Sex for sale in Spain | DW Documentary
A village in northern Spain has become a hive of prostitution. La Jonquera, close to the French border, has become home to a large number of brothels.
The first thing people see when they arrive in Spain are prostitutes
Sex workers also line the streets and locals are worried about both their safety and their reputation. “It is a problem for the whole country,” says Sònia Martínez Juli, mayor of La Jonquera: “The first thing people see when they arrive in Spain are prostitutes.” The owner of what he says is the biggest sex club in Europe, “Paradise”, predictably defends his business. The Spaniard Dani Farled, meanwhile, the son of a sex worker, is more critical of the industry. His mother worked for years as a prostitute in La Jonquera; his father was her pimp. Today, he remains in the milieu, where he works as a tattoo artist. In the film, French sex tourists, who account for ninety percent of the market here, explain their motives and a Romanian street prostitute explains why Spain is an attractive place for her to work. A recent study by the Madrid University Comillas found that Spain was well on its way to becoming Europe’s leading nation when it comes to the sex industry: It already has more prostitutes than any other European nation.
> Opinions among Spain’s sex worker community are split regarding proposals to outlaw prostitution
Spain boasts the highest demand for paid sex across Europe. Presently, the government is poised to enact legislation aimed at cracking down on pimps with severe penalties and levying fines on clients to safeguard women. However, this proposed change is met with mixed reactions from sex workers.