Spain needs to open the debate on sex work based on rights and evidence
On 4 August 2018 the Spanish State Gazette published the registration of Organización de Trabajadoras Sexuales (OTRAS), the first sex worker union in Spain. Last week, almost one month later, the Spanish government found out that a group of workers have registered as a trade union and this triggered a barrage of hateful comments and statements about sex work and sex workers. The Minister of Labour vowed to do everything in her power to reverse the decision and annul the registration.
Why on earth would a self-proclaimed feminist socialist government ever try to stop an organisation founded with the aim to protect workers’ right and improve working conditions? The answer is both simple and disturbing: because these workers are sex workers.
While reporting on the issue, Spanish media circulated a number of false claims that we’d like to straighten out for the international audience:
‘Prostitution is illegal in Spain’
Prostitution is not illegal in Spain. Currently, the buying and selling of sexual services by adults is not a criminal offence; but the organisation of sex work by third parties and the living off the proceeds of sex work are. Since the passing of a controversial law, known as Gag Law, in 2015 the request and acceptance of paid sexual services are penalised when they occur in public areas near places intended to be used by minors or when they can create a risk to road safety.
‘Most women in prostitution are there against their will’
According to a report by the then Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality published in 2015, there are an estimated 45,000 sex workers in Spain,[1] while both the media and some civil society organisations have been claiming for years that the number is 300,000 and between 80% and 90% of them do so against their will. However, there are no reliable studies to support these figures; according to a 2010 UNODC report,[2] the number of women in sex work in Europe who are trafficked is around 14 per cent.
‘Prostitution = Human Smuggling = Human Trafficking = Exploitation of women’
The anti-trafficking discourse in Spain conflates sex work with sexual exploitation and human trafficking creating stereotypes that directly affect sex workers. As a result, sex workers and their organisations are stigmatised, misrepresented and, in many cases, criminalised.
The reasons for human trafficking lie in deeper and more structural issues, such as poverty, lack of opportunity, lack of social protection, and restrictive migration policies. The abolition of the sex trade, or the criminalisation of sex workers or clients, will not address these conditions.
If the resolution that approves the registration of the sex workers union is not invalidated, it will mean a terrible thing: recognising prostitution as work
Sex workers are workers who provide for their families, and citizens who contribute to the economy by paying taxes on the goods and services they buy. Ultimately, what should provoke outrage is that they are workers and citizens who do not receive the same social and medical services as other citizens.
Therefore we must invalidate it
A study published by GAATW earlier this year based on research in seven countries, including Spain, found that organising among sex workers has an empowering effect, leading to reduced risks of exploitation and trafficking. [3] Self-organising strengthens sex workers both individually and collectively, and enhances their ability to respond to situations of violence and abuse. Self-organising is crucial in mitigating the isolation and stigma that permeate sex workers’ lives.
The registration of the union should be used as an opportunity to open a more serious debate about sex work that includes sex workers in the discussion and is based on facts, not fiction. This would also be an opportunity to break with the criminalising tradition which deprives sex workers of the ability to enjoy their human rights. Organised workers in any sector are empowered workers and are thus less vulnerable to rights violations, abuse and exploitation. Human rights activists and trade unions need to extend their solidarity to sex workers who organise to demand their rights.
[1] Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, Comprehensive Plan to Combat Trafficking in Women and Girls for the Purposes of Sexual Exploitation 2015-2018, p. 37, retrieved July 2017, https://www.observatoriodelainfancia.es/ficherosoia/documentos/4772_d_Plan_Integral_Trata_18_Septiembre2015_2018.pdf.
[2] UNODC; Trafficking in Persons to Europe for sexual exploitation, 2010, p.7, retrieved August 2017, https://www.unodc.org/documents/publications/TiP_Europe_EN_LORES.pdf
[3] GAATW, Sex Workers Organising for Change: Self-representation, community mobilisation, and working conditions, GAATW, Bangkok, 2018, http://gaatw.org/resources/publications/941-sex-workers-organising-for-change