Prostitution in Spain is not addressed by any specific law, but a number of activities related to it, such as
pimping, are illegal. In 2016,
UNAIDS estimated there to be 70,268 prostitutes in the country, although other estimates put the number higher. Most prostitutes in the country are immigrants.
The sex industry in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
is estimated to be worth €3.7 billion.
Legal status
Prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
was decriminalized in 1995. Prostitution itself is not directly addressed in the
Criminal Code of Spain, but exploitation such as
pimping is illegal.
The only article in the Code dealing specifically with adult prostitution is Artícle 188, which bans pimping:
Whoever causes a person of legal age to engage in prostitution or to continue to do so, with the use of violence, intimidation or deception, or by abusing a position of power or the dependency or vulnerability of the victim, shall be punished with a prison sentence of two to four years and a fine from 12 to 24 months. Gaining profit from the prostitution of another shall incur the same penalty, even with the consent of that person.
Owning an establishment where prostitution takes place is in itself legal, but the owner cannot derive financial gain from the prostitute or ''hire'' a person to sell sex because prostitution is not considered a job and thus has no legal recognition.
Prostitution in Spain is less regulated than in many European countries. However, the advertising of prostitution has been made illegal and in 2022 a bill was put forward in the
Spanish Parliament
The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house).
The Congress of Deputies meet ...
proposing the criminalisation of brothel-owning and pimping regardless of whether exploitation or abuse is involved, as well as criminalising the customers of prostitutes. The maximum sentence proposed is four years. The bill is supported by the governing
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
. Street protests against the bill took place in Madrid in September 2022.
Local government
Local governments differ in their approaches to both indoor and outdoor prostitution, usually in response to community pressure groups, and based on "public safety".
[
Most places do not regulate prostitution, but the government of ]Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
offers licenses for persons "to gather people to practice prostitution".
These licenses are used by brothel owners to open "clubs", where prostitution takes place (the women are theoretically only "gathered" to work on the premises not employed by the owner). Some places have implemented fines Fines may refer to:
*Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality
*Fine (penalty)
* Fine, a dated term for a premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term
*Fines, ore or other products with a sma ...
for street prostitution.
COVID-19 pandemic
As part of the state of alarm
In Spain the state of alarm (''estado de alarma'') is the lowest of the three degrees of state of emergency that allows the government to perform actions or impose policies that it would normally not be permitted to undertake. It is regulated in t ...
due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, all brothels and other places of entertainment were ordered to close.
Politics
History
Prostitution was tolerated in Spain throughout the mediaeval period, until the 17th century and the reign of Phillip IV (1621–65) whose 1623 decree closed the ''mancebías'' (brothels) forcing the women out into the street, a very unpopular decision, but one that remained in place till the 19th century. In the reign of Isabel II
Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868.
Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...
(1843–1868) regulation was introduced, firstly in cities, the ''Disposiciones de Zaragoza'' (1845) and the ''Reglamento para la represión de los excesos de la prostitución en Madrid'' (1847), followed by the 1848 Penal Code.
(Guerena 2003, 2008)
In 1935 during the Second Republic (1931–36) prostitution was prohibited. Once the Dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
(1939–75) was established, this law was repealed (1941). Spain became officially ''abolitionist'' on 18 June 1962, when the 1949 United Nations (UN) Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was ratified by Spain, and the Decree 168 of 24 January 1963 modified the Penal Code (''Código Penal'') according to the convention. In theory, this policy, in accordance with the convention, regarded sex workers (''trabajadores sexuales'') as victims of sexual exploitation and advocated punishment of their exploiters rather than the workers themselves, and refused to distinguish between voluntary and coerced sex work.
However, there were inconsistencies, as the prostitutes were in fact treated more like criminals: under Act 16/1970 of 4 August on social menace and rehabilitation (''Ley de peligrosidad y rehabilitación social'') prostitutes were declared amongst those classes categorized as social evils, and could be confined to special centres or forbidden to live in specified areas. In practice however, prostitution was quietly ignored and tolerated.
Although democracy was restored in 1975, it was not till the Penal Code revisions of 1995
that this policy was revisited, and most laws regarding prostitution were repealed, with the exception of those governing minors and those with mental health problems. This included the Act 16/1970. Further revisions in 1999 addressed trafficking, as did the 2000 Immigration Act which followed other European precedents by offering asylum to trafficked victims if they collaborated (Valiente 2003).
Public opinion
Opinion remains deeply divided in Spain over prostitution, and law reform has been in a political impasse for a long time.
Consequently, it remains in rather a grey zone of unregulated but tolerated semi-legality. The standard debates exist as to whether it is work like any other work, or exploitation of women as espoused by groups like ''Malostratos''.
Meanwhile, it thrives, and has prompted headlines such as ''El nuevo burdel de Europa'' (The New Brothel of Europe).
Public policy
The key instruments in order of importance are the Penal Code ( Código penal) (1822–)
and the Immigration or Aliens Act ( Ley de Extranjería de España) 2000.
Plans:
*Plan Municipal de Intervención ante la Prostitución en el municipio 2011–2014, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its admi ...
Migrant workers
In the 1980s, most of the sex workers in the country were Spanish, but by 2006 70% of sex workers were migrants according to a TAMPEP
TAMPEP (European Network for HIV/STI Prevention and Health Promotion among Migrant Sex Workers) is an international organisation that supports the health and human rights of migrant sex workers in Europe.Margaret DucketMigrants' Right to Health ...
study, with 70-80% of those migrants being from Latin America, (mainly from Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
, Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
) After Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
and Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
became EU members in 2007, a large number travelled to Spain and engaged in sex work. TAMPEP
TAMPEP (European Network for HIV/STI Prevention and Health Promotion among Migrant Sex Workers) is an international organisation that supports the health and human rights of migrant sex workers in Europe.Margaret DucketMigrants' Right to Health ...
carried out a further study in 2009 and found 90% of sex workers were migrants. Of all countries studied, only Italy had proportion of migrant workers at comparable level. The 2009 study found the migrant sex workers were 49% were from Latin America, 24% from Central Europe (mainly Bulgaria and Romania) and 18% from Africa.
There was an influx of prostitutes from China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in the early 2010s. From 2012 to September 2013, 544 prostitutes were identified in 138 inspections in brothels of Asian prostitutes in Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. In the late 2010s a large number of Nigerian women have been trafficked into the country for prostitution.
Some prostitution is present at small farms (cortijos) outside of Roquetas de Mar
Roquetas de Mar () is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalucía, Spain. In 2016, the population was 91,965, the municipality with the second highest population in the province behind the capital, the 14th in ...
. The prostitutes work in the service of organised criminal organisations linked to human trafficking
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
. This, as they have a debt to pay to compensate the cost of being brought there. Many prostitutes are of Russian, Nigerian and Moroccan descent. Some women have taken up the job as prostitute after not being able to work in the intensive farming industry.
As in other countries in Western Europe, there are concern over the presence of migrant workers on the streets and claims that many of them were coerced. NGOs believe a large percentage of individuals in prostitution in Spain are trafficking victims. Various reports give figures of 80-90% of prostitutes in Spain being trafficked, but this is disputed. In 2008 the Spanish Government announced plans to aid women who had been trafficked.
There is also cross-border prostitution between Spain and Portugal, and between Spain and France.[)
There are organisations working with migrant women, including Proyecto Esperanza and shelters such as IPSSE (Instituto para la Promoción de Servicios Especializados).
]
Advocacy
Organisations working with sex workers in Spain include APRAMP
The Association for the Prevention, Reintegration and Care of Prostituted Women (Asociación para la Prevención, Reinserción y Atención a la Mujer Prostituida) or APRAMP for its acronym, is a Spanish organization created in 1984, dedicated to ...
(Associacion para la Prevención, Reinserción y Atención de la Mujer Prostituida)
while sex workers' rights organisations include Hetaira (Madrid),
as well as regional organisations such as SICAR Asturias,
AMTTTSE (Asociación de Mujeres, Transexuales y Travestis como Trabajadoras Sexuales en España, Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...
) and CATS (Comité de Apoyo a las Trabajadoras del Sexo, Murcia).
Spanish sex workers continue to be concerned about their lack of protection and in July 2011 petitioned the Minister of Health ( Leire Pajín).
A demonstration is planned for 6 November 2011 in Madrid, and a communique has been released setting out sex workers' complaints and demands.
The ''Organización de Trabajadoras Sexuales'' (OTRAS) was formed in August 2018 and registered with Spain's Labour Ministry as a trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
. Feminists and activist opposed the formation of the union and instigated a campaign on social media against them using the hashtag #SoyAbolicionista (“I’m an Abolitionist”). Abolitionist groups brought a court action against OTRAS, which resulting on OTRAS's statutes being annulled on the grounds that there can be no employment contract for prostitutes and therefore they were not "workers" in terms of employment law, but the court did not dissolve the union. However, in February 2019, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
ruled that a prostitute working in a club in Barcelona had a valid employment relationship with the club owners.
Social history
Prostitution in Spain was highly sectored, with at one end the ''damas cortesanas'' of high society,
and the mistresses of the bourgeoisie and '' barraganas'', the concubines of the clergy. (Harrison)
Sex work in Spanish culture
Goya (1746–1828) frequently commented on the place of prostitution in Spanish high society
such as satirising the church's involvement in the trade, for profit. Best known though are his controversial Majas.
Other examples are Murillo's ''Four Figures on a Step'' and Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
's '' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'' (illustrated).
In literature, Miguel de Cervantes discusses prostitution in his early 17th century novel '' Don Quixote'', and the subject is found throughout 19th- and 20th-century Spanish literature.
Sex work celebrities in Spain
La señora Rius (see photograph) is a Barcelona celebrity and Madam who told her story in Julián Peiró's ''La Sra. Rius, de moral distraída'' (Comanegra, Barcelona 2008).
Overseas autonomous communities
Canary Islands
In 2006, 42 people were arrested following the discover of a prostitution ring operating out of nightclubs in Las Palmas and Telde
Telde is a town and a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the eastern part of the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, overseas (Atlantic) insular Spain.
It is the second most populous municipality on the island, with a population of (201 ...
. The prostitutes were from South American countries, mainly Brazil. Five people were jailed as a result.
In 2012, a councillor in Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its admi ...
told the ''ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
'' newspaper about the city's draft plan for prostitution. He said that, in cases examined by NGOs, all the prostitutes were women of which 9% were transsexual women.
A study is 2016 estimated there were around 3,000 prostitutes working on the islands, mainly in the tourist areas and the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas.
Ceuta
Prostitution occurs in the Ceti (Temporary Reception Center) in Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
. The prostitutes are mainly Nigerian women.
Melilla
Local NGO ''Melilla Acoge'', which provides medical and other assistance to prostitutes, report that there are about 1,000 Moroccan prostitutes in Melilla
Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...
. Some cross over the border into Melilla in the mornings and leave at midday, other cross over the border in the afternoon and leave at night.
Sex trafficking
Sex traffickers exploit foreign victims in Spain and, to a lesser extent, Spanish victims abroad. Women from Eastern Europe (particularly Romania and Bulgaria), South America (particularly Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
, Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Colombia, and Ecuador), Central America (particularly Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua), China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
are exploited in sex trafficking
Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...
. Authorities report Nigerian women now make up the largest demographic of sex trafficking victims. Sex traffickers exploit Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
n women fleeing the collapsing social and economic conditions at home.
Spanish law does not permit nor prohibit prostitution, and NGOs believe a large percentage of individuals in prostitution in Spain are trafficking victims. Various reports give figures of 80-90% of prostitutes in Spain being trafficked, but this is disputed.
Sex traffickers are increasingly using online apartment rental platforms to make their illicit operations difficult to track. An increasing number of victims arrived in southern Spain by sea via Morocco. Nigerian criminal networks recruit victims in migrant reception centers in Italy for forced prostitution in Spain. Unaccompanied migrant children continue to be vulnerable to sex trafficking. The increased numbers of newly arrived refugees and asylum-seekers are vulnerable to trafficking.
Law enforcement conducted targeted operations against 37 criminal organisations involved in sex trafficking in 2018. The judiciary initiated prosecutions of 63 defendants for sex trafficking. The government reported several cases in which convicted traffickers received significant penalties. In January 2019, an Oviedo
Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...
court sentenced four Romanians to 20 to 55 years in prison for forcing 12 Romanian women into prostitution.
The United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) is an agency within the United States Department of State charged with investigating and creating programs to prevent human trafficking both within the United States and internation ...
ranks Spain as a ' Tier 1' country.
See also
* Outline of Spain
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Spain:
Spain – sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, ...
* Prostitution in Francoist Spain
Prostitution in Francoist Spain (1936–1975) presented the government with a problem. The Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) tolerated the practice, but prostitution was actively opposed by the Catholic Church. During th ...
* Prostitution in the Spanish Civil War
* State feminism
* Empathy and Prostitution
''Empathy and Prostitution'' is a conceptual and performative work of critical and biographical content by artist Abel Azcona. Azcona was inspired by his biological mother, a prostitute, and sought to empathise with her and with the moment of h ...
*
References
Other sources
*
Celia Valente: The politics of prostitution: The Women's Movement, State Feminism and Parliamentary Debates in Post-Authoritarian Spain. Queen's University Belfast 2003
Gemma Nicolás: Planteamientos feministas en torno al trabajo sexual (Jornades Drets Socials i Dones en la Globalització: per una nova ciutadania. Barcelona 2005)
Rut González: Quality of life and interpersonal needs in prostitution. Sexologia Integral 2006
A Hart. Buying and Selling Power: Anthropological Reflections on Prostitution in Spain (1998) Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press
*[http://plataformaeditorial.com/cont/novedades/novedades_sola_es.php?idField=207&table=novedades Neira, Montse. Una mala mujer: La prostitución al descubierto. Plataforma Editorial SL, Barcelona 2012 144pp.]
History
*
ME Perry. Magdalens and Jezebels in counter-reformation Spain, in Culture and control in counter-reformation Spain, Anne J. Cruz (ed.) U of Minnesota Press, 1992, p. 124ff
*
*
*
*
*
*
Legal
Literature
*Carmen Y. Hsu. Courtesans in the Literature of Spanish Golden Age (Kassel: Reichenberger, 2002)
Migration
L Oso. The new migratory space in Southern Europe: the case of Colombian sex workers in Spain, in Crossing Borders and Shifting Boundaries: Gender on the move, Umut Erel, Kyoko Shinozaki (eds.) VS Verlag, 2003, p. 207ff
*
Notes
External links
Prostitución una visión (sub)objetiva compleja y global
*
{{Spain topics, state=collapsed