Barcelona City Council seems intent on
regulating prostitution, to protect the rights of women who enter the sex trade
voluntarily. This has provoked a counter-movement lead by four female mayors from
the metropolitan area, and several feminist groups, spearheaded by the Women's
Democratic Movement (MDM).
This political struggle has sparked a media
debate over the regulation of prostitution, amid a flurry of accusations and
political point-scoring from all sides. Some of the accusations are probably
true, and this is partly what politics (both New and Old) is about; political
actors will use whatever measures within reach to defend and broadcast their convictions,
and gain hegemony over opposing ideas. Whether they genuinely believe that their
ideas are better for society, or are simply toeing the party line; we must
remember that political parties are shaped by ideologies, and they may have to
perform ideological contortions to defend their policies. Therefore, I welcome
the debate.
I hope that it continues and deepens; that
it reveals prostitution for what it really is, in all its complexity. Asking who
it benefits, how it works and what its function is would be a good start. I
hope it is explained and understood, that data and statistics emerge, and that
the myths are dispelled. I want everyone to have so much information on the
topic that it becomes impossible to shrug off and ignore. Just repeating that
well-worn refrain that "something must be done" is not enough. We must
question ourselves and what society accepts as a normal, natural and inevitable
'lesser evil'.
The debate must take to the streets and
spread by word of mouth. It should force us to take up a personal stance, and
ask the uncomfortable questions that challenge cosy acceptance of the problem.
We should understand that the debate only exists because of politics, and feminist policies on equality are not compatible with a neoliberal perspective that commercialises bodies for the market.
The one thing that all the different camps
agree on is that “something must be done” about the problem. Perhaps they even
share an understanding of its magnitude. After all, prostitution qualifies as a
"wicked problem", to use a social planning term. Yet social scientists
never apply this term specifically to prostitution; despite the fact that the
problem is deeply ingrained, growing and made even more complex by
globalisation. Despite the fact that it affects the whole of society, and that
the majority of its victims are women and girls: around 40 million of them. On
the other side of the equation, the consumers of prostitution are almost all
men, leaving open the possibility that some are social workers or policy makers
themselves. It is essential to view prostitution as a "wicked
problem" because of the serious consequences it has for all of us, even if
it risks upsetting the social scientists. It allows us to see prostitution for
what it really is: an immense problem that affects everyone.
The discrepancy between all the possible
'solutions' is what drives the debate, and constitutes the very essence of
politics. Political decisions reflect ideological viewpoints and always have
social consequences. We decide how we should approach a problem and where to
begin; how many people will be affected, who stands to lose or gain and who we
should favour. Political decisions are charged with symbolism and meaning.
Making a wrong decision, or abstaining, has even greater consequences than making
the right decision. Not deciding is implicitly a decision in itself.
If we approach prostitution as a problem that
can be solved, and not as something inevitable, we must ask ourselves about the
causes. And when it acquires the magnitude of a "wicked problem" - globalised,
involving significant economic interests, rooted in inequality - we must also
ask ourselves about the causes of the causes. We must recognise that complex
problems require complex solutions that rely on social complicity. Those
solutions will provoke reactions and resistance, require different levels of
intervention across different frames of time, and the results are not
guaranteed. We need, not only innovative and imaginative policies, but also the
resources necessary to implement them.
Above all, we must realise that rejecting
the wrong policy is just as important as choosing the right one. Because the
wrong decision only worsens the problem and allows it to fester, until it
becomes lodged in the imagination as a natural, unavoidable fact of life. In
social policy a bad decision outweighs a good one; an error is more costly,
frustrating and undoes the work of previous interventions. In fact, this is how
most social problems reproduce and multiply; what begins as an injustice ends
up as a naturalised and normalised system of exploitation.
That is why I hope the debate keeps on
growing. After all, it owes its origin to the feminist movements that first demanded
the right not to be prostituted, exploited, and be forced to sell the only
thing they possessed: their own bodies. It was the eruption of neoliberalism in
the sixties that introduced the myth of free choice based on consent; the idea
that becoming a prostitute was a matter of individual choice, independent of
any social context, and therefore a legitimate job option.
Barcelona City Council's stance on regulating prostitution has been
ambiguous and biased over the last few years, so this recent controversy may
help to clarify the different positions. At one point, to appease neighbours'
complaints, the council opted to issue fines to prostitutes; later admitting
that very few of them were actually collected. It was a hypocritical gesture;
in reality its position, without openly expressing it, was in favour of regulating
prostitution. That is why they tolerated the barrage of promotion from both the
public and private media, which presented prostitution as a legitimate
business. Over the years there has been a deluge of news stories about the
advantages that prostitution offers over other jobs. A
good salary, excellent working conditions, the possibilities of integration
with family life, professional status… with such high praise, it’s a wonder we
don’t all consider prostitution to be the best career option available. It was
presented as a highly respectable job by the media, who repeatedly called for
the introduction of training and professional standards in the industry. In
connivance with the pimp lobby, they treated prostitution as if it were a public
service; even calculating its contribution to the GDP and tax revenue.
The tourist guidebooks refer to Barcelona’s reputation as a highly popular destination for buying
sex. It’s as if we ought to be proud of our city being branded this way; as
though it was part of our cultural heritage. Come and enjoy our sunshine,
Mediterranean gastronomy, a visit to the Sagrada
Familia...and at the end of the day, why not let your hair down with one of
our famous putas? The complete
tourist package.
The controversy unleashed will allow, for a moment at least, a space
for abolitionist arguments to spread. Feminism has evolved and incorporated
class struggle. In an
increasingly conservative and regressive society, its original causes continue
to be valid. The patriarchy is adapting to the times
and aligning itself with the neoliberalism that supports it. Any new policies
based on collective ideals are discredited by the neoliberal values of
individualism, privatisation and competition.
In the face of this, feminism's commitment
to the abolition of prostitution represents a defence of human rights. This
includes the rights of prostitutes; not on the basis of what they do, but because
they are people. This is why feminists are urgently calling for policies that
aim to solve the problem, rather than accept it as an unavoidable ‘lesser
evil’.
Policies that only aim to reduce harm do
not go far enough; they must also legitimately aspire to eradicate
prostitution. Policies must treat prostitution as a “wicked problem”, and institutions
must make a sustained commitment to providing the resources needed to implement
them. All government actions must be based in equality; with policies that
support, empower and offer alternatives to women in prostitution, whether or not
they want to leave it. There is no room for shortcuts or half-measures;
prostitution is a gender issue that must be viewed from a feminist perspective.
Feminism’s ideology can only be of the left, and can never fit into the right-wing
neoliberal framework.
We must listen to the voices of everyone
involved; which includes prostitutes, those who want to leave prostitution, and
all the women who never want to become a prostitute. The sex trade is an
institution that affects society as a whole. We need informed opinions that are
based on the values of peaceful coexistence and tolerance, not hypocritical and
selfish individualism. To analyse and understand the problem, we must establish
processes of mediation. This would allow society itself to contribute to sanctioning
the users of prostitutes, promote change in how young people are socialised,
and develop different attitudes to sexuality.
If we aim to abolish prostitution, the
debate must be centred on the consumer and the demand. It is not only a matter
of issuing penalties to consumers; society must denounce the act of buying sex
itself. We must hold the users of prostitutes to account, as we would with any
abuser. Buying another person’s body should not be accepted as a natural,
harmless and inconsequential act. We need a truly innovative change of policy
direction; one that shifts the spotlight away from the prostitutes’ motives, and
on to the silent, accepted consumer and his demand for a degrading sexuality. And
we need to hear the voices of all the men who oppose these practices, yet
remain silent. If we want to combat the sexual objectification of women in our
culture, these men must speak up and explain why they reject it.
We must expose the fallacies and myths constructed around a sexuality
that is based on consumption, and ruled by the sacrosanct market. When prostitutes are given
no other alternative, we cannot justify the trade in women's bodies (or parts
of their bodies) with the illusion of ‘free choice’. Having to sell sex for survival does not constitute freedom of choice. But we
are free to take affirmative action, and oppose the normalisation of sexual
exploitation in our society. In this case, the most radical choice is to say
NO.
For the new policy makers, I leave you with
some words from the renowned militant feminist and political activist, Beatriz
Gimeno:
“Supposedly
left-wing feminists often use prostitution as a metaphor for the free market:
an ideologically neutral space in which transactions and contracts are
negotiated.
The
regulation of prostitution can only be defended from a neoliberal position. Its
principal supporters are the businessmen that profit from it, and the
right-wing politicians who have freed themselves from conservative moralising.
Neoliberals have been very quick to realise that regulation is perfectly
coherent with their policies. (...) This is why supporters of regulation avoid
ethical questions and simply confirm prostitution’s existence as something
inevitable; allowing a certain part of it to be permitted, subject to licensing
and taxation..."
Translation by Ben Riddick
Original Spanish article - La nueva política y el entusiasmo neoliberal por la emprendiduría prostituyente
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