“The men don’t deserve respect” Beatriz gonzález president of the associatión of emancipated women
The Emancipated Woman Association has been working in the area of prostitution and women for many years, using re-insertion and awareness programmes. Its president is in favour of the abolition of an activity that is based on inequality between men and women.
Q: What do you think of the possibility that the Malaga City hall will decide to penalise prostitutes’ clients?
It seems to me to be a good idea. It is a way of abolishing the practice of prostitution, which attempts to penalise those people who use the services of prostitutes rather than the victims themselves. The women are in it out of necessity. In Spain, the current law attempts to penalise those who induce women into prostitution, but it is never applied in practice. The police know where these so-called clubs are, and they know who works in them, but when it comes to doing something about it…
Q: Do you believe that the idea that women choose to become prostitutes of their own free will still persists in society?
A certain kind of feminism believes that prostitution should be regulated, based on the idea that women should be free to do what they want with their own bodies. I believe this is no more than feminism misunderstood, supported by people who are not conscious of the transmitted roles of men and women over centuries past. If women were free of this scourge, then they would really be free to do what they wish with their bodies, but on equal terms with men, with no exchange of money taking place. The submission of the woman in private in times gone by has now moved into the public arena. Prostitution is an activity in which women have to be submissive. When there is such a need to survive economically, and men prepared to alleviate this need in exchange for sex, then there is inequality.
Q: You have been working with prostitutes for many years. What is the reality of prostitution?
It is practised by poor immigrant women who are also often drug traffickers. They are sexual objects, used by men who have never given any thought to sexual equality. The women have probably not thought about equality either, because all they want is to be able to earn enough money to get themselves and their families out of the poverty they live in.
Q: Have studies been carried out on clients of prostitutes?
We don’t have any such studies, but we know they tend to be people who raise their voices with women, who hit them and do not help out in the home or look after their children. However, there are some men who use prostitutes because of psychological problems in their relationships with their partners.
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