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!