Joanna Gill, Oscar Valero. October Sex workers say a Socalist party bill aimed at ending prostitution by cracking down on pimping and making it a crime to buy sex will drive the trade underground, putting them at greater risk of violence and unsafe conditions. The draft law being drawn up by the Socialist party PSOE would make it a crime to buy sex, and introduce tougher penalties for pimping - seeking to effectively end prostitution and sex trafficking by tackling demand. Online sex work, such as video calls, and the production of pornographic photographs and videos fall within the scope of the proposed legislation.
Another law already in force bans adverts for prostitution. A parliamentary vote on the proposals had been due early this month, but some lawmakers have agreed to talks with sex workers that could lead to amendments being made. Part of a broader women's rights push by the Socialists, the draft legislation treats sex workers as victims, rather than criminals as would be the case under a ban on prostitution. A sign reading "We are all workers" is pictured on a fence as protesters leave a demonstration against the proposed law to abolish sex work in the country, in Madrid, Spain, October 4, Until now, sex work has existed in a legal grey zone in Spain and is largely tolerated, though sexual exploitation and pimping, the act of controlling sex workers or taking a part of their earnings, are illegal.
But sex workers fear the proposed crackdown will not succeed in bringing an end to prostitution and could instead increase the dangers for people selling sex. At recent demonstrations, some held placards reading "Sex work is work" and "Feminist whores", while sex workers' association Astras has threatened to name and shame politician clients in a bid to shoot down the new rules.
Rakel , 41, a sex worker who belongs to StopAbolition, a campaign group set up to fight the bill, said if passed it would drive sex work underground, raising the risk of HIV infections and violence due to unsafe conditions such as street work. She said, for example, that only criminal networks would be willing to rent apartments to sex workers, as landlords would fear prosecution under the draft law's broader definition of pimping.
Spain's Socialist-majority government decided to forge ahead with the legislation despite deep divisions over the text within the party and coalition partner, Podemos. Critics say the initiative is overly paternalistic and obscured by moral judgments about the sex trade. That would make it one of the biggest markets for prostitution in Europe, a statistic Socialist politicians have used to strengthen arguments that a deregulation implemented in the mids has failed. There has been support for the government's plans among groups working with trafficked women forced into sex work.
