i wanted to blog about the video shoot for my bff empire isis's new single in montreal last weekend, which was so much fun and very inspiring.
but then i opened my twitter account this morning and found this: 'sexo en barcelona: el país fotografía las calles de la boquería', or 'sex in barcelona: el pais photographs the streets of the boquería'. it's a la voz libre synopsis of 'vecinos y tenderos reclaman regular la prostitución' or, 'residents and business owners seek regulation of prostitution', published in today's el país, a well-respected new york times-washington post caliber spanish newspaper.
la boquería is a famous market off barcelona's main drag, las ramblas. by day anyway. by night, it's a dirty sex den for african and latin trannie prostitutes and their (mostly) white customers. el pais got it all on camera (really, all) except for the trannie sex, because you know, somehow that would have been too much.
each and every conversation i have with a black woman begins and ends on the ramblas. okay, that's an exaggeration, but only slightly, as i know black women who would sooner walk miles out of their way than cross the ramblas by themselves at night to reach their destination. i find las ramblas, on the whole, really fucking obnoxious. i hate the crowds of rednecked rubber-neckers taking endless pics of their sombrero-wearing kids with 'street performers'. especially when those 'street performers' are in blackface. the tacky stores, the fast food, the loud american undergrads and drunk british gap year kids ... it's basically hell on earth for me.
in my very humble opinion, barcelona is one of the best cities in the world in spite of las ramblas.
the prostitutes are normally the least of my worries. do i ever get mistaken for one? no. i walk through the ramblas at night all the time, by myself, wearing tight jeans and short dresses because people tend to know when you're actually selling sex, and when you're not. something to do with not offering it. if that were to happen, i doubt the encounter would go any further than my very new york accent saying some very new york shit. besides how are you ever going to conquer in the world if you walk around scared of what people see when they look at you?
still, the photos that appear in today's el país, of white johns and black prostitutes having full blown sex in full view of all of barcelona, have unraveled me a bit. the very pedestrian act of navigating the pics with 'ampliar', 'anterior', 'siguiente' and 'otras' somehow brings sexual directives and handy little icons together in a way that makes me feel like i need a bath.
i wonder how many people have seen them, what everyone in spain is saying about them (i'm in new york for another 3 weeks) and what impact they'll have on the future of prostitution in the city. i wonder if, since the article is about regulating (or, on the other hand, enforcing prohibition of) prostitution so that the barrio doesn't wake up to sidewalks lined with used condoms, the 'art', so graphic and triple equis, was really necessary.
i'm having the sort of visceral reaction el país editors no doubt intended when they published this article, except for me it goes even deeper. i feel just a little bit (and this totally surprises the shit out of me) ashamed for black women. which never happens.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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6 comments:
I can imagine how you feel, but don't feel TOO bad. Just think: It is possible that hardly a white person in all of Spain is feeling bad that their own white men are involved in such degenerate, exploitative behaviour. :P
I think our emotions are much better wielded as empathy for these women/men of the Diaspora who are or who feel trapped into these hellish lives as the sex slaves (Yes, "slaves". They are paid, but nobody can retire to a winter cottage via prostitution. Heidi Fleiss is an anomaly) of these brutes.
Not only do they have the burden of the inflicted sexual abuse to depress them, these poor souls also live daily with the knowledge that the "exotic" (hate that fukking word!), dark cast of their skin is also a saleable cachet that attracts/elicits The Beast in these men.
Don't be ashamed for a moment. You are living example that it doesn't have to be like that. Any intelligent person will see that these prostitutes are not a representation of the entire Diaspora.
As you've said, maybe there will be a serious examination of prostitution and the welfare of these sex trade workers.
Oh! Were you in Montreal? So close!
there are so many complications to this issue, that i can only begin to discuss them, which is what this post is; beginning with my very visceral reaction. the first feeling i had, was shame. i'm kind of over that today, though, thanks...
anyway, i just want to point out a few things: first, the guys in the first pic are wearing the marks of the tourist beast: the printed/tropical shirt, the bermuda shorts. i'd bet my studded burberry bag that guy is NOT spanish at all. and it's not by accident that the clearest image of a john, is the image of a man ALL spaniards can deny is one of theirs. fits with an overall tendency to deny pathologies, or at least, lay them at the feet of immigrants. like, 'those africans and those tourists... what do we do about them?' spain makes integration almost impossible, then when desperate folks turn to other means, their criminalized. it's a bit complicado for a blog post, but def part of the discussion.
the second thing is the girls themselves... i'm not sure i'm willing to absolve them of ALL responsibility, which we kind of do by calling them slaves. have you ever walked down the ramblas at night? i have. white men NEVER harass me. those girls do. every time. i've almost ripped at least a handful of them a new one for bumping into me 'accidentally', hissing. or making smart comments cuz they thought i was some new pro takin 'food' out of their mouths. some even don't stop when it's clear i'm not a prostitute. all of a sudden i'm a threat to them and i wouldn't be so naive or condescending as to treat them as 'slaves' who don't know any better. not saying they're not exploited, just trying to say that in my actual experience with them, it ain't so cut and dried.
i often leave out lots of context cuz it's too much for a blog, i think, but there's def more to the story.
Ieisha firstly, I LOVE your blog, secondly, the visuals unnerved me a little bit as well. While whether the johns are Spaniards or not may not be the primary issue, they seem so foreign and touristy to me as well... the sandals, the attire, the brazen moxy, etc.
Also, I recall my best friend and I receiving that same, confrontational reaction from the African women living in Sicily, when we passed them on the street during the late evening, headed back to our hotel and even during the afternoon. They'd side-eye us with a fierceness,loudly suck their teeth, or purposely shoulder us as well. We realized then that they viewed us as competition and not as tourists on holiday.
While I realize many of them are being exploited, I do think there're some of them that need to held accountable for their actions.
How you carry yourself is a clear indicator of whether you're selling sex or not. We had no issues with being confused for prostitutes.
Interesting post and article.
I do agree with you that there is more to the issue. As you've pointed out, blog posts don't always give the full context, Neither do blog comments, I've found. ;)
I think the complexities of the issue are not isolated to Spain or Europe or to the relations between white johns and non-white prostitutes. Neither did I mean to infer that these prostitutes are white-as-driven-snow.
I guess my point is that whether the johns are tourists or locals (This seems to be a pretty common situation. I know for e.g. that about 90% or more of the sex tourists in the Netherlands are British men), IMO these mean are still beasts and these women are still slaves.
Not sure if I feel "naive" or "condescending" about calling these sex workers "slaves". I think the term is appropriate to ALL sex workers, regardless of "race" or gender (ergo, the oft-used term "sex slave"). In my mind, their slavery is both self-inflicted and other-inflicted, and has absolutely nothing to do with race, but rather with their status in societies and their powerlessness.
Dunno... I have a soft spot for sex workers.
There is a Mafia sex trade that is run by African men who bring African women and force them to work as prostitiutes.
Most of these women are not independent women working as prostitutes.
There is a story behind each and every one of them .
Some were promised jobs in Spain and Italy and borrowed money at home to travel to Europe.
Upon arrival in Europe, their documents were confiscated by their own countrymen and they were forced to work as prostitues to pay back the money borrowed.
Their relatives at home are usually harrassed by hooligans working with the ones involved in the scheme in Europe.
I believe last year, an African prostitute was found dead in Rome.
It is a typical thing to find them dead on Spanish highways.
A Spanish friend of mine told me he did not understand why Nigerian women were working as prostitutes in Spain if Nigeria is an oil rich country.
More likey they are hissing because they may have a quota to produce for their sex managers.
This is not the first time something like this hit the Spanish media.
In some of the neighborhoods in a few Southern cities, residents have been complaining that at night, prostitutes and their clients are doing their own thing.
This is so sad.
Saludos,
Ana
hey ana! thanks for commenting!
so, this kind of 'stock' explanation of what happens don't t really sit well with me for a few reasons. the first is that nigerians do not own the power structure in spain. no matter how the girls got there, the reason they are not protected/regulated in spain has NOTHING to do with with africans. the reason they are allowed to operate in full view of everyone on the streets of BCN no holds barred? has very little to do with any 'african mafia' (the existence of which in spain is incredibly difficult to believe) and everything to do with the spanish power structure.
it's difficult, without really knowing the context of catalonia, especially, to overstate the limits of spanish citizenship. i believe that extends to mafia.
if you have some kind of verification of an african mafia that operates with impunity in spain, i'd love love love to see it!! i've heard it's catalans that run that ring, but i don't know this to be a fact...
the second thing is that, contrary to what the photos say, not all prostitutes on the ramblas are african. this is what pissed me off about the photos. i'd say about 30% are latinas. a piece in la voz libre alleges they're trannies, but i'm sure some are women. i should also mention the many eastern european sex workers i saw on the streets of madrid. so this is not a situation with a single origin.
as for the reason they hiss at me, obviously it's because they're protecting their territory. but i LIVE there. it's difficult for me not to engage with them, seeing as how they are human beings and all. really, it's pretty obvious i'm not one of them. so no matter how stuck they are in their situation, i've made a conscious choice to approach them like, 'hey, you're a person, your situation blows, i'm sure, but you have brain cells. use them.'
it's easy to rationalize their behavior when you don't have to see them everyday. i have to cross the ramblas to get from my house to my fave hangout. i do not have the luxury of treating them like studies.
un saludo hermanita...
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