In an effort to have more control over roadside prostitution in Catalan as well as prostitution in general, the Catalan government has instituted a new law regulating prostitution all over the region. It will concentrate on banning roadside or street prostitution, in an effort to get prostitutes off the street and into more regulated work places. Prostitution is legal all over Spain as the Spanish are quit open minded about it, but police have been seeing more and more problems because of street prostitution, as well as more women being exploited by the pimps who control it. So Catalan wants it brought to a stop.
What the new law does is bring in a new set or rules and regulations that prostitutes will have to work under, and their clients will have to abide by. Refusal by prostitute or client could result in an up-to 30,000 euro fine, depending on number of previous violations and the seriousness involved.
Paid sexual services are now only allowed in licensed establishments, which are not allowed to advertise on the street outside. Women who work there will work for themselves and pay a fee every day to the building manager for the use of a room. They can come and go as they please.
While women’s organizations are saying this will do nothing but push more women into prostitution, the more it is ‘legalized’, groups that represent prostitutes say it’s a positive step forward in protecting sex workers and getting them off the streets — places where they are exploited and abused by pimps and often work long hours for no money.
Driving around Spain, you often see prostitutes standing or sitting alone by the side of the road with cars stopping occasionally to use their services. If more of Spain did what the Catalan government is doing, it would give these girls better working conditions and a job in less dangerous places.