Apr
21
Porque tú pagas…
There is a curious, ok, let’s just say it — a badly-executed ad campaign currently on display in Madrid. It’s called “Porque tú pagas, existe la prostitución” and it’s a series of public service adverts created by the city of Madrid’s department of Equal Opportunities (Igualdad de Oportunidades). The ad campaign is supposed to raise public awareness about sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in Spain.
There’s no doubt that there’s a problem. Take a stroll, in broad daylight, down Calle Montera, a grimy, depressing street located right smack dab in the center of Madrid, between la Puerta del Sol and Gran Vía, and you will see prostitutes milling about waiting for customers. There are also city parks where prostitutes are visible at all hours of the day plying their trade.
Prostitution in Spain is a 1.8 billion euro a year business and every day in Spain an astonishing number of men, 900,000 according to the Spanish government, use the services of a prostitute. Approximately 300,000 women, the overwhelming majority of them foreigners, are exploited by sex traffickers, according to the Spanish authorities.
But the ads, at least for me, are way off base. Granted, as a female, I’m not the target audience for these ads but there’s something so obnoxious about this ad campaign that it really turns my stomach.
The first thought that occurred to me when I saw these ads was that the logic behind them didn’t make sense. “Porque TÚ pagás, existe la prostitución.” What the heck does that mean? Does that mean that if men didn’t pay women to have sex, that sex trafficking would cease to exist? Does that mean that men should barter with prostitutes? Or that pimps should issue coupons that men could use in exchange for getting sex? Can you see how twisted that “Porque…” statement is? It just doesn’t make any sense.
Arsenio Escolar, director of the free Spanish tabloid 20Minutos, also sees the hypocrisy in this ad campaign noting that every single one of Spain’s biggest, most distinguished and most important newspapers, including El País (which by many Spaniards is considered the Spanish equivalent of the New York Times), run pages and pages of sex ads every day. Where’s the public service campaign to shame the publishers of those newspapers into dropping these tawdry ads?
I’m no expert but to me it seems like a better approach would be to humanize these women, show the names and faces of real women who have been victims of sex trafficking in Spain. Make the connection between them and the fact that they are somebody’s mother, sister or wife.
Appealing to a man’s financial sensibility (porque tú pagas, existe la prostitución) instead of a man’s humanity is really a cheap and pretty depressing way to go.
(P.S. The ad pictured at the top of this entry is actually one of the original public service ads. Currently, the city of Madrid is using a different series of photos featuring photos of “puticlubs” (strip joints and brothels) but I couldn’t find an image of one of these current ads online.)
Eleena, I think they are not trying to appeal to men’s financial sensibility, they are trying to say prostition exists because some men are willing to pay for having sex.
If there were no men willing to pay, there would be no prostitution, it’s as simple as that.
They have already done what you suggest -to try to humanize prostitutes- many times, in many ways, and it didn’t work. The truth is, as long as there are women in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America or Asia trying to escape from poverty, they will find the way to get to Spain, and will play their trade here, forced or not.
Every trade has two sides: the selling side and the buying side, the goverment is trying to “attack” on the buying side, simply because that’s the side they can try to control somehow.
By the way, did you know prostitution is not illegal in Spain? Sex trafficking and “Proxenetismo” (pimping???) are illegal, but not prostitution.
Un saludo y no te enfades, que lo hacen con buena intención, intentan concienciar a los hombres de que detrás de la prostitucion hay tráfico sexual, tráfico de drogas y de armas, porque todavia hay muchos hombres en España que creen que la mayoría de las prostitutas lo son voluntariamente.
Is it really possible to have prostitution without “Proxenetismo?” Who gets the girls to Madrid and gets them going? Sounds like a very misguided law. I assume the thought process is not to infringe on a woman’s right to sell herself, etc. Or what is the thought process exactly on why it’s legal?
Thanks, guys, for dropping by and commenting on this. Roberto, I think the ad campaign is way too simplistic. Does anyone really think that men will stop having sex with prostitutes? Yeah, right. It’s not for nothing that prostitution is called the world’s oldest profession. Stopping (or reducing) sex trafficking starts by improving the economic conditions for women in their homelands. Don’t worry, I ain’t mad at ya.
Carl, I have no idea what the answer is. Hopefully Roberto will swing back around here and shed more light on this.
Exactly Carl, a woman has the right to sell herself, if she wants to.
Misguided law? that’s your opinion, not mine. I wouldn’t like to see any prostitute in prison, their lives are hard enough.
Eleena, some men will feel guilty and think twice before going to the brothel. Not many, but some will. That’s better than nothing.
Improving economic conditions in the prostitutes homeland’s? Well, yes, that’s the only real solution, that’s pretty obvious, but, you know, it’s easily said than done.
If prostitution is such a good thing why are their lives hard?
It seems strange to legalize prostitution then mount an AD campaign to try to stop it. Is it bad or is it good?
If you don’t want to see the exploited women in prison - put the men in prison.
It sounds like I have real strong feelings about this but to tell you the truth, I just don’t know. I understand the civil liberty issue of a woman being able to do what she wants with her body. It just seems to not work out too well in real life.
Estoy de acuerdo, ese tipo de propaganda no es suficiente pero ¿es algo no? No es posible acabar con toda la maldad que hay en el mundo pero, de todos modos, creo que vale la pena intentar acabar con algunas. Nos cortamos las uñas y el cabello con regularidad sabiendo muy bien que van a crecer de nuevo.
La explotación sexual es una de las peores cosas que existe en el mundo. Si tenemos éxito con un esfuerzo muy torpe, como éste, es posible que obtengamos más apoyo en el futuro. En todo caso, gracias por este sitio, que me parece muy bueno, y por tratar este tema que encuentro muy importante.
Hola Ryan, Gracias por comentar. Me gusta tu analogía sobre cortarse las uñas y el pelo.