The debate on the abolition of prostitution, as proposed by the PSOE in its bill and incomprehensibly assumed by the PP, aims to reduce a complex problem to a binary option of a moral nature: dignity versus slavery.

But

an open society, backed by a secular rule of law, must make sure to abolish only one thing: the lack of freedom

.

In the abstract terrain of ideology, puritans of the left or of the right move easily when they give in to the pleasant temptation of moral narcissism;

but in the realm of reality, in the streets of Spain, women who demand something as basic as security, health, public respect and social rights have moved, are moving and will continue to move.

Freedom and equality, in short.

The abolitionist cause starts from the ideological premise that no prostitute freely chooses her trade, if it is such a trade.

They would all be victims of the structural oppression

suffered by their gender, an argument that collides with the fact that 15% of those who provide sexual services for money are men and transsexuals, according to the pioneering study by anthropologist Carmen Meneses.

But given that in most cases prostitution involves degrading living conditions for many women,

it is worth congratulating that in recent years there has been greater empathy towards their situation.

However.

Abolitionism, by denying the key distinction between prostitution and pimping - the real crime that urgently needs to be combated - opposes

a regulation that addresses the real circumstances of the phenomenon

.

The best, once again, is the enemy of the good.

Meneses estimates that some 40,000 women sell sexual services in the thousand hostesses in Spain, a figure that covers only 40% of prostitutes: the rest work in flats.

According to his report, around 15% are victims of trafficking and around 35% of people who engage in prostitution by their own decision may experience situations of exploitation.

It is the duty of the authorities to unceremoniously locate and tackle these cases.

The problem is that criminalizing prostitution and closing the clubs, following the failed French model, has dramatically counterproductive effects that will suffer especially those who were intended to save.

Relegating a sector of the population to hiding in untraceable flats - it is naive to believe that after abolition they will stop practicing prostitution - means not only

condemning them to contempt and discrimination

, but also multiplying their risk of exposure to disease transmission, favoring the unpunished violence of pimps and clients in places impossible to monitor by the police and hinder the work of the NGOs that assist and guide them.

If the exploitation is the result of current illegality,

the secrecy that is born of prohibition will be a breeding ground for worse criminality

: the dreams of puritanical reason produce monsters.

That is why the solution - imperfect, gradual, like all social policies - can only go through regulation.

As for adults who agree to sexual services for money without intimidation, no party, association, religious denomination, or the State is the one to prosecute them by law in a liberal democracy.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • PSOE

  • PP

  • Prostitution

  • Feminism