Violence Against Women: Too much of a bad thing? 

Laura Agustín, The Local, 10 November 2009

It might sound odd to talk about silences on the topic of gender equality in Sweden, since discussions of it seem to run non-stop. But that is how hegemony works: a constant bombardment of words, most of which reiterate the opinions of a single powerful group. Differences of opinion are usually quibbles over details to a central idea that’s accepted as being indisputable because it’s supposed to be normal.

Gender equality in Sweden is a perfect example. Voices that want to question its foundations are not heard, which is what Maria Abrahamsson, a veteran editorial writer for Svenska Dagbladet, meant when she said that ‘open discussion’ is missing about certain aspects of gender law and policy.

Some of what you hear from state feminists refers to assuring that women are represented in government and paid as well and have the same opportunities to work as men, and that men have the same opportunities to be good parents that women do. These are the policies for which Sweden ranks highly compared with most other countries. When the word jämställdhet is heard here, chances are that the details of these issues are being discussed. I say details because the policies have been in place for some time, and no one questions the need to make citizens in general more ‘equal’ in a democratic-type society.

The problem is that much of what state feminists say centres around the concept of Violence Against Women (våld mot kvinnor, often referred to as kvinnofrid, the legal protection of women). The mantra is ‘We have a big problem with violence against women’. Repeated over and over, it becomes a truth difficult to break into questionable pieces, rather providing a reason for endless conversations about how to stop men from committing aggressions against women. A point of view that says ‘Wait a minute, all those things you’re talking about shouldn’t be called violence!’ is rarely heard in public discussions.

It’s not that people in Sweden, feminists and non-feminists alike, never discuss this exaggerated notion of violence in bars, cafes, emails, blogs and occasional seminars. The issue is that the basis of policy, the quite extreme definition of violence and the reductionist idea of what’s ‘good for women’ is so rarely questioned in any visible, public way, whether the mainstream media or parliament. And by questioning I don’t mean the occasional online article with its cloud of comments; I mean a sustained conversation.

Violence Against Women (often known in English-speaking countries as VAW) is problematic when it relies on the idea that women are always, innately weaker than men. More than physical strength is at stake, although the words heard most are abuse, assault, battering. VAW has come to signify different sorts of coercion, threats, and moral strangleholds men are conceived as naturally committing on women, just because men are born that way. Women’s bodies are conceived as inherently vulnerable to men’s invasion and use, which oddly doesn’t produce a demand that women be granted full autonomy over their own bodies.

Partial autonomy is granted: women shall be allowed to have abortions and be listened to when they say No to sex. These are great as far as they go. But on other issues, women’s bodies are conceived as objects for government policymakers to decide about: a contradiction that drives many women, the world over, round the bend. Gender policy is also problematic when it assumes that women are innately better than men – kinder, more peaceful, more capable of love, less capable of violence, preferring certain forms of balanced, meaningful sex.

Louise Persson’s blog frihetspropaganda is the best place I know to hear the other point of view in Sweden. Blogging since December 2003, Persson is the author of Klassisk Feminism. Discussing an H&M advert that showed a woman wearing underwear in her home, which one state feminist, Gudrun Schyman, not only denounced as soft porn but also equated with hard porn, prostitution, trafficking and slavery, Persson complains that Schyman presumes to speak for All Women. In the case of the underwear advert, we can ask: What about women who want to wear sexy lingerie at home, or be photographed wearing it, or make money being photographed wearing it or wear it as a prelude to selling sex?

It was a rare occasion the other night when Aschberg brought Abrahamsson together with Schyman to discuss how gender-equal Sweden is. Abrahamsson said yes, Sweden is gender-equal, especially relative to the rest of the world, and would like to stop talking about jämställdhet and switch to jämlikhet – another word for equality that hasn’t got the baggage of gender and sex. Schyman said no, Sweden isn’t gender-equal and, interestingly, complained that she has no one to discuss the problem with. (Would she like to talk with the model in the H&M ad?)

I’ve got questions about the idea of equality in the first place. Must it mean sameness, exact balance, symmetry? Especially in the area of sex and bodies, that will always be impossible. The core complaint against Sweden’s version of gender equality is that the diversity of women’s mental, spiritual and sexual desires is not recognised and that women who conceive of their bodies differently, who feel empowered in other ways than VAW hegemony recognises, are ignored.

This difference of vision is the subject of exhausting, resource-wasting battles all over the world – which I wrote about some years ago under the title Utopic Visions or Battle of the Sexes? The conflict, if possible, has only grown more venomous since then. How is it that Sweden, with its cultural value on avoiding conflict, can reconcile causing so much of it?

The pleasures of dissent: Not?

The Local, 28 October 2009

At a drinks reception not long ago I referred nonchalantly to the fact that Sweden is supposedly the world’s most gender-equal state. A shiver was felt; eyes rolled. Had I said supposedly? Was I actually questioning Sweden’s version of Gender Equality – jämställdhet? That, it seems, is practically taboo in Sweden.

A spate of articles on ‘the Swedish model’ appeared during the recent US debate about health care. The term usually refers to a generous welfare state funded by high taxes that is not ’socialist’ but free-market: tricky. But another aspect of Swedish government and culture captures the imagination of many round the world: contemporary gender policy, ideas about sex and equality. According to several important statistical indicators, Sweden leads the way in promoting equal rights between women and men – important achievements. But in other ways that can’t be captured by statistics the picture is not so clear. There are doubts and disputes, and those happen right here inside Sweden – not to mention between Swedes wherever they live, as Anna Anka bizarrely showed.

The word consensus is often used to describe how issues like gender equality are understood in Sweden. This has bothered me because the word seems to imply that all Swedes have participated in marxian study groups to discuss social questions in depth and come to reasoned general positions. This is not the case: Gender policy is government policy, no more and no less, even if it was the cornerstone of Social Democratic government at its shiningest hour. There are Swedes who feel that this policy has become a rigid ideology that goes too far, but their opinions are rarely seen in the more highly respected mainstream media. This means that most people in Sweden don’t know there are disputes and may frown heavily when hearing them. This is too bad, because the issues are thorny, interesting and worthy of public debate.

By saying that, I clearly reveal my own bias towards interesting disagreement that can push us forward to new ideas. In the many countries and cultures I’ve lived in, differences of opinion are viewed as potentially productive. Even outright dictatorships believe that, which is why they forbid free speech. In Sweden, however, I am told again and again, conflict is considered negative; the goal is to coexist together agreeably. Vara sams: to be on good terms. Osams is bad: being at loggerheads, falling out. ”We just want to exchange the same ideas and tastes,’ said Åke Daun, author of Svensk Mentalitet. Swedes are said to suffer from konflikträdsla, fear of conflict, and therefore feel uncomfortable when dissenting views are aired.

I have no interest in setting up a cultural hierarchy in which Sweden loses status in favour of some other, supposedly better culture. I’ve never lived anywhere that didn’t have very good points and very bad ones simultaneously. No, I’m  interested in ideas about gender and sex and how Sweden got where it is – a sort of anthropological point of view.

For those who wish each nation to be left to itself by outsiders, it’s important to note that the Swedish government itself doesn’t do that on this topic. In contrast to 1969, when Susan Sontag wrote that ‘Swedes were not disposed by temperament to export aggressively what they practice,’ today’s government speaks of the Swedish ‘mission’ to enlighten the world’s policy, for example in the Swedish Institute’s project, Equal Opportunities – Sweden Paves the Way, an exhibition available for use in international conferences and seminars. Projects to export ideology always bear watching.

I’ve lived here for a year and meet Swedes all the time who don’t agree with some aspects of national gender policy. They would like to see much more diversity in mainstream media discussions, including arguments, with the possibility of changes to policy. They  feel marginalised by the mainstream exclusion and disapproval of their views. I live in Malmö ( the subversive south to some) but the disgruntled Swedes I know live all over the country. 

I’ll link when I can to Swedish writers’ work, in books and articles and blogs, and take a historical view when possible. Policies and values that made wonderful sense at one time can seem oddly outdated only a decade later, rather like hairstyles. Zeitgeists are funny things; cultural contexts shift; a word that once seemed self-evident now rings untrue. Originally, jämställdhet referred to equality in general (jämn numbers are even numbers), particularly the goal of abolishing social class. Now when the word is used it is understood to mean, overarchingly, gender equality.

My own first ideas on Swedish gender policy appeared in The Local earlier this year as Is rape rampant in gender-equal Sweden? I’ve been writing on the subject of irregular migration (unauthorised, undocumented) for many years. The other night I gave a talk as part of Malmö’s Latinamerika i Fokus Film och Kulturfestival . The topic was undocumented migration: how it works on the ground, how people travel and work outside formal structures. If the connexion with gender policy seems unclear, wait for further posts.

The sex industry is seldom mentioned, but here are a couple of excerpts that show how some migrants find temporary relief through supplying sexual services. The first excerpt tells about men who find male sexual protectors; in the second the protectors are women. In the latter description, you may detect some ambiguity: is this ‘pure business’ or is love and affection involved, too?

The boys with a baba were sheltered. They were paid good pocket money, wined and dined, and dressed in nice outfits. They were young Iranians and Kurds from northern Iraq, men in their early or late twenties. The Kurds came from the villages, the rugged mountains of northern Iraq. The Iranians arrived from small towns, ghettos of big cities, and poor neighborhoods of the capital. They came with a dream. Many failed. They remained in Athens and became the ‘bar kids’ of Victoria Square. Dressing up in their best, they would frequent the gay bars around the square looking for a baba or a customer in search of sexual pleasure. [p 203]

[In Calais] a few fared better than the rest. In their teens or early twenties, some found love in the arms of older French women, some in their sixties. The women had kind and motherly looks, gave the men love and attention, tucked them in their beds, and slept with them. The young men had the comfort of a home and all that came with it. Sex was the central part of the agreement. There was no shower or clean bed for those failing to deliver. This was a strict business deal, with its own rules and codes of conduct. [p 307]

Embracing the Infidel, Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West, New York: Bantam Dell, 2005.

There is a large literature on inter-generational relationships involving exchanges of sex and protection that are considered traditional and conventional in many parts of the world. One example is Enjo Kosai: Compensated Dating.

Tanta bulla sobre el uso de la calle. Durante los 15 años que he seguido el conflicto sobre la industria del sexo en España, el tema se ha debatido una y otra vez en el congreso nacional, con múltiples invitaciones a una gama de ‘expertos’ para hablar del significativo de la prostitución. Nunca se llega a ninguna conclusión, pero siempre se dice que hay que hacer algo. Los periodistas también vuelven repetidamente al mismo tema. Esta vez sale en El Mundo un nuevo intento de darles voz a algunas de las prostitutas-trabajadoras del sexo en Madrid (siempre dejan fuera a los hombres trabajadores). Siguen extractos de un artículo escogidos por que proporcionan información sobre el trabajo de calle, no solo opiniones. Como verán, existen motivos razonables que gente de fuera parecen incapaz de entender.

Después viene el testimonio de una latina que conocí por primera vez hace muchos años. Se trata de un video cuyo título lo dice todo: ‘Trabajo en la prostitución porque yo lo he elegido’

Y las prostitutas, ¿qué opinan sobre la polémica?

Raquel Quílez, El Mundo. 10 septiembre 2009

[extractos]

. . . Ana -nombre ficticio- mira tímida con unos enormes ojos verdes mientras permanece sentada en el bordillo de un portal próximo a la Gran Vía. . . . Ana esboza a continuación una teoría que sostendrán después la mayoría de las mujeres a las que se pregunta en la zona Centro de Madrid: prefieren trabajar en la calle. ¿Sus motivos? “Si estás en un club tienes que dar parte del dinero al dueño y además tienes que trabajar las horas que te diga y coger los servicios porque si no, no puedes volver al día siguiente. En la calle, sin embargo, nosotras decidimos las horas que estamos y con quién nos vamos. Nos sentimos más libres”. Y eso a pesar de que el precio de sus servicios cae cuando se ofrece al aire libre.

. . . Las prostitutas han saltado al centro del debate público después de las denuncias por las prácticas en plena calle en Barcelona. La mayoría de las preguntadas en Madrid ni siquiera conoce la polémica. “Pero, ¿cómo en la calle? ¿En mitad de la gente, con todos pasando?”, pregunta sorprendida Laura -nombre ficticio-. Ronda los 50, es española y viste un llamativo mono de leopardo. Está sentada en un taburete en una esquina de la calle Ballesta, el sitio que ocupa desde hace ya varios años. “Eso aquí no pasa. Contactamos con los clientes en la calle pero luego nos vamos a pisos alquilados o a los hostales, donde pagamos cinco euros por la habitación”. También ella reivindica el trabajo en la calle. “Yo prefiero estar aquí, me siento más segura”, repite, como sus compañeras. Pero irte con un desconocido a un hostal no es muy seguro… “Ya, pero en los hostales hay personas que trabajan para protegernos”, contesta. ¿Quién contrata a esas personas? Silencio. Laura tiene cuatro hijos y un nieto a los que mantener porque nadie más trabaja en su familia.

. . . A dos calles de Laura trabaja María -una vez más el nombre es ficticio. . . . Tiene 28 años, habla un inglés perfecto y cursó hasta 3º de Comercio Exterior en su país natal, Rumanía, del que llegó hace tres años. Ha probado todo lo que tenía a su alcance para salir adelante. Ha sido empleada del hogar y camarera, con la mala suerte de caer en casas y locales en los que después se negaron a pagarle. También se ha prostituido en clubs y al final ha optado por echarse a la calle. “Es en el único sitio en el que sólo dependo de mí”, dice. María está sobradamente cualificada, pero se ve obligada a trabajar con su cuerpo. Ella sí reclama que se regularice la situación. “Por lo menos podría tener seguridad social y no ahora que llevo tres años trabajando y no ha servido para nada”, dice. En el último mes, María vuelve a casa con entre 60 y 100 euros en el bolso. “Se nota la crisis -cuenta- antes podía ganar hasta 400 al día. Los mejores son los turistas ingleses”.

. . . “Lo ideal sería que se regulase y que tengamos los mismo derechos que cualquier otro trabajador. Creo que la calle no es un lugar seguro para nadie, ni para un vendedor de cupones”. . . .

‘Trabajo en la prostitución porque yo lo he elegido’: Video

Viajó desde Ecuador a Europa en vacaciones y terminó trabajando como prostituta en Madrid. Un hombre se le acercó en un bar, le ofreció dinero a cambio de sexo y le abrió las puertas a un mundo que a ella se le antojó el mejor salvoconducto económico para su vida. Y lleva ya 12 años en ello

Carolina Hernández trabaja en la calle por decisión propia y comparte sus problemas con su familia, sus amigos y su pareja. En esta entrevista ofrece una visión de la profesión alejada del mito y los lugares comunes. Cuenta que quiere tener un hijo, colabora con la organización Hetaria, desde la que pide la regulación de la prostitución, y asegura que es feliz.

Mientras los políticos debaten su profesión en el Congreso, ella pide que se termine con la hipocresía: “No vivamos en una sociedad retrógrada y machista”, reclama como principal anhelo.

Some people think swinging and polyamory have nothing to do with the sex industry and are offended to be associated with it. In my conception, swinging parties and sex clubs do form part of the industry, because money is exchanged for opportunities to have, watch, smell and listen to sex - one’s own and others. The managers of venues often provide possible partners for your pleasure - sex workers. And, on the other hand, many customers in sex-industry bars and clubs spend time and money without ever buying ’sex’ itself. The lines supposedly dividing these different entertainment enterprises are very blurred.

When people are offended by this inclusion, it means they think the sex industry is something negative. Since I don’t see it as negative, I’m not insulting anyone who’s associated with it. Rather, I’m engaged in figuring out how and why people think they can differentiate between commercial and non-commercial sex. As far as I can see, after studying it for many years, there’s no way to clearly separate them. Which is a result! It’s a result to find out that the separate categories they teach us about aren’t true, or are, at least, questionable. If you’re more interested in this, consider the cultural study of commercial sex, in its original conception and then later.

Morrissey’s original article moves from Ireland to Berlin and includes many entertaining details. Here I’ve excerpted only the bits most relevant to the sex industry.

More sex with strangers, The Independent (Ireland)

By Deirdre Morrissey, 30 August 2009

. . .  I asked Dominique how she came to open a sex club that hosts parties with titles such as Angel in Bondage, Saturday Night Fuck and Circus Bizarre. “Sex is one of the most interesting aspects of my life. I study it, I talk about it, I do it and I teach it,” said Dominique, in a very matter-of-fact tone. “In 1984, when I was 17,” she continued,

“I started working as a table dancer. Then later I began working as a dominatrix, and shortly afterwards I found out that my mother also worked as a dominatrix. So, the sex industry is in my blood. When I was 20, my mother wanted to retire. . . But she reluctantly agreed to manage my S&M studio and leave punishing the slaves up to me. It was hugely successful: 10 years later we had a thriving family business with 20 girls working full-time.

“Then, four years ago,” she says, “myself and my partner were . . .  at the most notorious sex resort in the world, Hedonism, in Jamaica. While lying in a hammock one day, we looked at each other and decided to open our own fantastic sex club back home in Berlin. . . where the primary focus would be on creating an environment where visitors, all driven by the same longings and desires, could meet to enact erotic fantasies and sexual dreams.”

. . . From the exterior, the club could be mistaken for somebody’s home except for the name Insomnia over the door. . . . Rory paid a cute brunette kitted out in provocative lingerie and high heels a cover charge of €20 for the two of us — very reasonable, given the nature of the club. . . . We went up a few steps and into this huge, red-lit ballroom with a ceiling that reached for the sky. A huge dance floor, with a bar down one side, was littered with deviants. Hardcore porn was being projected onto a massive, 40ft cinema screen overlooking the dance floor. Topless bartenders were shaking cocktails and above the bar was a mural of a giant, cartoonised, glammed-up orgy. . . .

The dance floor is where the foreplay takes place, but little adjoining rooms are where the real action is. A couple of scary girls had a big henchman stripped down to a red thong. The muscles on his arm bulged out either side of a thick metal armband and he wore a studded metal collar around his neck. He was bound in chains and while one of the girls was whipping him, the other tightened his leash each time he howled. . . . In the jacuzzi a couple were having fun while their respective partners watched.

A crowd was gathered around some action in a little side room. . . Some kind of operation was being performed on a girl who lay completely exposed and bound to a medical contraption of some sort. . . . a mezzanine level overlooking the dance floor. The entire area was taken up by several enormous tented beds occupied by couples, threesomes, foursomes and, in some cases, whole teams. . . .

English below. Mucha gente no entiende cómo es posible que haya tanto rechazo y acciones policiales en contra de las trabajadoras sexuales migrantes en Europa y sin embargo siguen estando tantas allí, ejerciendo la prostitución. El otro día coloqué un video sobre redadas en España que demostró cuán normal se han vuelto. También puse algo sobre algunos taxistas que no quieren que la policía mallorquina pasen tanto tiempo acosando a sus pasajeras del oeste de Africa. Many people don’t understand how there can be so much protest and police action against migrant prostitutes in Europe and yet there are always so many there.

Este artículo de Barcelona se enfoca en el grupo que molesta más a los europeos: las mujeres negras de Nigeria y paises vecinos, y explica los impedimentos a sacarlas: 1) la prostitución en sí no es delito en España; 2) se les detiene por una infracción menor, a la ordenanza cívica, o bien 3) porque no tienen papeles que demuestran su permiso de estar; así que 4) se les intenta expulsar del país; pero 5) no se puede acreditar a cuál país estarían destinadas; o 6) se van las mujeres en vez de mantenerse localizables para cumplir los requisitos burocráticos. ¿Qué tal? This article from Barcelona focuses on the group that bothers Europeans most: black women from Nigerian and neighbouring countries, and explains the obstacles to getting rid of them: 1) prostitution is not a crime in Spain; 2) they are arrested for a minor infraction, of a civic ordinance, or 3) because they have no papers demonstrating their permission to be there; so that 4) they try to expel them; but 5) they cannot prove what country they would be sent back to; or 6) the women go somewhere else instead of staying where police can locate them and get them to fulfil the paperwork necessary. Some contradiction, no?

El artículo interesa también porque dice secamente que no se puede saber fácilmente cuáles de estas mujeres son víctimas y cuáles están vendiendo sexo porque les parece la mejor opción del momento. The article also says, as though it’s not big news, that it is not easy to know which of the women are victims and which are selling sex because it seems to them to be their best present option.

Detienen a 100 prostitutas irregulares en La Rambla en lo que va de año

Europa Press, 23 agosto 2009

Barcelona: La Policía Nacional ha detenido en lo que va de año a más de un centenar de prostitutas de nacionalidad nigeriana en situación irregular en seis redadas en La Rambla de Barcelona, en las que se identificaron a cerca de un centenar de ellas en cada una de las operaciones. Según han informado fuentes de la Jefatura Superior de Policía de Catalunya, en 2008 se realizaron menos operaciones de este tipo, en las que se detuvo a 50 prostitutas en tres redadas por infracción a la Ley de Extranjería, todas ellas nigerianas. En estos últimos años han proliferado las prostitutas de esta nacionalidad en La Rambla, que en ocasiones protagonizan altercados con potenciales clientes, muchos de ellos turistas, a los que abordan en plena vía y a los que a veces tratan de robar.

Según explicaron las citadas fuentes, la mayoría llega en una situación muy precaria a la ciudad, después de un viaje que empezó cruzando el Estrecho en patera, y con una deuda con quien les ha facilitado su llegada a España. Algunas fuentes apuntan a que esta deuda puede servir para explotarlas, aunque no es fácil determinar si son víctimas de redes de proxenetismo o si ejercen la prostitución ante la falta de otra salida.

La Policía no puede detenerlas por prostitución, ya que se trata de una infracción a la ordenanza de civismo del Ayuntamiento, aunque sí las detiene por infringir la Ley de Extranjería, si bien la mayoría de ellas no tiene ningún tipo de documento y es imposible expulsarlas porque no se puede acreditar oficialmente cuál es su país de origen.

En el caso de abrirles un expediente de expulsión, muchas veces éste no prospera porque las mujeres no son localizables y no siguen el procedimiento, que requiere del cumplimiento de varios trámites.

Prostituierte in Zürich: Nicht alle sind Opfer, Bild Reuters

NZZ am Sonntag - Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26 Juli 2009

Sind Prostituierte aus der Dritten Welt alle Opfer von Frauenhandel und Ausbeutung? Nein, sagt die renommierte Soziologin Laura María Agustín. Die Entrüstung unter Feministinnen ist gross.

Interview: David Signer

Fast täglich lesen wir irgendwo über afrikanische, asiatische oder osteuropäische Frauen, die gegen ihren Willen in den Westen verschleppt und hier zur Prostitution gezwungen werden. Die Sklaverei existiere fort in Form des Frauenhandels, heisst es in diesem Zusammenhang gern.

Hunderttausende von ahnungslosen Frauen würden unter falschen Versprechen von zu Hause weggelockt, mit Gewalt ans andere Ende der Welt verfrachtet, unter Drogen gesetzt, von dubiosen Organisationen ausgebeutet. Sicher gibt es solche Fälle. Aber das generelle Bild ist komplexer.

Die Soziologin Laura María Agustín beschäftigt sich seit vielen Jahren mit diesem Thema, zuerst als Mitarbeiterin von NGO in verschiedenen Ländern Lateinamerikas, später als Forscherin. In ihrem Buch «Sex at the Margins» stellt sie sich entschieden gegen den «Frauenhandel-Mythos», der die Prostituierten zu wehrlosen Opfern degradiere. Bei einem Gespräch erklärt sie, warum Prostitution unter gewissen Umständen durchaus eine valable Option sein kann.

NZZ am Sonntag: Frau Agustín, Sie schreiben in Ihrem Buch, der vorherrschende Diskurs über Prostitution sei geprägt von einem «fundamentalistischen Feminismus». Was meinen Sie damit?
Laura María Agustín: Damit meine ich Feministinnen, die davon ausgehen, dass Frauen über alle kulturellen und sozialen Grenzen hinweg eine gemeinsame Essenz und ein gemeinsames Schicksal teilen: nämlich Opfer der männlichen, sexuellen Gewalt zu sein. Frauen sind für sie generell Opfer und Prostituierte ganz besonders. Prostitution heisst für diese Art Feministinnen Vergewaltigung, und also müssen die Prostituierten gerettet werden. Diese Axiome zu leugnen, ist für sie gleichbedeutend mit einer Leugnung des Holocaust, denn auch hier geht es angeblich um eine Art Genozid: an den Frauen. Das Leiden und der irreparable Schaden, der durch Sex ohne Liebe verursacht wird, ist für sie mit keinem andern Leiden zu vergleichen. Das sind Vorstellungen von weissen, christlichen Mittelstands-Frauen, die dann auf die ganze Welt projiziert werden. Ursprünglich ging es im Feminismus doch darum, Verantwortung zu übernehmen, oder? Aber heute sieht man nur noch überall Opfer.
Sie relativieren damit aber den Sonderfall der Sexarbeit.
Ist Sex mit einem Mann, den man nicht liebt, wirklich so viel schlimmer als die Arbeit in einer Mine oder als Soldatin in einem Krieg? Den meisten Leuten auf der Welt, Männern oder Frauen, stehen – im Gegensatz zu Europa – nicht viele berufliche Möglichkeiten offen. Eine junge Frau in der Dominikanischen Republik hat oft nur drei Alternativen: Haushaltmädchen, Strassenverkäuferin oder Prostituierte. Manche von ihnen sagen: Lieber sterbe ich, als meinen Körper zu verkaufen, andere sagen, lieber sterbe ich, als mich als Haushaltmädchen ausbeuten zu lassen. Es gibt also individuelle Präferenzen, und nicht alle haben dasselbe Verhältnis zu Sex. Man ist nie total von äusseren Umständen determiniert, aber diese Frauen werden genau so dargestellt, als ob sie keine Ambitionen und keine Entscheidungsfähigkeit hätten. Die Feministinnen sagen: «Schrecklich, ich kann mir gar nicht vorstellen, wie es ist, mit einem Mann für Geld Sex zu haben!» Andere können sich das sehr wohl vorstellen. Wenn man die Prostituierten zurückschafft, dann ist die Frau halt gezwungen, als Haushaltmädchen oder Strassenverkäuferin zu arbeiten, that’s all.
Wir haben halt das Gefühl, das Wertvollste, die Liebe und die Sexualität, würden entwertet, wenn sie zur Ware werden.
Aber alles ist doch heute käuflich! Ein Psychotherapeut verkauft seine Sensibilität, ein Kindermädchen seine Zärtlichkeit. Deswegen nehmen wir nicht an, dass sie zu seelischen Krüppeln werden.
Ist die «Frauenhandel»-Theorie nicht schon deshalb fragwürdig, weil es Tausende von Prostituierten in der Dritten Welt gibt, die sofort nach Europa gehen würden, wenn sie könnten, um dort ihrer Arbeit nachzugehen?
Wir haben in Ecuador ein Projekt durchgeführt mit Prostituierten. Theater, Rollenspiel. Diese Frauen waren sehr geübt darin, Kunden einzuschätzen. Aber sobald beispielsweise ein Italiener auftauchte, der sie nach Rom mitnehmen wollte und ihnen das Paradies auf Erden versprach, warfen sie alle Vorsicht über Bord. Das hat nichts mit «trafficking» zu tun, hingegen sehr viel mit Leichtsinn – den man einem Mann zum Vorwurf machen würde, nicht aber einer Frau.
Im Zusammenhang mit Organisationen, die den Prostituierten helfen wollen, schreiben Sie von einer «Rettungs-Industrie» – was meinen Sie genau damit?
Viele Aktivistinnen wollen die Prostituierten in einer maternalistischen Art «befreien», so dass sie zurück in ihre Heimat gehen könnten. Aber viele wollen gar nicht «gerettet» werden! Das Problem ist, dass all die Leute in den Organisationen, die sich mit Prostitution beschäftigen, den Prostituierten gar nicht zuhören. Es gibt nur wenige Feministinnen, die sich vorstellen können, dass sich eine Frau aus armen Verhältnissen angesichts der Möglichkeiten, die ihr offenstehen, bewusst für die Option Prostitution entscheidet, dass sie wählt und nicht nur ein passives Objekt ist, das gegen seinen Willen um die halbe Welt geschoben wird. Ich erinnere mich, wie an einer Konferenz in Quito eine Prostituierte aufstand und sagte: «Ich bin es leid, von diesen Aktivistinnen wie ein Baby behandelt zu werden.» Aber als ich einmal einer Repräsentantin einer NGO empfahl, wirklich mit Sexarbeiterinnen zu reden, entgegnete sie: «Wir müssen nicht mit Prostituierten reden, um zu wissen, was Prostitution ist.»
Nehmen wir ein Buch wie den Bestseller «Ware Frau» der beiden Journalistinnen Mary Kreutzer und Corinna Milborn. Darin schildern afrikanische Prostituierte in Österreich, wie sie durch Voodoo gefügig gemacht wurden und fürchten, einem Fluch zum Opfer zu fallen, falls sie ausstiegen. Sind das Einzelfälle, sind die Aussagen gefälscht?
Wahrscheinlich nicht. Aber es geht um Gewichtungen. Sicher spielen religiöse Aspekte eine Rolle. Biografien sind ja nie eindeutig. Wir können unsere Lebensgeschichte verschieden erzählen. Kürzlich hörte ich von einer Sprachschule in Benin, wo Frauen Englisch lernen, um als Prostituierte in Nigeria arbeiten zu können. Sie hoffen, von dort dann den Sprung nach England zu schaffen. Es ist eine Art Karriereplanung. Solche Aspekte kommen in diesen Bestsellern nicht vor. Im Laufe meiner Arbeit habe ich mit Tausenden von Prostituierten gesprochen. Die Mehrheit will keinen Kontakt mit Hilfsorganisationen und also auch nicht mit Journalisten oder Journalistinnen, die immer über die schwierigen Schicksale schreiben.
Präsentieren die Betroffenen ihr Schicksal bewusst in einer bestimmten Art?
Diese Frauen sind nicht naiv. Sie wissen, auf welche Art Geschichten die Journalisten aus sind. Dasselbe gilt für Gespräche mit Polizisten oder Sozialarbeiterinnen. Man bekommt eher Hilfe, wenn man sich als Opfer präsentiert. Das heisst nicht, dass sie lügen. Es geht um verschiedene Arten zu interpretieren, was sie erlebt haben. Meist wurden sie nicht verschleppt. Das Schlagwort «Menschenschmuggel» umschreibt die komplexe Situation nicht treffend. Eher waren sie gutgläubig. Sie waren verliebt in einen Mann, unterschrieben Verträge, die sie gar nicht verstanden. Aber das heisst auch, sie waren bereit, hohe Risiken einzugehen, um ihr Land verlassen zu können, um – wie sie glaubten – ihr Schicksal in die eigenen Hände zu nehmen. Feministinnen gehen davon aus, dass es besser wäre für diese Frauen, zu Hause zu bleiben. Migration und Prostitution sind für sie per definitionem immer erzwungen, und jede Thailänderin, die einen älteren Deutschen heiratet, ist per definitionem ausgebeutet. Damit kommt man dann natürlich zu astronomisch hohen Zahlen von «Opfern».
Sie legen in Ihrem Buch viel Wert auf die Tatsache, dass sich nicht nur Frauen prostituieren. Warum?
Es wird oft so getan, als ob es nur wenige Männer gäbe, die sich prostituieren. Das ist schlicht nicht wahr, vor allem, wenn wir neben den Gigolos und Strichern auch Transsexuelle und all diese Formen von Prostitution jenseits der eindeutigen geschlechtlichen Zuschreibungen hinnehmen, das afrikanische «Sugar Mummy»-Phänomen, also reiche Frauen, die sich jüngere Liebhaber suchen, sowie die Angebote für Sextouristinnen, zum Beispiel in Gambia. Aber das bringt eben diese eindeutigen Rollenzuschreibungen der «armen Frauen» und der «bösen Männer» durcheinander. Dazu gehört auch die Tatsache, dass viele Bordellbetreiber Frauen sind. Doch selbst wenn diese Fakten anerkannt werden, dann wird immer noch behauptet, Männer würden per se durch bezahlten Sex nicht so traumatisiert, wie man das automatisch für die Frauen annimmt.
Legen wir verschiedene Massstäbe an, je nach dem, ob es sich um Frauen oder Männer, aber auch je nach dem, ob es sich um Leute aus der «Dritten Welt» oder aus dem Westen handelt?
Unser Sprachgebrauch ist entlarvend. Bei Leuten aus der «Dritten Welt» sprechen wir von Immigranten oder Flüchtlingen, bei solchen aus dem Westen von «Expats», Reisenden, Globetrottern, Kosmopoliten. Das heisst, die «andern» reisen nur aus purer Not, den Umständen gehorchend, während wir selbstbestimmt und aus purer Abenteuerlust unsere Heimat verlassen. Beides ist eine Simplifikation. Natürlich gibt es das Verlangen, Neues zu erleben, nicht nur im Westen. Verlässt ein Senegalese seine Heimat auf einem wackligen Boot, spricht man von Verzweiflung. Vor zweihundert Jahren hätte man – bei uns – von «Pioniergeist» geredet: «Go west, young man.»
Wann begann man, so über Prostitution zu reden, wie man das heute tut?
Bis ungefähr zur Zeit der Aufklärung sah man in den Prostituierten etwas Gefährliches, aber nichts Bemitleidenswertes. Erst im 19. Jahrhundert entstand unter Frauen des Bürgertums die Idee des Sozialen, die Idee, man müsse den Leuten und vor allem den Frauen aus der Unterschicht helfen, bessere Menschen zu werden, also den bürgerlichen Normen Genüge zu tun: Kernfamilie, Häuslichkeit, Monogamie. Dieses philanthropische Projekt ähnelte in seiner Mischung aus Mitleid und Bevormundung den kolonialen Anstrengungen. Es ging und geht auch um die Angst vor dem Andern und um eine Stabilisierung des eigenen Wertesystems. Also musste auch die Vermischung von Geld und Sex verdammt werden, obwohl die im Bürgertum auch existiert. In vielerlei Hinsicht wird diese missionarische Arbeit heute in dem weitergeführt, was man Entwicklungshilfe nennt.

Laura María Agustín: Sex at the Margins. Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry. Zed Books, London und New York. 248 Seiten.

La idea de que ‘las nigerianas’ son las más agresivas es, claro, discriminación flagrante. Viene de su estilo de trabajar: en grupos, plantándose frente a los carros para hablar con los choferes. El grupo invisible que no está nombrado en este reportaje son los clientes, así que pongo una imágen de chicos aquí.

Taxistas de Palma, molestos por los controles sobre las prostitutas, diariodemallorca.es

I. M. Calvià: Taxistas de Palma han expresado su malestar por la excesiva rigurosidad de los controles policiales que ha habido en los últimos días a la entrada de Magaluf, unos controles que, según el relato de varios profesionales, iban encaminados a disuadirlos de transportar prostitutas a la zona turística de este núcleo calvianer.

La explicación ofrecida a este diario por algunos conductores fue corroborada posteriormente por el presidente de la Asociación de Autónomos del Taxi de Mallorca, Gabriel Moragues, quien detalló que esta semana han mantenido una reunión con representantes municipales para pedir explicaciones acerca de estos hechos.

En esta reunión, los taxistas reprocharon que la minuciosidad de los registros se centrase únicamente en aquellos vehículos que transportaban mujeres subsaharianas. Según destacó Moragues, los representantes municipales les pidieron disculpas y les garantizaron que no se volvería a producir una situación así.
Los conductores consultados por este diario relataron que en los controles policiales objeto de polémica se paraba a los taxis que llevaban mujeres subsaharianas, se las obligaba a bajar y eran registradas por policías equipados con guantes y mascarillas, ante el temor a un posible contagio por gripe A. A continuación, de acuerdo a esta versión, los agentes procedían a inspeccionar con esmero la documentación del taxi.

Businesses and entertainment conceived as sexual (because of the parts of the body that get exposed) must be declared and submit to regulation: sex shops, peep shows, stripping, lap-dancing, pole-dancing, table dancing. Places that have these licences are referred to as Sex (Encounter) Establishments. Gentlemen’s clubs, strip pubs and other venues are included. Regulated activities may allow near nudity but prohibit dancers from standing closer than a metre/3 feet from customers. Regulations always prohibit touching.

Each local authority grants its own licences, which is what the following note from Camden, another borough of London, is about. When I was doing research, Camden had a large number of licensed premises offering sex entertainment. The current issue is whether the Council will include burlesque in the conception of entertainment that must be regulated as sexual.

Camden Council Statement on burlesque
Date: 29/7/09

Camden Council is not preventing burlesque performances in any premises in the borough, it embraces the diverse entertainment on offer in Camden.

Our concern is to ensure proper regulation of the premises proposing to offer licensable activity. Our focus is on the premises - not the performers. It is the responsibility of the venue’s licence holder to ensure they have the correct permission for the event they are hosting.

Burlesque performance in its widest form can include various art forms and this alone would not require a licence. The Council’s concern is with any performance which may involve nudity. The Council looks at each application on an individual basis to assess what type of licence is required.

The Council has met with the burlesque community in response to their concerns and agreed to seek a clearer understanding of what constitutes adult entertainment. This will help define what reasonable measures premises should put in place prior to adult entertainment being performed.

A further meeting between the Council and the Institute is scheduled to take place in September 2009.

More discussion at Save Burlesque in Camden

Recently I wrote about the New York School of Burlesque.

See a recent story about Goa, for example, where an entire red-light district was torn down, with the result that Goans now see commercial sex everywhere. Entrepreneurs in the sex industry adapt easily to changing conditions. See recent stories on Sonagachi in India and on Malaysia and Korea. I published an academic article on the irrationality of legal prostitution regimes last year.

Then there is the ever-present story showing that even when European sex businesses are legal, many or most workers are migrants. A report on prostitution in Ticino (in Italian) explains why undocumented migrants may not bother to register and become legal (when they are eligible),

Here’s the Swiss news story.

Ticino’s brothels profit from Italy clampdown

15 September 2008, swissinfo, based on an article by Nicole della Pietra

Tough new measures introduced in Italy have sent many customers across the border to brothels in Switzerland. Prostitution is currently booming in Ticino, Switzerland’s Italian speaking canton. But many of the girls involved are illegal. The authorities say they are keeping a close eye on the situation. Half a dozen brothels line the road that links the north and south of the canton at Monte Ceneri. The establishments are doing brisk business, to which the stream of visitors attests. “There are more brothels here than houses,” remarks a young army recruit who has been posted to the Ceneri barracks.

Apart from a few Swiss soldiers and the odd local, most of the clients here and at other Ticino brothels are Italian – as can be seen by the huge number of cars with Italian number plates. Some places in the Lugano and Chiasso region, further south, have an even greater density of brothels. The small village of Melano (population 1,000) alone has four. Cross-border sex commuters are attracted by the closeness to the A2 motorway through the canton, the standards of comfort, security and hygiene and the competitive prices.

The Italian media have long been talking about the “Ticino phenomenon”. The prestigious La Stampa newspaper went so far as to describe the canton in an August article as “a brothel paradise” and “Mecca of luxury”, while highlighting establishments’ “discreet charm”.

Clients may enjoy a certain freedom in Ticino but the same cannot be said for Italy. Brothels have been illegal there for 50 years, which has led to a rise in street prostitution. The government, anxious to change the situation, issued a clampdown decree at the beginning of this year. In Lombardy, which borders Ticino, the authorities have decided to issue a €500 (SFr796) fine to kerb crawlers. And in Milan police have stepped up patrols of red light districts. Video surveillance and the internet are also being employed.

Swiss police believe that the Lombardy situation could have consequences for Ticino. “We don’t have any precise data yet but border regions are certainly going to have an influx of visitors from Italy,” said Alex Serfilippi, an inspector with a special unit which fights the proliferation of prostitution in the canton.

In the week in which swissinfo visited Ticino, two new establishments announced that they were opening for business – adding to the 37 places already in operation in the canton. The sex business adapts quickly to the needs of its clients and to offer and demand, say experts. “We only need to be absorbed by a big enquiry for a few days to see an immediate upsurge in the number of girls in the area,” explained Serfilippi. “We keep applying pressure every day as it’s the only way of stopping the phenomenon from growing even further,” he added.

The prostitution boom is a godsend for some of the area’s hotel and restaurant owners who have seen better days. Some have converted their businesses into brothels, complete with champagne bar and rooms for hire.

On average between five and 20 girls work in these types of establishments. Most come from eastern Europe, with a third coming from Latin America. “We have recently seen a massive increase in the number of Romanians,” added Serfilippi. The police officer estimates that there is a maximum of 600 prostitutes in the canton, of whom between 60 per cent and 80 per cent are illegal. Added to this are the dozens of saunas and massage parlours which each employ one or two young women. Since 2002 a total of 490 people have signed up to the cantonal prostitution register.

“It’s unfortunately extremely difficult, if not impossible, to provide precise figures for this very fluid milieu,” said Serfilippo. The crime expert and journalist Michel Venturelli believes that south of the Alps the number of prostitutes could be as high as 1,200. . .