of work.

Apartments as unlicensed brothels: theres loads of them! For various reasons they can fall foul of the law. From rental contracts which say they cant be used for prostitution, the local council not allowing certain economic activities in certain urban zones and properties through to local laws saying prostitution must take place in registered places. In Spain there are huge amounts of these places, mainly well known and tolerated but sometimes a nuisence which authorities try to purge. 

Street hustling: local councils seem to have their own tolerance and rules regarding 'street walkers', like in Lleida , Castelldefells and Barcelona where fines are handed out to clients and workers alike. However legal it may be in a given area the neighbours are often upset by it.

We all have our own opinions about whether prostitution should be legal or not and how controlled it should be but for the time being its like cigarettes and alcohol...... its legal to drink and smoke whilst you pay a higher price for doing it legally - so the bootleggers come in outside of the law with their cheap imports and completely exploit the situation!

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.

How it all started

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