Abstract:This article examines the migratory processes and work experiences of Brazilian female sex workers active in Spain. It is based on ethnographic research conducted over eleven months, at different moments between November 2004 and January 2012, in Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao and Granada. The principal argument is that the notions of prostitution and international human trafficking held by Brazilian sex workers clash with those found in the current public debate of these issues. Brazilian migrant sex workers' acts… Show more
“…Both women run brothels and employ sex workers. The wording of the UN 2000 Palermo Protocol on the trafficking of persons provides the fodder for conflations of human trafficking, sex trafficking, and prostitution as variations on the same form of gendered violence (Bazzano, ; de Sousa Santos et al., ; Piscitelli, ). According to the “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,” supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, trafficking in persons meansthe recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.…”
Section: Mapping the Physical Political And Linguistic Terrainmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Discontent with the conception of “consent” grows deeper on both sides of the trafficking debate. Whereas radical feminists such as Kathleen Barry (), Sheila Jeffreys (), and Catherine MacKinnon () see prostitution in any form as a women's human rights violation, non‐abolitionists or sex work feminists argue that such an agenda denies human rights to sex workers, particularly by not allowing them to have a voice, thereby reproducing inequality (Bazzano, ; de Sousa Santos et al., ; Desyllas, ; Ditmore, ; Doezema, ; Kempadoo, ; Leite, ; Outshoorn, ; Piscitelli, ; Salazar Parreñas et al., ; Sullivan, ). Whether to prove or disprove value in a moral economy of sex work, the “prostitute's body” has become “a terrain on which feminists contest sexuality, desire, and the writing of the female body” (Bell, , p. 73).…”
Section: Mapping the Physical Political And Linguistic Terrainmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Would translocation occur if not for financial necessity? An increasing number of Latin American feminist scholars assert that these kinds of questions merit critical attention (Bazzano, ; Leite, ; Piscitelli, ) and furthermore that “Sexual trafficking is far from being an isolated problem. Its causes are intrinsically related with other social, economic, political, and cultural phenomena” (de Sousa Santos et al., , p. 71) .…”
Section: Traffic Economies and Moving Bodiesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Latin American feminist intellectuals have begun to ask questions of agency, choice, and economic determination in the sexual marketplace, and are also taking their words to the streets and to policymakers in protest (Bazzano, ; de Sousa Santos et al., ; Leite, ; Piscitelli, ; Silva, Blanchette, Madureira de Pinho, Pinheiro, & Leite, ). Gabriela Leite, a Brazilian sociologist and former prostitute known for her strong voice and political actions, penned her autobiography, Daughter, Mother, Grandmother and Puta: The Story of a Woman who Decided to be a Prostitute , in 2009, four years before her death.…”
Section: Traffic Economies and Moving Bodiesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This article examines local forms of women's solidarity and political resistance in the context of international feminist debates about freedom and “consent” in the sex industry (Barry, ; Bazzano, ; Bell, ; de Sousa Santos, Gomes, & Duarte, ; Desyllas, ; Ditmore, ; Doezema, ; Jeffreys, ; Kempadoo, ; Leite, ; MacKinnon, ; Outshoorn, ; Piscitelli, ; Salazar Parreñas, Hwang, & Lee, ). Through the pivotal figures of Doña Rosa and Doña Mariela, who played integral roles in organizing the sex workers of Puerto Maldonado, I address issues of voice in constructing policies aimed to protect sex workers.…”
This article examines local forms of women's solidarity and political resistance in Madre de Dios, Peru, within the context of international feminist debates about freedom and "consent" in the sex industry. Through the figures of two "madams" who played integral roles in organizing the sex workers of Puerto Maldonado, the regional capital, I address issues of voice in constructing policies aimed to protect sex workers. These women's experiences both enrich and trouble analyses of "consent" in prostitution and sextrafficking economies, where nongovernmental organizations and the state also stand to profit, adding to the traffic in ideas about agency, power, and responsibility. From the perspective of a "middle ground" feminist, I argue that ignoring the voices of the very women affected by antiprostitution and anti-trafficking policies only hinders efforts to create solidarity across race and class.Este artículo examina las formas locales de la solidaridad de las mujeres y la resistencia política en Madre de Dios, Perú, en el contexto de los debates feministas internacionales sobre la libertad y el "consentimiento" de la industria del sexo. A través de dos proxenetas de sexo femenino que tenían un rol integral en la organización de las trabajadoras sexuales de Puerto Maldonado, restituyo el discurso para la construcción de políticas destinadas a proteger a las trabajadoras sexuales. Las experiencias de estas mujeres enriquecen y también cuestionan los análisis de "consentimiento" en las economías de la prostitución y la trata sexual, donde las ONG y el Estado también se benefician, por lo que incorporo en el análisis ideas de agencia, poder y responsabilidad. Desde la perspectiva de una feminista de "terreno medio", sostengo que no hacer caso a las voces de las propias mujeres afectadas por las políticas de lucha contra la prostitución y contra la trata sólo obstaculiza los esfuerzos para crear solidaridad entre las mujeres.
“…Both women run brothels and employ sex workers. The wording of the UN 2000 Palermo Protocol on the trafficking of persons provides the fodder for conflations of human trafficking, sex trafficking, and prostitution as variations on the same form of gendered violence (Bazzano, ; de Sousa Santos et al., ; Piscitelli, ). According to the “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,” supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, trafficking in persons meansthe recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.…”
Section: Mapping the Physical Political And Linguistic Terrainmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Discontent with the conception of “consent” grows deeper on both sides of the trafficking debate. Whereas radical feminists such as Kathleen Barry (), Sheila Jeffreys (), and Catherine MacKinnon () see prostitution in any form as a women's human rights violation, non‐abolitionists or sex work feminists argue that such an agenda denies human rights to sex workers, particularly by not allowing them to have a voice, thereby reproducing inequality (Bazzano, ; de Sousa Santos et al., ; Desyllas, ; Ditmore, ; Doezema, ; Kempadoo, ; Leite, ; Outshoorn, ; Piscitelli, ; Salazar Parreñas et al., ; Sullivan, ). Whether to prove or disprove value in a moral economy of sex work, the “prostitute's body” has become “a terrain on which feminists contest sexuality, desire, and the writing of the female body” (Bell, , p. 73).…”
Section: Mapping the Physical Political And Linguistic Terrainmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Would translocation occur if not for financial necessity? An increasing number of Latin American feminist scholars assert that these kinds of questions merit critical attention (Bazzano, ; Leite, ; Piscitelli, ) and furthermore that “Sexual trafficking is far from being an isolated problem. Its causes are intrinsically related with other social, economic, political, and cultural phenomena” (de Sousa Santos et al., , p. 71) .…”
Section: Traffic Economies and Moving Bodiesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Latin American feminist intellectuals have begun to ask questions of agency, choice, and economic determination in the sexual marketplace, and are also taking their words to the streets and to policymakers in protest (Bazzano, ; de Sousa Santos et al., ; Leite, ; Piscitelli, ; Silva, Blanchette, Madureira de Pinho, Pinheiro, & Leite, ). Gabriela Leite, a Brazilian sociologist and former prostitute known for her strong voice and political actions, penned her autobiography, Daughter, Mother, Grandmother and Puta: The Story of a Woman who Decided to be a Prostitute , in 2009, four years before her death.…”
Section: Traffic Economies and Moving Bodiesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This article examines local forms of women's solidarity and political resistance in the context of international feminist debates about freedom and “consent” in the sex industry (Barry, ; Bazzano, ; Bell, ; de Sousa Santos, Gomes, & Duarte, ; Desyllas, ; Ditmore, ; Doezema, ; Jeffreys, ; Kempadoo, ; Leite, ; MacKinnon, ; Outshoorn, ; Piscitelli, ; Salazar Parreñas, Hwang, & Lee, ). Through the pivotal figures of Doña Rosa and Doña Mariela, who played integral roles in organizing the sex workers of Puerto Maldonado, I address issues of voice in constructing policies aimed to protect sex workers.…”
This article examines local forms of women's solidarity and political resistance in Madre de Dios, Peru, within the context of international feminist debates about freedom and "consent" in the sex industry. Through the figures of two "madams" who played integral roles in organizing the sex workers of Puerto Maldonado, the regional capital, I address issues of voice in constructing policies aimed to protect sex workers. These women's experiences both enrich and trouble analyses of "consent" in prostitution and sextrafficking economies, where nongovernmental organizations and the state also stand to profit, adding to the traffic in ideas about agency, power, and responsibility. From the perspective of a "middle ground" feminist, I argue that ignoring the voices of the very women affected by antiprostitution and anti-trafficking policies only hinders efforts to create solidarity across race and class.Este artículo examina las formas locales de la solidaridad de las mujeres y la resistencia política en Madre de Dios, Perú, en el contexto de los debates feministas internacionales sobre la libertad y el "consentimiento" de la industria del sexo. A través de dos proxenetas de sexo femenino que tenían un rol integral en la organización de las trabajadoras sexuales de Puerto Maldonado, restituyo el discurso para la construcción de políticas destinadas a proteger a las trabajadoras sexuales. Las experiencias de estas mujeres enriquecen y también cuestionan los análisis de "consentimiento" en las economías de la prostitución y la trata sexual, donde las ONG y el Estado también se benefician, por lo que incorporo en el análisis ideas de agencia, poder y responsabilidad. Desde la perspectiva de una feminista de "terreno medio", sostengo que no hacer caso a las voces de las propias mujeres afectadas por las políticas de lucha contra la prostitución y contra la trata sólo obstaculiza los esfuerzos para crear solidaridad entre las mujeres.
Despite the significant emphasis given to the trafficking of Brazilians to the sex industry of the Iberian Peninsula, the concepts of "victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation" used in these three countries vary. This article analyses the positions of Brazil, Spain and Portugal regarding the conceptualisation of "trafficking victim," focusing on their legislation and policies, as well as on relevant narratives which show how these policies are being applied. It showcases how the incompatible definitions being used compromise genuine anti-trafficking actions and may be an indicator that stopping trafficking may not be the primary concern of the policies developed by these governments.
KeywordsBrazil; Human trafficking; Portugal; Spain; Trafficking victim; Trafficking policy This is a pre-print version of the published article. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10610-014-9265-3. Pérez, J.L. (2014). Contrasting the conceptualisation of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation: a case study of Brazilians in Spain and Portugal. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. doi: 10.1007/s10610-014-9265-3 Contrasting the conceptualisation of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation: a case study of Brazilians in Spain and Portugal
IntroductionBrazil is considered one of the major source countries of women who are trafficked to the European Union (EU) for sexual exploitation. Among the receiving states, Portugal and Spain, countries with which it has strong historical and cultural ties, have held at times some of the largest declared numbers and percentages of its victims (Ministério da Justiça 2011).This noteworthy human trafficking flow has been recognised as a problem by all three countries. It has resulted, from a policy standpoint, in a number of transatlantic meetings, declarations and agreements between the parties to ensure that traffickers are dealt with and victims protected. Considering the prominence given to the issue and the high level of multilateral cooperation involved, it would be reasonable to assume that all three countries would have compatible policies and definitions of human trafficking and that these would be based upon minimum international standards, particularly the United Nations (UN) Trafficking Protocol. 1 We thus turn specifically to the Protocol's condemnation of the "exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation" in the framework of human trafficking. The exact same language is used in the two foremost European instruments on the subject, the Council of Europe Trafficking Convention 2 and Directive 2011/36/EU. 3 However, in none of these documents is the term sexual exploitation defined, being left to the discretion of each state. There is thus no guarantee that these three countries use the same definition when considering what constitutes a victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation. The main objective of this article is thus to assess whether the concepts of (transnation...
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