English - Project ETTS

Progetto ETTS - DCI-NSAED/2010/234-237
www.etts.eu
I mercati del sesso.
Tratta, turismo sessuale e clienti nell’era della
globalizzazione
By Emanuela Abbatecola, Sebastiano Benasso e Cristina Pidello
Translation: Alice Cibelli, Marco Bonelli
The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European
Commission
1
1. SEX MARKETS AND TRAFFICKING IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA (by Emanuela Abbatecola) ................................ 3
1.1 On the concept of trafficking ..................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2. The outline of the research ...................................................................................................................................... 7
1.3. The research in Italy ................................................................................................................................................ 8
1.3.1. Foreign prostitutes are migrants? .................................................................................................................... 8
1.3.2. Nigerian racket and Albanian’s compared ....................................................................................................... 9
1.3.3. Evolutions and changes ................................................................................................................................. 16
1.3.4. Families: accomplices or victims?.................................................................................................................. 21
1.3.5. Work and daily life ......................................................................................................................................... 22
1.3.6 Health and exploitation ................................................................................................................................... 25
1.3.7 Indoor prostitution. Apartments and bars ........................................................................................................ 29
1.4. The research in Romania ...................................................................................................................................... 31
1.4.1 Changes. 2007 as a turning point ................................................................................................................... 31
1.4.2. Net's organization and recruitment strategies ................................................................................................ 33
1.4.3 The routes of trafficking .................................................................................................................................. 39
1.4.4 Exploitation, violence and subjection strategies.............................................................................................. 40
1.4.5. Life and working conditions............................................................................................................................ 44
1.4.6. The escape, the repatriation and the hardships of rehabilitation.................................................................... 48
1.4.7. Clients in the girls' representations. ............................................................................................................... 52
1.5. The research in Brazil............................................................................................................................................ 53
1.5.1. The evolution of the phenomenon of trafficking in Brazil ............................................................................... 53
1.5. 2 Types of trafficking and criticality of the Brazilian laws .................................................................................. 56
1.5.3 Protagonists of trafficking, vulnerability and forms of enticement ................................................................... 58
1.5.4. That slight border between sexual tourism and trafficking ............................................................................. 65
1.5.5 Networks, routes and exploitation in Brazilian women's traffic – biological and transsexual ........................... 70
1.5.6 Health in conditions of exploitation ................................................................................................................. 77
1.5.7. Autonomous work, exploitation and agency in the sex markets..................................................................... 79
1.5.8. Going back..................................................................................................................................................... 81
1.6. The research in Spain ........................................................................................................................................... 82
1.6.1. A global view.................................................................................................................................................. 82
1.6.2. Recruitment, networks and prevailing forms of exploitation ........................................................................... 86
1.6.3 Exploitation and health's risk factors ............................................................................................................... 97
1.6.4. And afterwards?............................................................................................................................................. 98
2. BRASILIAN TRANSGENDER AND TRANSSEXUALS: MIGRANTS OR TRAFFICKERS? (By Cristina Pidello)........ 100
2.1. The Internal migration in Brazil. ........................................................................................................................... 100
2.1.1. Migrating to prostitute. ................................................................................................................................. 102
2.2. Brazilian criminal code: mention is no longer about women, but “people”. .......................................................... 102
2.3. Abandoning one’s own social context of reference.............................................................................................. 105
2.3.1. The figure and role of the “Cafetinha” .......................................................................................................... 107
2.3.2. Paying for the street..................................................................................................................................... 110
2.3.3. The bombadeiras: the transformation of the body through informal illegal ways ......................................... 112
2.4. Migrating abroad: Europe as the Eldorado of the transgender persons
113
2.4.1. Phantom migration flows ............................................................................................................................. 120
2.4.2. Trafficants or social networks? .................................................................................................................... 121
2.4.3. The arrival in the “Beautiful Country”: Italy ................................................................................................... 124
2.4.4. Housing conditions of the Brazilian transgender and transsexual persons in Italy....................................... 129
2.4.5.Eviction order ................................................................................................................................................ 131
2.4.6. Assistance to the transgender and transsexual victims of traffic.................................................................. 133
3. Masculinities on stage. Clients and representations in the Italian sex market (By Sebastiano Benasso) ................... 138
3.1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................... 138
3.2. Brief methodological note. ................................................................................................................................... 139
3.3. The magic mirror. Reflecting on clients' words and analysis of imageries beneath. ............................................ 140
3.4. The first experiences and the categorization of “other” clients. ........................................................................... 148
3.5. The repression of female desire and the “de-legitimation” of the hegemonic masculinity.................................... 155
3.6. Conversations on “Gnocca forum” as stage of hegemonic masculinity. .............................................................. 158
3.7. Conclusions. ........................................................................................................................................................ 166
Attachment 1 .............................................................................................................................................................. 167
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................................ 168
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1. SEX MARKETS AND TRAFFICKING IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA (by Emanuela
Abbatecola)
1.1 On the concept of trafficking
Kara writes:
sex trafficking is among the most horrendous signs of global capitalism, since it
originates from the harmful inequalities diffused by the globalization process,
such as the embittering of poverty in rural areas, the increasing economical
dependency of the poorer, exploitation and transfer of richness and resources
from underdeveloped Countries to richer ones, the increasing reduction of
freedom for human beings of Countries of the civilized world (Kara, 2010, p. 25).
Prostitution in the globalization era, therefore, involves as well the enslavement of thousands of women
(biological and transsexual) and girls, even though, as we know, the phenomenon of trafficking is not really
new.
But what do we mean exactly with the term “trafficking”?
The Protocol of Palermo, adopted by the United Nations in 2000, entered on december 2003 into force and
ratified (in march 2013) by 154 countries, states in art. 3, that:
a)
Human trafficking indicates the recruitment, transportation, transfer, accommodation or
reception of people, through the use or using threat of force or other forms of coercion, abduction,
fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a vulnerable position or through giving or receiving sums of
money or advantages to obtain the consent of a person having control over another one on
exploitation purposes. Exploitation includes at least, the exploitation of others' prostitution or other
forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or forced performance, slavery or similar practices, the
servitude or the removal of organs;
b)
the consent of a victim of human being's trafficking to exploitation as per in letter a) of this
article is insignificant in cases in which any of the means used as per in letter a) has been used;
c)
the recruitment, transportation, transfer, accommodation or reception of a child for
exploitation purposes are considered “human being's trafficking” even though not including any of
the means as per in letter a) of this article;
d)
«child» indicates any person under 18 years old.
People's trafficking is a phenomenon taking place within or beyond national borders – in the second case it
is usually called “internal trafficking” - and the movement of a person in the space is central.
In paragraph a) of art.3 of the Protocol of Palermo are indicated different actions considered as criteria
defining the human being's trafficking phenomenon, without the necessity of being all present.
Recruitment, transportation, transfer can constitute the illicit act of people's trafficking, provided that they
act through the use or threat of using force (physical, psychological and/or sexual), against the will of
individuals. In paragraph b) it is however specified that the consent of the victim does not invalidate the
offence. This last one is a very important point of the protocol, because, as we will see, the condition of
3
socio-economical-cultural vulnerability leads very often to accept risky migratory projects and degrading
life conditions otherwise considered unacceptable. Both in the analysis of the phenomenon, and the
definition of the enforcement actions, it is therefore fundamental to be able to distinguish the
exploitation's conditions to the eventual consent of people exploited, because these aspects are not
necessarily contradicting each other.
The concept of trafficking does not have to be confused with the one of smuggling, because this last one
wears out with the illegal entry of the migrant in a country which is not the one of origin, trafficking fuels
with the proceeds from exploitation of the person once arrived at the destination country.
Tab. 1 Difference between smuggling of people and trafficking of people
TRAFFICKING OF PEOPLE
National and transnational crime
It happens with or without the consent of the victim
The exploitation of the person continues also after the
arrival at the destination country
The main gain is made from revenues derived from the
exploitation of the victim and in small part by facilitating
the entry into the new place of destination
SMUGGLING OF PEOPLE
Transnational crime
Consent of the person
It ends with the arrival of the migrant at the
arrival country
The price paid by the migrant is the source of
income for smugglers
It consists on facilitating the entry of new
migrants into the country of destination.
Source: Secretaria National da Justiça 2013
The additional Protocol to the United Nations Agreement against transnational Organized crime to fight
migrants trafficking by earth, sea and air, provides that Member States shall adopt systems for smuggling
victims' protection weaker than those considered necessary for the victims of trafficking, which sometimes
leads to practices of forced repatriation that, far from combating criminal networks involved in trafficking,
might actually strengthen them by creating new sources of recruitment.
The Protocol of Palermo has no juridical obligation towards Member States, although it can be considered a
good instrument for the harmonization of rights at international level on the theme of trafficking and
smuggling of people and to stimulate the cooperation among States in order to put preventive and
repressive actions of the phenomenon into action.
A central aspect for international debates on the theme of smuggling and trafficking of people is the figure
of the “victim” - controversial and debated label in literature, which many of the people involved do not
recognize in – that will be used here to enable a more fluid and clear reading. Art. 6 of the Protocol of
Palermo indicates the following as for protection of the victims of smuggling and trafficking is concerned:
(1)
In appropriate cases and to the extent permitted by its internal right, each Member State
protects the privacy and identity of the victims of trafficking, even excluding the advertising of legal
proceedings relating to such trafficking.
(2)
Each Member State ensures that its domestic legal or administrative system contains
measures that allow, in appropriate cases, to provide victims of trafficking in persons with: a)
information on relevant judicial and administrative proceedings; b) assistance to enable their views
and concerns to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of criminal proceedings against
offenders, in a manner not prejudicial to the rights of the defence.
(3)
Each Member State takes into consideration the implementation of measures for the
physical, psychological and social recovery of the victims of humans trafficking and, in appropriate
cases, the collaboration with non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and
other elements of civil society, to furnish: a) an adequate accommodation; b) counselling and
information, in particular on their rights recognized by law, in an understandable language to the
4
victims of traffic; c) medical, psychological and material assistance; and d) employment,
educational and formative opportunities.
(4)
Each Member State takes into consideration, applying the disposals of this article, the age,
sex and particular needs of the victims of people's trafficking, in particular the specific needs of
children, including accommodation, an education and appropriate care. (5) Each Member State tries
to ensure the physical safety of the victims of people's trafficking while on their territory. (6) Each
Member State ensures that its juridical system contains measures to offer the victims of people's
trafficking the possibility to obtain a compensation for the damage suffered.
As pointed out earlier, the Protocol of Palermo has no effect on legal obligation of the signatory States, but
it still remains a guideline to encourage the States to take the appropriate measures in respect of the
victims, harmonizing as far as possible, the interventions.
A remarked point is the necessity to put the attention on protecting the identity and the privacy on the
victim's information. Often smuggled people or people involved in trafficking for exploitation purposes are
threatened of death, of reprisals on the immediate family in cases of non-payment of the amounts agreed,
of complaints to institutions of public safety and / or escape. Aware of the potential violence of the
strategies implemented by criminal networks,The Agreement of Palermo imposes the obligation to all
Member States to have appropriate protection measures for the person who decides to sue, which must be
guaranteed by physical safety and provision of an accommodation as well as other measures that regularize
their stay in the destination country.
Another important document, although probably less known as the Protocol of Palermo, is the European
Council Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Being, promoted by the European Council on
May 16th 2005 and into force since 2008, year in which it has been ratified by ten states: until today (spring
2014) signatory Members are 42. The convention registers trafficking among the violations of human rights,
from which the right to protection of trafficked people arises.
Trafficking, therefore, as a violation of human rights.
As we know, there are different types of trafficking, but the estimates seem to indicate trafficking on sexual
exploitation purposes as the most diffused. As shown in graphic 1, both Eurostat's datas for 2013 and
UNODOC's of 2010, show, for the two-years period of 2008-2010, a prevalence of the incidence esteemed
for prostitution markets compared to those referable respectively to forced labor or other types of
trafficking (among which the delicate phenomenon of organs' traffic, still not much researched), the
difference between the first two values varies from 36 to 61 percentage points depending on the examined
sources.
Graf. 1 Incidence esteemed for different types of trafficking (%)
Trafficking 2008-2010
14%
sexual 61% (79%)
25%
labour 25% (18%)
61%
others 14% (3%)
Source: Eurostat 2013 (UNODOC, 2010)
Human trafficking appears as a gender-characterized phenomenon, meaning that the surveys (graph. 2 e 3)
indicate a prevalence of women among victims (80% vs. 20%), and males among the exploiters (75% vs.
5
25%). Speaking about this last fact, the research made during the ETTS Project confirms what already
emerged from earlier researches made on trafficking on sexual exploitation purposes, for which exploiters
are men when the exploitation is made by Albanian or Roman people, whereas in Nigerian racket and
Brazilian transsexuals exploitation, women show the dominant role (maman e cafetinhas).
Graph. 2 Estimates for trafficking's victims gender composition
80
80
70
68
60
50
40
20
30
20
12
17
3
10
0
Female (80%)
Male (20%)
Total
Adults
Childern
Source: Eurostat 2013
Graph. 3 Estimates for exploiter's gender composition
75
80
60
25
40
20
0
Traffickers
Female (25%)
Male (75%)
Source: Eurostat 2013
The gender composition of the so called victims (as we will see they will not always perceived as such),
appears to vary depending on the type of trafficking taken into consideration. As shown in graph. 4, women
would prevail as for sexual exploitation is concerned (96% vs. 4%) and for other forms of trafficking (72% vs.
28%), whereas forced labor seems to involve mainly men.
Graf. 4 Gender composition estimate for types of trafficking
96
100
77
80
72
60
40
28
23
20
4
0
Sexual
Labour
Female
Other
Male
Source: Eurostat 2013
6
As we know these are estimates, therefore approximate datas subject to distortions related to the difficulty
of investigating underground worlds such as those related to organized crime. Yet, there is a possibility to
find an underlying coherence in the descriptions emerged and the modalities used by societies to build and
represent genders: work to the market is the dimension funding traditional male identity (Abbatecola,
2002), and female sexuality as service sexuality, for the use and consumption of an “hydraulics” male
sexuality in need to find an outlet every time that desire comes up (Ciccone, 2009).
Not all foreign women working in the sex market are “trafficking victims” but the estimates speak about a
disturbing phenomenon that should question ourself as well. Trafficking means violence, often brutal and
lethal, we could define it as gender violence, whose roots are traceable in our societies, in dominant
cultural models, in the ways the female identity is built (“women are...”), male identity (“men are...”) and
gender relations. Gender violence, and the diverse expressions involving the body, has to be obstructed,
but every sort of action has to start by knowledge. For this reason we, speaking within the ETTS Project,
chose to spend time and energies for research, to monitor the phenomenon and catch its evolutions and
changes in the four partner countries: Italy, Spain, Romania and Brazil.
1.2. The outline of the research
The idea that inspired the project was to research the phenomenon of trafficking on sexual exploitation
purposes comparing some destination countries of the women (biological and transsexuals) victims of
traffic – Italy and Spain – and some origin countries – Romania and Brazil.
In the four countries qualitative researches were made, coordinated by the University of Genoa, through
semi-structured interviews to privileged witnesses (social workers; policemen/women; magistrate, etc.)
and life stories, in protected contexts, to women of late escape from exploitation.
The researchers worked on the interviews' tracks – intended as flexible outlines – previously discussed in
team's meetings. The tracks showed a common structure and differed for some contextual adaptations
and/or for the desire to study in deep, on a local level, some themes.
Only as for the trafficking phenomenon for sexual exploitation in concerned 93 qualitative interviews were
done, whose distribution in partner countries is resumed in table 2.
City
Nr. of witnesses
Tab. 2 Scheme for qualitative interviews on women's trafficking on sexual exploitation purposes
Italy
Romania
Spain
Brazil1
Brazil2
Brazil3
Turin
Bucharest
Sevilla
Brasilia
Fortaleza
Guarulhos
8
6
12
5
13
6
10
/
10
10
10
3
Interviewer's name
Francesca
Rascazzo Monica
Reynaudo
Gabriela
Chiroiu
Monica
Reynaudo
Vanessa
Casado
Eliana
Nombre
Maria D. Mota
Federica
Rossetti
Rejane
Alexander De La
Costa
Cristina Pidello
Total of interviews
14
17
19
10
20
13
Nr. of Life stories
TOTAL
63
30
93
In this chapter we will handle mainly trafficking of biological women, whereas for deeper information on
the results of the research concerning trafficking of transsexual women please refer to chapter 2.
7
1.3. The research in Italy
1.3.1. Foreign prostitutes are migrants?
Starting by the eighties, Italian streets started to be populated by women1 – biological and transsexuals –
coming from Nigeria, Latin America, Albania and, later, from eastern European countries (Carchedi, 2000;
Da Pra Pochessia, 2001; Abbatecola 2006 e 2010).
Within a six month/year period these girls disappeared and coloured girls started to
arrive, later identified as Nigerian. Since then, within a year or two period, the
presence of white girls, from Albania, started to be and so on with different groups:
Moldavian, Ukrainian, from ex USSR, until a recent Community migration from
Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia. Present is still the Nigerian migration with some
Latin- and Central- Americans: Colombian, from the Dominican Republic, these
countries. At last the Italian and Latin-American transgender group, Brazilian in
particular [Witness, T1, ONR].
The visible prostitution becomes, then, mainly foreign, but researches on this theme are unlikely to be
included in the bigger picture on migrations (Bimbi, 2001; Abbatecola, 2005). It is rare, in facts, that foreign
prostitutes get to be represented as “migrant”: women bringing migrant projects more or less realistic
and/or naive (excluding, at least on a first phase, kidnapped girls), projects and/or dreams leading to accept
unclear migratory “contracts”, if not concerning the “destiny” of a prostitute, at least concerning the
conditions of service of such profession; women leaving relatives, parents, brothers, often sons at home,
sending them (when made possible by exploiters) the so called “remittances”; women that have to face a
foreign country's different culture, language and habits, clandestinity and social invisibility involved in it,
with the skepticism of those considering them “strangers” and therefore “other” than us; women growing
projects for an “after” not always foreseeing a return back home, but sometimes the reunion with sons and
closest relatives (Abbatecola, 2005). There are, in literature, reflections on the links connecting sexual
exploitation, migrations and human beings traffic (see for instance, Campani, 2000; Ambrosini, 2002),
showing although that a general recall on the migration's theme limits to passing from the origin country to
the destination one, without focusing on the people directly involved in it: foreign prostitutes, in
dominating representations, are first of all prostitutes, victims, slaves, hardly migrants.
Scientific literature, considers foreign prostitution first of all among the studies on deviance (“necessary
disease”, “tolerated vice”), or at the most among gender studies (women matter?), as a Manual on
Sociology of Migrations states:
And also, gender studies report different forms of discrimination and exploitation
(also sexual) of which migrant women are victims and explore the reality and
perspective of their relationship with native women (Zanfrini, 2004, p. 60).
1
From ’95 to 2000 also Albanian minors start to arrive, Romanian and Marrocan, whose prostitution is
less visible and researched.
8
Simultaneously, links between foreign prostitution and other sectors of the markets are rarely emphasised ,
showing although comparable working conditions of migrants' exploitation (Bimbi, 2001; Abbatecola,
2005).
But are foreign prostitutes migrants in the first place? Isn't it maybe the desire and/or need (socially
mediated by first generation migrants' networks) to push them towards Western Europe? And entrusting
traffickers and criminal network wouldn't be the first step towards the realization of a migratory project?
Why are we in such difficulty thinking about sex work as the result of a migratory process?
Reading foreign prostitution through the lens of migratory processes enables to contextualize it in
sociological terms, and deconstruct the steadiness naturalizing stereotyped images in which it gets
frequently compelled.
As is known, migrants are “requested but not welcome” (Zolberg, 1997), for this reason since years we
witness to an economical opening opposed to a social and political introversion (Ambrosini, 2011). Markets
are in need of economical labor force whose demand is unsatisfied by native labor, and the society protects
from the Other, from strangers, building symbolic barriers. Otherness is a frightening difference, disturbing,
annoying and therefore has to be restrained; this can be realized through three ways that can be
complementary: affecting language (Italian expressions: “vu cumprà2”; “illegal immigrant”; “caretaker”;
“whore”); producing and reinforcing stereotypes (Colombo, 1999); defining and confining the domains of
exercise and the degrees of freedom given to strangers. For this reason neighbourhoods for strangers only
arise and a process of subaltern integration takes form (Ambrosini, 1999) so that a stranger is accepted only
if hierarchically inferior:
immigrants seem to be accepted, maybe, at a personal level, when possessing a
name and place in society – useful, modest, possibly invisible (Ambrosini, 2011,
trad. propria).
Women are, to some degree, perceived as less intimidating, that can be assimilated more easily, and so
more accepted (Ambrosini, 2004), but these women, often well-liked, protected, helped, are generally
confined as well in subaltern roles, referable to traditional dimensions of femininity nowadays put into
discussion by western women. For this reason migrant become in our eyes housemaids, family assistants,
traditional wives and prostitutes (Luciano, 1994; Abbatecola, 2006; Massari, 2009). A ethnical hierarchy
takes place (Massari, 2009) among native women and migrant women (the same happens to men), whose
professional choice are socially defined regardless to biographical, educational and professional paths
(Kofman et al. 2000; Sassen, 2002).
1.3.2. Nigerian racket and Albanian’s compared
In Italy, the two main rackets historically involved in street prostitution's exploitation and women and
minors' enslavement are the Nigerian and Albanian's, very different from one another in terms of strategy,
gender composition at vertex, evolution through time.
The most relevant specificity of Nigerian racket is women in power roles. Since the very first migratory
fluxes during the eighties, the exploiters were the maman or madame, ex sex workers, victims of trafficking
in turn, that after having paid their debts, made a career buying young compatriots. The mamans,
charismatic figures, loved and feared, respected and admired, accommodating and protective, still
potentially violent, have been the undiscussed queens of Nigerian sexual exploitation throughout all the
nineties and a well over the beginning of XXI century. Men staid long in the background, invisible, employed
2
Italian expression meaning “Wanna buy” used to indicate a black person selling this in the street.
9
(apparently?) at manual labor linked to money collection or punitive missions. Substantially, men would
come in when the mamans asked for specific services, and then disappeared again in the shadow. Then,
after 2006, something changes. Men, boyfriends and husbands of the mamans, get out of the shadow and
up to today they seem to control human beings traffick, not only for the sex market, but for begging as
well.
So today there are couples in which the woman is the exploiter, but the man holds the
crux of the matter. [Witness, T2, Caritas]
His husband was in charge to find the girls; his husband put them onto a plane .. and the
woman was here to await them. It was a “domestic” matter, not so domestic let's say a
“family run” with about fourteen/fifteen girls and it was just the husband.. in fact this
woman would not just bring the women, but also the “lover”, the handyman, the one who
would manage a certain situation: bring the girls , pick up the kids in school, she needed a
taxi driver and he did this as well, other than the lover, also a taxi driver then he was the
handyman, arrived illegally as well still brought by her. She was the organization. The
husband in Nigeria organized the arrival of these people: flight tickets, documents,
everything. [Witness, T10, Police]
Men, moreover, gained a role in the magical-religious ceremonies, initially done exclusively at home by the
maman or an acquaintance of hers, and now celebrated by presumed “pastors” (Bedin and Donadel, 2007).
In the relation with the trafficked victims, though, the maman holds a central position. She is the reference
point and she is the one ordaining and defining hierarchies and obligations. She is the ambivalent
“stepmother”.
The Albanian racket instead, since its beginning during the nineties, was exclusively dominated by men.
During the years, some women – the girlfriends, the favoured ones – have been able to obtain small pieces
of careers, taking up roles of surveillance and obtaining small privileges (as, for instance, the possibility not
to work in case of illness or negotiating the money distribution), but eastern European traffic of women –
managed by Albanian first and Romanian then, with strong connexions among the criminal nets – has
always been deeply characterized by a male domination, not only in terms of gender characterization of the
leaders.
“They raped me, they tugged me, I didn't want to be a prostitute, they obliged me, then
they suggested me to be gentle” so she started going out with the exploiter, which
granted her a certain freedom. “So I could go out dancing, freedom meaning these sort of
things, except if you didn't bring him the money he asked for which meant getting beaten.
So even in this disgusting situation, because so it was, he had the money he could keep,
not even few of it, but it was a violent situation.” Every time she tried to escape or she got
to know anyone to go out with, she would be called to order. [Witness, T2, Caritas]
From a symbolic point of view, strategies of subjection are male and mainly funded on violence and :
sexual, physic, psychological violence, acted continuously; this violence could be defined “preventive”, put
into action immediately, to define hierarchies, roles and rules of the game, and annul the individuality of an
enslaved person.
10
I saw how the girls got beaten. I saw when… with this [indicating the thread of the mouse,
ndr], they beat a girl on new year's eve when we went out and then got back. C. they beat
her while I was sleeping, i woke up and saw, i got scared and me I never got beaten
before. The afterwards, they beat me just once, when I talked to that client [Life story,
Moldavian, D2]
he beat me, he threw my head against the shower, he told me he would have killed me
pointing me the knife against, but I told him: kill me I'm not so scared, better dead than
living this life. And he would say “Oh, you play the fat head?” and he would start back
again.. [Life story, Romanian, D3]
If I was sick I had to tell why, and if he said “come on it's nothing, you have to go”, I had to
go. If I didn't want to go, even if he said “go”, he started threatening me, actually he
always threatened me, because if I wanted to leave “you gave your word, you cannot go, if
you try to leave you'll find immediately a van that will take you and bring you wherever
they want, they do you whatever they want, they.. - I don't know - they will tie your
hands, your head, they will hurt your family, they will put some bombs into your house,
they will rape your mom, your dad, your brother, they will kill you immediately, don't you
want to go to work? Call in five minutes, will you find your family alive, or dead? You
cannot go because you are simply a whore you have to stay there, you have to go until the
operation ends the others will have to be in jail, you have to pay money because i'm dying,
what is it you want to see me dead? So you love me? Fuck off..”, I have no clue, when he
found out that I was going out with this man he told me “watch out when you go out with
him, he's putting you strange ideas into your head, lies, watch out, tell him to pay
attention when he speaks, to keep his tongue still, we know very well who he is, where he
lives, where he works “ they threatened him as well, in fact every time that I got pregnant
and didn't want to go out I called him to come home and said “ pleas come I'm not feeling
well” and he would say “tell the one who is there with you not to talk too much, because
we can simply find him and make him into pieces” [Life story, Albanian, D1].
Physical violence (usually not the sexual one) is always potentially present even in Nigerian racket, but is
generally used as a way to discourage rebellions and punish those trying to escape the yoke of the maman.
…it always depends on the exploiter. The worst case that I got to know was the one of a
girl that got scalped, meaning that she got ripped off a scalp because she didn't feel like
working so they started this form of torture taking her off a scalp. I mean that I got to the
hospital with a warning of a girl gravely hurt and when the nurse told me: “The bag on the
ground contains the scalp of the girl”, I was shocked, I was speechless. I found myself in
front of a mummy because she was wrapped in bandage from head to toe and when they
told me that I could not believe it. Already speaking about human trafficking sent me back
through the years when I studies black people trafficking, slaves, etc. I said: “Here instead
of going forward, we go back in time”; then when they told me about the scalp I said to
myself “Like Indians”, really I could not believe it. That was the excess that I ever saw as
form of torture to girls: cigarettes, iron, whiplashes, all and some [Witness, T8, Local
Police]
Some privileged witnesses talk about major violence today made by mamans than in the past. We have no
way to verify if it is effectively so. Certainly, Nigerian racket gets violent with rebels, we can hypothesize
that girls asking for help to services are also those who suffered the most as potential rebels.
11
Nigerian women are today those who suffer the most because when they arrive at the
community they are very angry. Based on the violence suffered they arrive in the
community expressing more anger. They tell us they got beaten, adn that's a reason for
Nigerian girls to leave. Where violence is less you can resist ambivalence, but there's a
limit to physical violence that pushes them to react. The last Nigerian girls went to the
police after getting beaten and gashed having to run to the emergency and that's what
happens the most. The exploiters beat, gash and, if the exploiter is married, as it often
happens, the husband can rape her if she rebels. This thing is rare, for now to a girl, but I
think that if it happens only once..[Witness, T2, Caritas]
Nigerian racket can kill, if necessary, but aims to very efficient forms of psychological subjection, whose
main ingredients seem to be: debt, magical rites, ambivalent relation with the maman.
Let's start with debt. Girls, recruited in Nigeria from figures called “sponsors”, are asked to commit, with a
signed contract, to give back an important sum (between 50 and 60 thousand euros). Girls accept –
sometimes misled by a false restitution timing - and although oppressed by an important debt, some of
them think that this is somehow the price to pay to come to Europe.
It's 50/60 thousand euros. It depends on something I don't know but those are more or
less the ranges. Net debt because the girl return this sum to the maman: she has to pay
half the rent, she has to pay herself food, she has to pay for electricity, et.. Therefore the
girl, for the prices the market offers, has to work, really, for twelve or thirteen hours in a
row. The control? The control is mainly voodoo, which is the most terrifying thing.
[Witness, T8, Polizia Loc.)]
Then one day she said you can do this anymore, earlier the girl got caught there in Novara
and then sent back to Nigeria. I went to work in Novara. Now that I'm working in Novara
she said that I have to pay 700 euros every ten days but rent is not included, nor courses.
Then afterwards she told me to pay70 euros for the courses, because now everything is
pricey [Life Story, Nigerian, D6]
They told me that she, this T. that is in this spot, she stayed in Italy for many years, she
knows all the laws, and I have to give her every month 250 euros, every month [Life Story,
Nigerian, D5].
Noooo, you can't keep no money! Because they search among all your stuff. If you have to
buy something like clothes, she go at the market, buy you dress, and tell you to pay her 20
euros, you cannot say “no”.
She did everything. She would also buy you food, she would do the courses?
Yes yes. Every time I cook, but she pay course every week, 50 euros, every friday [Life
Story, Nigerian, D5]
The “contract” is not always clear regarding the amount of the debt, this means that the girls knows that
they will have to give the money for the trip back, but they are not told that these expenses (inflated) are
not included of room, board, rent of the “joint” (meaning the piece of sidewalk they'll occupy for work),
medical care and more:
..but she told me earlier that she brought me that work in on the street. She told me, yes
she even told me how much they have to pay. She told me that you have to pay the rent,
pay for food, also electricity gas everything, because in Nigeria when i was in Nigeria she
12
did not tell me all the things that had to be paid. But she told me that when she gets there
I have to pay her that brought me here. Then I don't know what one should that I... I think
that she is the one that has to be paid she is the one that has to give me a house..all these
things.
So you had to give her back the money for the trip and everything, you had to give back
everything they spent to have you here.
Yes but it's more …
More that what they effectively spent…
Yes, because to get here it doesn't reach ten thousands I think, but she told me that I have
to pay 60 thousands euros. When I arrived there was another Nigerian girl. I have to pay
her 250 for rent. I pay 250, she pays 250. She slept over the kitchen, there's only a bed so
small, because she works at night, I work during the day when I sleeps she is not home
yet. Totally I pay her 500 euros to sleep on that bed. The one that brought me here
doesn't pay anything because the house doesn't cost it's just a room I don't know..selfcontain. It's a room and a kitchen and I don't think she reaches 500 euros. Then you have
to pay the courses 50 euros per week [ Life Story, Nigerian, D6].
What keeps the girls into racket, today like twenty years ago, is the fright about magical rites, that we call
voodoo. Usually they are made before the girls' departure from Nigeria, mixing pubic hair with other parts
of the body (nails, blood and more), and they are give a great power: the power to kill in case of rebellion.
But you can't go back because she made I don't know the name in Italian… voodoo
Who made it?
In Nigeria, before that I got brought here, they bring you somewhere and they make
voodoo, they take... intimate everything of it, than you do there... you put there. I don't
know what you do then with those things, maybe if you don't pay those who did it, then
they do some things there...
Did you know before leaving that they made this voodoo, that this was a very powerful
thing. You had to do everything that these people told you and you could not refuse
because you were scared for yourself.
Yes, yes
I got it. What could have happened to you?
Is like they told me in Nigeria, if you don't pay, that person can die.
I got it.
Yes. But I don't know if it's true or not. Maybe it's to scare people [Life Story, Nigerian, D6]
I says “no, when you come at Italy, is my madam that does a thing for me, i cannot run
away, she make a... a voodoo with me. Give me water, inside there's the thing mosquito,
everything inside water, I drank it, I don't want to run away because I'm scared, I doesn't
want to die” [Life Story, Nigerian, D4]
13
It's also interesting the ambivalent relation with the maman. A research, some years ago, reported the
story of the responsible of a community that felt very bad for the fact that a girl she was taking care of told
her “You are my maman” (cfr. Abbatecola, 2006). How was is that she could compare her to her exploiter?
Then maybe the girls exploited by Nigerian racket saw the maman in a different perspective than ours?
The maman, in Nigerian racket is for sure the exploiter, but she is also a point of reference in such a difficult
and special migratory story: the maman is there, she advices, accompanies, helps, she is someone who
“went through it and can understand”. Then if the girl “doesn't want to understand and accept”, the
maman changes role and can become mad and violent.
The thing is that if you work and bring the money home there's no problem. Yes, you
laugh, you do everything together, played together, but if you get home without money is
a big problem, he gets mad... [Life Story, Nigerian, D6].
Yes, she cooks, me when I come tonight she says that somedays I work well, she feeds me,
some others I don't she says “someone that goes to work, doesn't work and you don't eat,
you can't shower, can't do put... teeth”, I wake up and go to work without showering, I go
to work like that [Life Story, Nigerian,D4]
And then, the maman is an esteemed and respected person by the whole community, because she is
considered as one “that made it through”, with a successful migratory process, who has become rich, she
took not only herself away from poverty but her family in Nigeria as well; the maman is therefore a woman
that can return to her country proudly, because her migratory project has been perfectly accomplished.
Finally, the maman can become a model to emulate. The pact made with racket foresees that, once the
debt is paid, the girl sets free. She will be able to choose then – although limitedly since she is a clandestine
immigrant – if turn over a new leaf or continue working autonomously and, maybe, become herself a
maman buying girls to exploit.
Girls from Eastern Europe, exploited by racket, vice versa, don't have the possibility to ransom. Formally
there is no end to exploitation and as for an internal career, if provided, it is limited to surveillance roles,
that do not implicate the acquaintance of a real freedom of action and/or decision.
Albanian racket, from the beginning during the nineties until the years two-thousand, evolved very quickly
on an organizational set-up and into an informal structure, instead of a net, of autonomous boyfriends that
would arrive to Italy with a “girlfriend”, into a pronged clan with precise hierarchies, spread throughout the
destination country and local bosses subdued to the fis (clan). From 1996 on, the Albanian “girlfriends” do
not seem advantageous anymore, wether because of forced expatriations put into action from the Italian
police in agreement with the Albanian forces, or because of their presence more perceived, also because of
an intensification of the information and awareness campaigns in Albania, racket becomes transnational
starting to buy girls coming from other Eastern countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, etc.) bought in real
markets (Abbatecola, 2006; 2012). Albanian girls therefore have disappeared for years from Italian streets,
and appeared back again only recently, even though these last one are much more adult than those
appeared during the early nineties, and seem to adopt new forms of commuting, favoured by the
possibility to regularly enter the country (now that Albania entered the European Community) through
touristic residency permits:
Now Albanian girls come back with residency permits for touristic purposes, therefore
Albanian are back. They stay for a couple of months, then they disappear, then come back
after six months and keep on doing so. I realized that Albanian girls, during the period
when they disappeared, we did not see them anymore, now they are back and the
mediator tells me that they come back with a touristic residency permit. They are old,
they are more mature now Albanian women. [Witness, T4, Doctor].
14
I worked also in october, I saved some money but the touristic visa expired on november
th
8 , three months have gone by, and practically in this net those who don't have
documents give it to the pimp, the pimp sends it to Albania, at a custom on Southern
Albania, a policeman puts two stamps, and that's how I entered and exited back again
[Life Story, Albanian, D1]
For Albanian that are starting to come back to Italy, because since today the visa is not
useful anymore to enter the country the Albanian presence is getting back after decades
that had disappeared. During the nineties we only had Nigerian and Albanian, then they
disappeared, both because of a great policies put into force by the Prodi government then
D'Alema for a sort of agreement with the Albanian government to prevent the departure
in particular form Valona right because of trafficking, caused by the presence of Albanian
mafia (let's call it so) - according to the government – on a recruiting process: the Italian
mafia on the Pugliese coasts, the United Sacred Crown, took care of the “logistic”: the girls
would arrive, then it was necessary to find them an emergency home, clothes, visas and a
net [Witness, T1, ONR]
Clearly the racket controls document traffic and exploits economically the compatriots also for residency
permits:
Yes. When I went back to Albania, he told me that if I wanted to get regular Italian
documents I had to pay 10 thousands Euros, everything included then, 10 thousands
Euros, and practically I had to tell the dealer to allow me to work alone for the month of
january because my mom was sick and I needed all the money, and then in february
everything would start back again. So practically all the money that I made in January, I
gave them all to him, I had nothing for myself, it was a terrible moment of my life in
december, I don't know (Life Story, Albanian, D1).
Violence keeps on being the main strategy of subjection, but starting by the end of the nineties the first
agreements of gain division start, to attract younger women who aren't so easy to blackmail with reprisals
on an actually unknown family.
Overall, the perception is the one of a scenery much more complex and variable compared to the
beginnings (early 90'), with many grey areas between enslavement and sober exploitation's forms that
belong in any case to the definition of trafficking discussed above.
It's sort of an ambivalent model compared to prostitution, because they give money there,
but it's not totally... I remember beginning of the 90' with Albanian girls, these girls would
not get a buck. They would give the money to their pimps that would even control the
condoms, so ten condoms meant 500 thousands Liras, meaning 50 thousand Lira per
condom. And the exploiters would control up to checking the used condoms, where they
threw them. The control was so strong that it was impossible to get out of a trafficking
situation. Nowadays regarding the recruitment we can affirm that there's a “variable
geometry” system [Witness, T1, ONR]
Yes when I got home at night they would take all the money from me, he left me 10 Euros
to buy cigarettes and the coffe in the morning [Life Story, D3, Romanian]
I got here from Romania with a gypsy that brought me first to Bari. Then a month after
Albanian arrived, they stormed me, I worked for two months for them the Police arrived,
15
they searched it, they took them and put them into jail. These Albanian were bad, they
always beat me asking me for money, they stalked me with the car [Life Story, Romanian,
D3]
Throughout all the ’90 until the first decades of the XXI century, Nigerian and Albanian racket dominated
the scene of street Italian prostitution. Then Albanian chose more operative and bolt strategies and
Romanian, already covering subaltern roles, acquired more visibility, giving birth to new alliances and
putting into action new strategies that, somehow, remind Albanian' of the beginnings.
1.3.3. Evolutions and changes
The above described scenario, so, starts to modify around the half of the first decades of the XXI century.
Albanian racket, deeply hit during the repressive Italian's Police actions, and also thanks to bilateral
agreements between the involved countries, seems to slowly get out of the scene, and along the time
Romanian seem to acquire visibility, their recruitment and exploitation strategies will be analysed in depth
in the paragraph related to the work on the field conduced in Romania.
One of the turning moments seems to be 2007, year of entrance of Romania in the European Community.
From that moment on the number of Romanian in the streets increases, frequently exploited (but, as we
will see, not only) by Romanian “boyfriends” met in the homeland.
We have had a form of rupture that I would define epistemological given by the presence
of Community members. When in 2007 we entered the EU, we already had Romanian in
the streets and in our programs of social protection as well, but in 2007 with the entrance
of Romania and Bulgaria and in particular because of those that got in earlier such as
Poland, Czech, Slovakia, with the entrance of Romania and Bulgaria the recruitment
systems changed a lot although still very similar to Eastern-Europeans' [Witness, T1, ONR]
This has been throughout the years the evolution of prostitution and therefore today
there are many, many more Romanian prostituting and many more Romanian exploiters
even though, I repeat, Romanian are for some reasons better than Albanian [Witness, T8,
Pol.]
Albanian, however, have not disappeared as it seemed some years ago, they simply adapted to the
repression making themselves less visible. From the interviews, the perception is that Albanian have only
passed in part their role to Romanian, not giving up though to the role of domination and control of the
territory. They rent spaces, they buy girls from other countries and they make agreement with Romanian:
Besides prostitution earlier was managed by Albanian then Albanian, because of girls
pressing charges etc. what did they discover? Starting with the first Romanian, they
started giving out the spots that they [Albanian, ndr] owned to put their girls, at this point,
considering that the risk to get bugged, or put under inquiry, or that girls pressed charges
on them throughout the years Albanian gave out their spots to Romanian: nowadays the
city is divided into Albanian exploiters and many many Romanian exploiting girls on their
behalf and create their own spaces, although still few, because the spaces are still
managed by Albanian, or they pay the Albanian the fee for the spot for the girl to
prostitute [Witness, T8, Police]
16
This enables us to talk about the other recruitment: the one of Eastern Europe then. If
nowadays the Albanian is starting to get back, although absent for a long time, ten/fifteen
years, nowadays we have the whole world from Eastern-Europe, that was in part already
present as belonging to ex USSR, I mean Moldovian and Ukraine that produced the girls
major recruiting form in the ex USSR towards Europe and here we must say that Russian
mafia entered the scene. However in Italy, the majority of the traffic control is made by an
Albanian-Romanian axis controlling the whole situation [Witness, T1, ONR]
There is for sure a strong connection between Romanian and Albanian on the street
control, people of the Street Unit say so as well, and sometimes also towards SouthAmericans still in the street. In some realities [this control made by Romanian and
Albanian] is linked to the presence in that territory, in some other cases there can be a
passage of [people]: the last young Romanian gril that we had, she was from Romania, the
supposed boyfriend about whom afterwards she said: “Maybe he was the one to sell me”,
although the one exploiting her here was Albanian. The though... Russian mafia and
Albanian mafia are for sure connected [Witness, T2, Caritas]
From recent life stories of the girls there's another news. Whereas earlier Albanian exploiters seem to be
more stable, or in any case less inclined to detach from the exploited girl, now it is not rare to hear stories
on them deciding to go back to Albania or disappearing without leaving any trace, with unattended leeways
for the exploited person. We can hypothesize that it handles about strategies to face the manoeuvres put
into action by the police forces, in addition to the fact that as a privileged witness suggests, there's offer in
excess:
the forms of control changed a lot because at the beginning of the '90 there was a pimp
following the girls step by step, today they are not even in the street. In the past the pimp
cam from Albania with three girls and he would live with them, nowadays I think that
pimp have other activities. There's a strong pact upstream. So, something must be said:
the offer is much stronger than the demand for this reason a pimp does not care about
loosing one or two girls that entered into our protection programs, once it was a war, now
they don't really care because he can find other five of them. So this is a weakness: the
offer is much stronger than the demand. If you go down in the street many girls will tell
you: “There's no work; today I only made a couple of clients” [Witness, T1, ONR]
Earlier in the streets, then when this Albanian man left with the woman, we were much
more free, because you know, that woman in jail, that Albanian ran away, we were much
luckier, we even worked at home [Life story, Moldovan, D2]
Even the figure of the “boyfriend” hasn't disappeared, although it is not an “in-home-boyfriend” attracting
lovers with false marriage promises, but men “accompanying” the girls on the way of prostitution levering
on different and complementary strategies: they make them fall in love, they blackmail them on the
emotional level (”...you said you loved me!”), but let also half-view possible gains:
Beside the fact that I was in love
and you accepted this in view of a possible future with him, I mean you accepted because
you wanted...
Yes, also for the payment, because in the end like a house, a home, like... I would have
taken the money I made, but I really had nothing, not even a material good...[Life Story,
Albanian, D1].
17
Because it can happen that “boyfriends” sell the girls to another Albanian, not for this reason giving up the
idea of economically exploiting them. In these cases the exploiter is, formally, the one in Italy, whereas the
“boyfriend” stays in Albania asking though, continuously for money:
[…] already in Albania he told me that he suffered from a slipped disc, in his back, and
when I was here in november he would tell me on the phone “I'm not feeling well, not
well at all, I'm dying, I have to go to the hospital and put implements in my leg, I found the
killer of my brother”, because I told you that his brother died, “I found the killer of my
brother and I killed him, he shot me a leg”, I don't know if he scratched him or if he had a
bullet inside, I didn't get it, I just know that in three weeks I will have given him 4.000
Euros, all the money I had saved during the month of [Life Story, Albanian, D1].
Today's “boyfriends” avail themselves of technologies unknown to former Albanian boyfriends (beginning
of the '90). Significant in this sense is the role of Facebook:
th
So, everything started on february 5 2012, on Facebook. Usual contact with these
people. I was cleaning the house when I received an Invitation on Facebook from a n
unknown person, at that time I didn't use to accept these sort of requests , I said
“unknown and who knows this one?” but I accepted him and at that moment a
conversation started “hello, ho are you, you look pretty, you are young, and you even
study you're even..” because I was attending the first months of university, with my
brother I rent a house because I was working in the meantime, during the past two years I
worked at the call centre and paid the rent “oh, you're so good to work and study” this
conversation began at two in the afternoon and ended at four in the morning of the day
after. This person was very romantic he would say “I like Celentano, I listen to him
everyday, I like to walk on the grass, I don't know in a garden, in the streets when it rains,
going to the lake” stupid things as such, that I girl like me that at the time was still a virgin,
in fact I used to say “my god it's prince charming!” [Life Story, Albanian, D1]
The strategies of approach change, but also the agreements. Whereas the Albanian were totally misled and
accepted to come to Italy in the perspective of a life plan together, Romanian, as new Albanian and in
general all the girls, are often more aware, also because an aware person creates less problems, works
better and is economically more profitable.
At the beginning he said so, that they just needed a girl to simply play the doll, the the day
after, two days after he said that “she doesn't just have to play the doll she also has to
work but a girl that simply work (excuse my vocabulary) opens her legs and it all ends
there, she takes the money, when she stays with the other person she feels a bit
uncomfortable but if she contents herself taking the money she says: oh I'm rich! Look at
that, in ten minutes I opened my legs and earned 50 euros I'm a queen! He was very good
with words, because he said “now you are in the secret services, you gave your word you
cannot go back” and I said “all right, if I'm in it I have to sacrifice myself” also because he
made me, he told me also about other cases, about other girls that did this thing as a job
and now they had everything so practically besides the job they had a house, businesses,
car and I fell for it, such a naïve am I, I said “yes” [Life Story, Albanian, D1]
18
The strategies of “boyfriends” - Albanian and Romanian, usually “sentimentally involved” with compatriots
– are played on ambiguity. Girls feel more free and are misled by the idea to take economical advantage
from the situation, but in reality there is violence and exploitation:
No, a good amount of the family is not even aware of what their girl really does. The girl
comes here and tells then the parents that she found a job then sends the money. At the
beginning they think they can have money for sure then they're obliged to leave almost
the whole income, 60-70% to the boyfriend-exploiter, he does nothing, he buys himself a
car and goes around for bars, burn all the money at the slots and that's how the whole
income of prostitution gets spent. It's for their good life, let's say so [Witness, T8, Local
Police]
Now the majority of girls in Milan are from Romania, with a great turn over, a change,
with a hardship to get in contact with them because they say “I can stop if I want to”.
There are dangerous violent situation for them as well, but we have the impression that
there's more freedom, choice, that is actually there in some cases, but according to the
Street Unit freedom is not so unlimited because at least for your spot you're obliged to
pay. If you try to stay in a spot which is not yours, you will see that violence is still there
[Witness, T2, Caritas]
Taxi go, taxi back. But there was a strange thing, that Albanian said “look, you are not
making money for me, you are making money for you”. But if I would arrive late a car, a
car max 10, if I would arrive 5 minutes late.. my goodness! I got home, the whole night,
almost got beaten.. they would really yell at me, I mean, like if I were.. I don't know how
to say it in Italian, the person in command makes.. a slave [Life Story, Moldavian, D2]
th
The 11 I bought a pregnancy test, in fact I bought two and I saw I was pregnant and three
days after I got bleedings I could not stay still because of my bellyache, I was practically
having a miscarriage and this “policeman” [unformal noun indicating the Albanian
boyfriend] knew very well that my belly was hurting, he would hear my cry on the phone,
he heard that I could not even put the napkin inside because it hurt, imagine if I would put
the serviette and someone would have sex.. the belly already hurting then the napkin
touching the uterus, the pain was unbearable . So I at that time would do everything not
to go to work and he would do everything to have me going, he said “the boss doesn't
care at all if you're pregnant you gave your word you would give us 10 thousand euros to
get the documents so who is going to pay the 10 thousand euros? I don't care if you're
pregnant again, it's your fault if you're pregnant, go to work” so practically it was my fault
if I didn't have 15 euros to buy the pill because I gave him all the money [Life Story,
Albanian, D1].
Today like yesterday, the market of women is there: Albanian selling their “girlfriends” to other Albanian
(never getting out of the scene); Albanian buying Romanian, Moldavians and other women of EasternEurope:
[…] because practically for me to go with the dealer, he had to give the dealer a job,
because he knew many people and jobs very easy to him, a job, 3.000 euros and a
Romanian girl, because in this traffic Romanian are easy to sell like bread [Life Story,
Albanian, D1]
19
Nigerian racket kept throughout the decades strategies of subjection substantially unvaried in their main
structure, as effective and successful. The only changes seem to concern the major visibility of men, as
already illustrated, and a different use of passports. Wheres in the past girls arrived with their original
passport, which was taken them away from the maman and given back when the debt was balanced, now
for expatriation racket uses apparently falsified passports, used for the arrival of multiple girls.
At the end of the ’80, beginning of the ’90 it was easy to find the house, because we would
get into the houses. Before me other colleagues, I knew this reading the reports, etc.,
there would be this classical situation: exploiter, two, three, one time up to fourteen in a
house because they joined the basements and there would be in the end the exploiter,
fourteen girls, fourteen passports hidden under the beds the exploiter would keep.
I'm not sure about the reasons [of the change ndr]. What's for sure is that it's not like that
anymore, there's no more exploiter keeping the girl at home and the passport hidden, I
repeat I don't know the reasons why, but it changes, this thing changes, because now the
trafficked girl in given an original passport in Nigeria in support, made therefore at the
Nigerian office for emigration, but falsified for sure reporting personal datas and
sometimes also a picture different. So therefore it is a passport that once the trafficker
leads the girl here in Italy, gets back in the hands of the trafficker and with the same
passport arranges the arrival of other girls [Witness, T10, Pol.]
If the final exploiter is always the maman, also as for Nigerian girls there can be a boyfriend-accomplice,
whose ambiguous role doesn't always seem to come out from the stories, so as in the testimony reported
below:
Because my boyfriend in Nigeria, that introduced me to this me man that brought me
here, when I said that I payed almost 25 thousand euros, only few is missing, he always
goes at my boyfriends in Nigeria, even now you mess up with him looking, I didn't pay this,
I didn't do this. Because earlier when I got here in Italy, I went at the Police Station to
make.. because.. him first day, he left me in Porta Susa [Turin area], because I don't know
anywhere. He left me, so I met a man that brought me at the Police, to ask for political
asylum. If they give me the document I have to make something good for them, I don't
have to work in the street. I said “all right”. I made with this man that brought me at the
Police for some days, then I called my boyfriend, they gave me this document for 3
months. I'm very happy, they gave me this document. Now I have to start to go to school,
do something good. I said “all right”. But my boyfriend called me In Nigeria and he said
“please, this is a big problem, now they have a problem with me in Nigeria. You please go
immediately to them, I don't want any problem, even though you don't bring money to
me is all right, but you have to pay your debt please. I am scared” because now they.. You
are in Nigeria, it's not like here that something happens you call the police. In Nigeria even
though you call the Police you have to pay, you have to pay for this, you have to pay for
that. The policemen listen someone rich, not you poor. So I went back to them, yes [Life
story, Nigerian, D5]
20
1.3.4. Families: accomplices or victims?
From decades the international community questions over the role of families of origin, on the complicity,
on the levels of awareness. As usual the scenario is complex and there are no clear answers.
What emerges from all the various research material collected in the different partner countries is that
racket recruit girls when sponsor and/or exploiters see fragilities, compared to which the economical one
represents only one of the different dimensions and not necessarily the main one. All the life stories are
characterized by situations of discomfort related to the presence of different forms of poverty, in which
relational ones plays a role anything but secondary. The abstract of the interview represents only one of
the possible scenarios:
my mom abandoned me when I was six and I never saw her again... I ran away from home
because her [stepmother; dad gone for work] told me bad words, a lot of bad words. One
time she threw me with.. in front of my brothers with panties on, and she would tell me
bad bad words in front of them. She hit me once in front of my best friend and I ran away
from home. I could not anymore. And then once I tried to.. because of my boyfriend, ex,
to kill myself, then I drank some pills, I was at the hospital, I was in a coma for 26 hours,
almost 3 weeks at the hospital, then when I got out I was a bit normal, then again
problems [Life story, Moldavian, D2]
Families are sometimes unaware, sometimes they realize but do not intervene hoping to take an
economical advantage, whereas in other ones, as in the case of the Moldavian girl we just read about, they
are the first to intervene. Irina (let's call her so) tells that it was her father that brought her to the bus that
would have brought her, thanks to the mediation of the aunt, at the cousin's, already in Italy and clearly
accomplice with exploiters. Irina denies the knowledge of the father of anything, but whatever the truth is,
in her case the role of the family seems evident:
she was the one to bring me to Chişinău, from Chişinău my dad brought me to Ukraine,
with a big bus to Ukraine, there in Ukraine I got into another one until it brought me the
whole night to Kiev. Kivasza that's her name. I called her, I said “look, I'm alone you realize
this? At night there are black guys here, who knows what can happen to me, I'm alone”.
And she says “Wait for that woman to call you”. Ok, I waited, she calls and sais “there's a
Mc Donald overt there, go there my cousin will be there in awhile he will help you until
the plane and you will leave until here...once arrived in T. I find my cousin her name is C.
who is my age and was here in Italy already for half a year. Since I didn't know anything, I
knew nothing. She hugs me and kisses me, but it seemed a bit strange since I saw two men
[Life story, Moldavian, D2]
Also in Nigeria often the role of families is ambivalent:
in Nigeria, yes, in Nigeria instead the girls disappears. Because sometimes there are still
those clients trying to convince them.. and they don't get back [on the street]. [The
exploiters] immediately get in touch with the family somehow, no one knows how; the
family manages to get in touch with the girl, the girls comes back [Witness, T8, Local
Police].
21
According to the testimony above illustrated, it is not rare to find families trying to convince the girl to get
back in case she escaped, although it is still unclear how this fact is influenced by the fright of a reprisal,
besides the desire of an economical advantage. The reprisals are in fact a reality mostly in Nigeria, whereas
in Romania threats don't seem to take action that often.
As long as the girl behaves, she does what she has to do, families [Romanian] aren't
threatened and also those who decide to press charges, it doesn't seem to.. I mean the
threat is there, but it happens very rarely that reprisal take actually place in Romania
[Witness, T8, Local Police]
When exploitation is transnational, so as in cases in which Albanian exploit girls of the East coming from
different countries and bought as well in transnational markets as well, families are potentially protected
from reprisals of any kind, since harder to get in touch with.
1.3.5. Work and daily life
Regarding the working and life conditions there are strong contacts between Nigerian girls experience and
girls from Eastern-Europe. In all cases the working rhythms are exhausting and the conditions very critical:
many hours on the streets (in some cases more than 12 hours), independently from the weather and health
conditions, the high number of clients per day, because exploiters (either Nigerian, Albanian or Romanian)
wants his money and doesn't accept excuses.
I worked: monday, tuesday, wednesday and sunday from 9 PM until 3 AM. thursday,
friday, saturday until 4. In any weather condition.. my God, bad weather.. 20 minutes
before 4 AM, no one around, cold, I was crying, I said come on call him, call him and tell
him 20 minutes. There's nothing, let's go home, I'm ruining myself”. And she was calling
“Come on, you stay 10 minutes. There's only 10 minutes to the end, you finish and come
back”, he said so [Life story, Moldavian, D2]
I lived at home with my madame.. there was another girl work in Milan, yes, she go to
Milan, I work in Caluso. You take the bus at 8,30 in the morning, at night you take the bus
at 7,30. In Turin it was at 8,30.. I was working all day long..even more than 20-25 clients..
[Life story, Nigerian, D4].
When I was with the tzigane, I was working only during the day, during the day I went to
work at night I was at home, with Albanian I worked also during the day and also at night.
During the day I worked from 9 AM until 7 PM in Carmagnola. At night from ) PM to 4 AM
in Moncalieri [Life story, Rumena, D3].
The days then are long and there is no time for anything else.
With the train, at 7, arrived in Milan a quarter to 9 at night. Then I take the metro to go to
work. In the morning at 5, because bus starts at 5,30, I take first the bus to the metro and
this thing to Milan Central. You go back, arrived in Turin at 9, then I arrived at home, if I
22
have to eat I eat, shower, until tomorrow at 5 or 6 [Life story, Nigerian, D5]
When I started to work… wake up, shower, dress up, put make up on, you stay on your
feet the whole night, tired, you come back home and sleep, at night you wake up again,
put make up on and so I never went out. I didn't know which was the day and which the
night [Life story, Moldavian, D2]
Although Nigerian girls are more free to move, since generally they work in a different city than the one
where they live and in these long trips they go alone, on the street, in private (phone calls or people) and
managing the money, even for them control is very strong and invasive, especially with new girls or those
showing intolerance, the less “trusty”.
Once the street unit was hooking up a girl and one arrived and beat her.. episodes not
happening frequently, but they are repeating, this happened at the beginning when
Albanian were very harsh. Then if a control occurred or an indirect one this would bother
the UDS, nut now it seems that a new one will occur. Maybe it depends on the areas and I
think on the girls, because if the girls are young, there is a strong control [Witness, T2,
Caritas]
Since when you started going with her on the street you don't talk to anybody, because
I'm afraid of her. She is always there with me wants to see everything I'm doing. Also to
call my family is not possible. I'm always there though 5 or 6 months after that she doesn't
go to work anymore, so she doesn't work anymore she stayed at home. Yes because
earlier she worked with me, she told me if I wanted to call my family, when arrive at
home, I buy you a charge card, put it on the cell phone of hers and I calls. I put the “speak
up” so that she hears as well [Life story, Nigerian, D6]
They would go around, they were looking. They would even count my clients. Once they
wanted to beat me, yell badly at me, if I wouldn't answer, my cousin “you have to talk do
you want to get slapped? When he says “tell me” you have to answer, if you don't talk you
get slapped[Life story, Moldavian, D2]
Yes, you give her [maman ndr], then she looks everything, bag if there's other money,
money no found, leave. She yell the money not enough, work more, work more.. on the
street, there was someone looking if I was working, how much I worked and told
everything to her because when I worked my madame gives me the cell phone, I knew
only when the police came for a control, I knew and went to work, I knew and worked
well. When I get home look at cell phone how many people we call.. I can't because I'm
scared, because my madame is a very bad person, also husband [Life story, Nigerian, D4]
They brought me [at work ndr] and they picked me up. I would always see them around,
with the car, they were looking, they were calling [Life story, Romanian, D3]
In the Nigerian case, women are usually the ones controlling: the controller, meaning Nigerian prostitutes
almost done with their payment and therefore more upgraded in their “career”; other mamans owning the
joint rented.
There's always an older prostitute there that almost finished to pay her debt and now
most of the times the maman says “you go, you've almost finished to pay your debt, check
for me that girl” and then she will be the one that when she'll be don paying her debt
23
she'll be the maman of other girls. There's always an older one checking. The older one is
either the owner of the joint, because mamans sending the girls outside of Turin will ask
to other mamans having their spots called joints that the maman pays to have a girl
prostituting there. Therefore sometimes is the second maman who controls the spot
belonging to her. [Witness, T8, Local Police]
For the girls of Eastern-Europe, men are the ones formally controlling – the boyfriend, the exploiter or his –
although there are informal forms of control made by trusty girls, exploited as well but in a privileged
position with the exploiter.
Most of the times Romanian girls all live with their boyfriend, the boyfriend comes buy to
control saying hello as an excuse.He passes constantly to check if they are on their spot.
Pressures saying: “Why were you so long with that client?”, those are still there [Witness,
T8, Local Police]
Once I got beaten by S., because I talked to the client on the net and I trusted my cousin,
because she entered with Albanian, she was used to it, she was not on my side, she was at
theirs'. If I did something she would tell them. Therefore I didn't know that my cousin
betrayed me. I said “look I'm talking with the clients on the internet”. But not.. I mean..
during that time you could not even talk, not even give them the number or talking on the
internet. Therefore I trusted her. When I told she said “now it's all of your business” [Life
story, Moldavian, D2]
Relations besides work seem to be limited, for all them independently from their nationality, only to the
protagonists of the sex market – exploiters, clients “in love”, other prostitutes – but today as ten years ago
– girls from Eastern-Europe seem to be more lonely, without any friends' confrontation. Nigerian, vice
versa, seem always to find more easily friends to count on, still having to accurately select relations.
[…] then I found a friend there [ion the street ndr.] that helped me sometimes to send
money to my mom, but she brought me here she didn't know [Life story, Nigerian, D6]
Was there anyone you could open up with? Was there a moment in which you would say
“today I cannot bare this anymore I have to talk to someone”, maybe, maybe unload with
someone?
No, I could not speak, I was scared that they would say everything to Albanian and so I
would never speak, if I spoke it was just about stupid things, yes [Life story, Moldavian,
D2]
Albanian girls today, although seriously exploited and controlled, have – when entrusted – much more
freedom compared to the past, therefore it can also happen that exploiters allow them to see a client in
love, if the situation stays under their control and doesn't get “dangerous”. Regarding the reasons of this
tolerance, we can hypothesize that it is a strategic form of gratification to keep the girls bonded to them.
[…] this client of mine bought me a cell phone Samsung Galaxy because I had no money to
buy one myself, because he fell in love with me and he wanted to see me all the time,
practically he just bought it for Skype. The phone could also catch the radio, I could buy
24
bus tickets and take any bus, I would go around to distract myself and then went back
home, I would get ready and go back to work. Therefore the fun was to go out with this
client or take the bus, because they both knew about this client that he would take me
around, also the dealer [exploiter ndr.] knew, also the policeman [boyfriend ndr.] that
there's a person taking care of me, in fact sometimes when I needed help the dealer said
“call the guy and ask him to come help you” in fact for the dealer there was no problem
but the policeman would say “make him shut up” [Life story, Albanian, D1]
1.3.6 Health and exploitation
Make experience of prostitution in a trafficked context, means to expose to life and working conditions that
can damage health.
For analytical transparency, we can divide risk factors into four different types linked to as many
dimensions also related one another: environment; exploitation; client; gender violence.
The first type has to do with environment, namely working conditions. Working in the street, standing, for
many hours, maybe under cold weather or rain, fed few and badly, produces an unavoidable accumulation
of stress and a consequent reduction of immune defences. In addition to this the type of work, easily
conduces to genital infections worsened by a lack of cleanliness and proper hygienic conditions.
As for “risky” consumptions are concerned, the life stories of the girls interviewed could (the conditional is
a must) take into consideration an increased frequency of problems linked to alcohol abuse more than
drugs'.
It can happen that clients offer drugs to the girls, but it is apparently easier to be led to alcohol
consumption – more economical and more accessible – that becomes sometimes an instrument to get
stoned and make the present less intolerable:
then once I go I drink alcohol, beer, always not to think too much. Everyday when I start
thinking I start drinking and I also cry because I had to stay in the room alone, there
thinking crying crying [Life story, Nigerian, D6]
[…] my body was heavier, I could not feel anything anymore: At the beginning, I forced
myself. Then my cousin as well, my god, every night drunk, every night. I forced myself to
drink because her. Because they trusted her, thing do us both. [Moldavian, D2]
The risk of alcohol abuse is even higher for those working in night clubs, where girls are obliged to drink
with the client as much as possible to facilitate the incomes of the owner.
All the above mentioned conditions – strain, cold, alcohol, bad nutrition, etc. - are certainly made more
dramatic by the exploiting condition and the impossibility to choose what is better for them: restrain the
number of hours or the quantity of clients or, more simply, not working when one is sick, tired or if it's cold.
He kicked a bit my belly [a client ndr.], I put myself like this [she leans over keeping her
hands on the belly, ndr.] I tell to my cousin “look that I'm hurting, I'm going home, it hurts,
I got surgery”, “that you want to go home, that you don't feel like working”, this told me
all the times, even when I was feeling bad, also that woman when I was pregnant, I was
vomiting, it was rainy outside, the wind, I was feeling bad and vomiting, a half an hour
after, continuously, I don't know why, I would vomit 30 times per day, so much. And I
would tell him “look I'm feeling bad, can I come home?”, “Not now, we need money, 2
hours is nothing, you won't die there” [Life story, Moldavian, D2]
25
Although you're not feeling well you go anyway, yea, one time when I didn't have my
documents yet, so I was scared to get caught by the police that they would throw me in
jail or in a “camp”. Once I was with a client in the car, the police arrives so I ran away.. I
broke the feet .. So I cannot walk well. I got home she gave me pill.. day after go to work
anyways. Like that, even if I was not working well, you go anyways [Life story, Nigerian,
D6]
In case of dizziness or illness, the exploiters (no matter their nationality) won't hear excuses: work comes
first. Doctors are unlikely to be taken to reference, medications are improvised and the hospital is an option
only when there are no other alternatives. Also the rare cases of hospitalization, exploiter make pressure
for the girl asking to be discharged even against doctors' opinion, to get immediately bak to work.
Everybody yes, so I took those drops but I didn't go away. I was bad, I could not even walk
but go to work anyways. One day when I couldn't anymore, I could not stand up from the
chair, because it hurt, then she called the ambulance she brought me at the hospital. In
the hospital they said incomplete abortion.. Yes I had surgery. I stayed there for three
days, because I'm not feeling well yet. So when she comes or she calls, “you go tell them
you want to go home, go tell them you want to”.. I said that she didn't let me yet.. “You go
otherwise she keeps you there for many days, go tell..” She bothers me every day so I
went there.. went to the doctor to tell that I want to go home but he said I can't. If you
want to go I have to sign a document. And she said “you sign, sign anyways” and I signed,
yes. That day I arrived at home I went to work that night! [Life story, Nigerian, D6]
What a strain! Yes, once she sent us to doctor to Amedeo di Savoia, we did blood tests
everything. When I had to collect them, don't know, they had a hard time “we going?”
“tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow..” She and my cousin went for it then they came back
and I was curious, because I felt uncomfortable.. there [gynaecological problem, ndr], I
mean she said “keep calm it's all right, all right”, then when I got to the community I went
and found that I had a little disease, chlamydia, I took care about it. No, they wouldn't
take me to the doctor, I mean they just brought me once when I got pregnant and once
when I got surgery. Otherwise I would die there [Life story, Moldavian, D2]
They would go buy medicine and you have to pay yourself [Life story, Nigerian, D5]
The third dimension is the one related to the behaviour of clients including also sexual tourists:
many [clients coming here for sexual tourism]. They don't tell us, but we sense it by many
things. When we ask something about the trips: “Yes, I went to Thailand” it's obvious.
Otherwise they come back, from the countries they were, with some diseases and so they
tell us.. we have a little quote that are sexual tourists for sure [impossible to quantify the
number of people]. We have a little quote of people that went to Cuna, to Thailand, to
Egypt, Morocco; there's some rare case in which a woman says she goes to Jamaica or
Cuban countries, there's also some rare female element so.
26
No one of them says: “I like little girls”. We can sense it, because they are single males,
middle aged that frequently go to Thailand, but sometimes they tell us that they go there
because the girls are very pleasant, because they have sex 10 times per day. Some of them
is HIV positive. And goes there obviously because in this way.. someone who is HIV
positive, therefore goes there. Some rare man tells us that he seeks for men in Cuba, rare
[Witness, T4, Ambulatory].
As known there are many men asking for unprotected sexual performances, showing themselves available
to pay much more in exchange of what they desire. The possibility to gain more money can represent a
strong temptation for girls more seriously exploited, especially during nights of few clients. The fright to
come under violence as a consequence of inadequate incomes, can in fact lead them to accept. However,
the people interviewed showed themselves very aware of the risks and say that they never lent
themselves, although saying no can provoke even violent actions of the client.
Yes, many come, ask, say “I want 500 euro to do it without, as do it without you put a
sleeve” I said “no,no” when I open the door of the car get off immediately. Many call me
“slut”, “stupid”, so I say “thanks, ok, go elsewhere” [Life story, Nigerian, D4]
The awareness that women working on the streets on unprotected sex possible consequences is confirmed
by one of the privileged witnesses, even though the information seem to be in conflict with a high number
of abortions reported in another testimony:
regarding the knowledge they give [concerning prostitution] is the awareness, not for all
of them, that the disease is behind the corner. Therefore either you're desperate and you
need much money and so you don't use condom, otherwise Nigerian girls say that if one
on the street doesn't want to use condom, they don't do it. There's an increase of
consciousness. So reports the Street Unit. [Witness, T2, Caritas]
[…] in my experience it happens more frequently to listen stories of women speaking of
numerous experiences of abortion also clandestine so outside of the health system,
women speaking about four, five, six, eight, ten abortions [Witness, T6, Ass. Fanon]
Saying no, however, is not always enough because, the girls say, often condoms break, or clients try to take
it away in secret:
there were some damned assholes that took it away without you know [Life story,
Moldavian, D2]
[…] but I never done sex without condom, but many time broke, break because clients
wanted to do it by force, I don't know how to say but, many times broke [Life story,
Nigerian, D5]
Yes, one time in 2010, yeas, the condom broke. I was working in Novara yes, then because
the person was a Moroccan I think, he brought it was two friends he came he brought me
and another at his house. He broke the condom, but he didn't want to... Yes, yes, yes. He
27
came inside me, then he said he wanted the money back even after coming inside. I said
no, he said that if I don't give him the money he do not bring me and my friend in Novara.
Because he brought us to Trecate, nearby Novara. Then left on the road in Trecate.
Walked until found a passage. Then months after, don't know what month well, I didn't
get my period. Then a friend gave me drops to take, but I didn't tell her that brought me
here, because if I tell her she thinks that my “black boy” is here. If so I'm.. [Life story,
Nigerian, D6]
This last testimony, speaking of a client continuing the intercourse despite the broken condom (causing
therefore an undesired pregnancy) unsatisfied he asks back the money and leaves on the street, far away
from the working place, both the girl, and her friend, introducing the fourth risk factor: gender violence.
Violence of exploiters, but also clients', acting violent on women working on the streets as womenprostitutes.
There were clients that were very king, they were good, but there were also asshole, once
they even stole my cell phone, and I also got beaten. An asshole, I just took away the
stitches of the surgery [Life story, Moldavian, D2]
[...] there's a lot of people coming and taking drugs, many come and fuck afterwards,
many under drugs come fuck and then steal money. I always cry, cry. Go home and tell my
madame that today there was one that drug, takes my purse, goes away and also beat me,
and my madame beats me because he stole the purse... for many things, person under
drugs, people from Morocco drink alcohol, come to the street and when he's done they
even want money back.. When I say “no, I can't” he has a piece of wood like this [she
shows how she gets beaten with a stick]. There's a person under drugs when I work on the
streets he wants to fuck for two hours, he doesn't come, I tell him “I'm tired, let me go!”
he says “I can't go, you stay with me until I'm done”, I stay “I've been with you for two
hours, I'm tired, let me go!” and the man takes a gun to show me, “if you don't keep going
you die now”, I say “all right” I stay with you. The they go away and wants to take all the
money from me... I find a lot of people like this, that wants to beat me [she shows the fist
meaning people that want to punch her] [Life story, Nigerian, D4]
You find all sorts of people on the street. For instance there's the one who is good, like
one time, I was working on the street, there's a man that comes over he sees me for
awhile because if I don't work because you know that when you arrive home you always
mess up, I cry.. then a man arrives one day he doesn't do anything he sees how I am, gives
me 100 euros no working, for nothing, he told me to go away. Only 100 euros for nothing.
He was good. There is people like that, but sometimes there's also people that, not only to
me, because there's also a friend of mine that worked with me earlier, she works near to
me. A man beat her and then.. money cell phone everything. It happens to me as well
once in Novara a man took me, he beat me on my face everywhere ,then took the money
from me, also my cell phone everything, a reason why I'm tired to do this job is that a
friend I was working with died, she was killed on the street over there, and that person
that brought her came to me, if I went with him it could be that to me too.. you
understand? [Life story, D6, Nigerian]
As we know, the category of clients of the sex market – on which there's an in depth- analysis on a chapter
of this report – is very heterogeneous and potentially representable on a continuum going from the
respectful client to the violent one, going through the ambivalent figure, of the “saviour” client. Not all of
them are violent, but the fact that violence represents a constant experience for women working on the
28
streets poses us into question as a society, interrogates cultural models backgrounding these dynamics,
linking to the social construction of male, female, gender relations and the duality between “good women”
and “bad women”.
1.3.7 Indoor prostitution. Apartments and bars
The scenario of indoor prostitution is more heterogenous compared to the one in the street as long as
performances are concerned, costs and protagonists. It exist, then, a clear hierarchy among sex workers,
who are divided into (Costantini, 2010):
1) luxury escorts – hourly rate, including the experience itself (night, dinner) besides the sexual relation,
defined by clients as “girlfriend experience”;
2) accompanying escort, also known as “hostess” or “model” – biological women or transsexuals
sometimes supported by an intermediating agency – still on a timely rate the sexual performance can take
place either at the client's house or in special apartments;
3) escort, also defined by clients “apartment girls” o “loft” – the rate is based on the performance, as
prostitutes on the street that clients call “on the road”.
The criminal groups involved in prostitution's exploitation, often transnationals, are composed by
Romanian, Albanian, Moldavians, Ukrainians, South-Americans and Chinese, helped by agencies for side
activities or singular individuals (among which Italians). Generally at the second or third level of the
hierarchy are placed forms of exploitation that can vary for seriousness: in the case of accompanying
escorts there is exploitation when the intermediary is an agency, whereas for “apartment girls” exploitation
is exercised by the presence of a person in the apartments.
Also in bars, so as in apartments, the level of exploitation can vary, with maximum levels on bars hosting
the consumption inside (Costantini, 2010), and prostitutes recruited from other sectors of the market, as
the street or apartments, often having low bargaining power and getting moved frequently from a place to
another.
By the way, the elevate turn over of prostitutes, is a constant factor in different sectors of the sex market –
street, apartments, bars – used in an instrumental manner from exploiters not only to satisfy clients, but
also to deviate contrasting actions and avoid girls becoming potentially autonomous creating trust
relationships with clients or other realities of the territory.
The variables contributing to define the quality of the migratory process, so as those of sex work,, are
various – age, origin, characteristics of the trafficking network, such as the type of contract made with
traffickers, supporting networks in the arrival country, possession or not of the documents, knowledge of
the language, etc. - and the market's sector of exercise itself doesn't say much on the presence or not of
forms of exploitation, and/or enslavement. On the street, so as in apartments and bars, there are therefore
many degrees of freedom (Abbatecola, 2012).
Until sometimes ago apartments were mostly occupied by Brazilian girls, Colombians and South-Americans,
whereas now there are also Romanian, Polish and other girls from Eastern-Europe.
There are no Nigerian, who, as africans and coloured, are considered as “second choice goods”, how the
lower rates in average show as well. One of the interviewed witnesses considers this as a selection based
on a purely aesthetic factor, whereas the person writing believes that the different “market value” depends
on a vaguely racist culture – not used though to think this of itself – in which the difference white – black
defines precise hierarchies.
The modalities of recruitment are the same. There's an aesthetic factor to take into
consideration. In the apartments the girls are for sure more.. there are no Nigerian,
because they are the less appreciated ones, they are those costing less, physically they
29
don't attain the level..is a factor that has to be taken into consideration. [Witness, T1,
ONR]
There's a hierarchy among street, night clubs and apartments, in which apartments represent an higher
sector of the market where rates are higher also because the offer is “high-class”. However, they can't be
considered as defined segments, but fluid levels in which passages can take place:
for some things, the network of traffic is different [between indoor and street] because
there are not the same people as on the street typologically and ethnically, but for some
things it is the same because Romanian women are both in apartments as on the street.
So like I say there's a stair to go up and one to go down: if girls on the street can
emancipate themselves, they are nice looking and were able to create themselves a
market, they turn to apartments. The girls in nights cannot bear the situation anymore,
because the nightclub is a hard place. Often the girl of the nightclub spends more than
what she gains because she has to consume many drinks with the client, you have to do a
series of things and then if you don't do an individual sexual performance or you do it for
the owner, you gain few money and not all the girls want a sexual performance arranged
with the owner and for the client; often these girls have a hard time staying in the
nightclub, because you have to stay the whole day, and you are quite a cost. How many
bottles did you have the client drink? Then I pull down your costs. Sometimes those that
are not chosen by any client, really risk to gain nothing with a hard control though,
because they have contracts as dancers but being non-European they can't have a two
week permit, therefore there's a constant control because the owner could say: “Next
week I'll fire you”. Therefore they have a strong control over the girl therefore many of
these girls choose the apartment or go on the street, so we have some girls that from the
apartment turn to the street. For instance, in this period of crisis, if you know the
apartment you go for it; the apartment is a network much less known than the street and
so there are girls that go down on the street to gain more. Therefore its a street going
down and going up even though it handles about different networks. [Witness, T1, ONR]
The networks managing the indoor, reports a witness, are not much different than those operating
outdoor, although outdoor prostitution implicates a more complex structure. We are speaking, in fact,
about different levels of communication and not exclusive (I can work both on the street and in an
apartment at the same time) therefore:
[…] the good looking girl having her net of clients, still in agreement with the boyfriendexploiter, decides to get off the street. She puts herself on a website and receives only by
appointment [Witness, T8, Local Police]
Apartments represent therefore an apparently privileged segment of the market compared to the street,
but the differing quality of the working conditions has high implications for exploited girls, who find
themselves with higher levels of control and less potential occasions to escape.
30
1.4. The research in Romania
1.4.1 Changes. 2007 as a turning point
Also in Romania, the people interviewed as privileged witnesses indicate 2007 as a watershed. Entering the
European Community implicated deep transformations: from that moment on crossing the border has
become easier, and this obliged somehow criminal nets to review their compelling strategies and to
identify “softer” recruiting forms.
I am not sure whether it is increasing or decreasing… but rather in the way of giving HT
more visibility or more transparency. Now, it is obviously much easier to cross the border
only with your regular personal identification document. On the other hand, there are
already big Romanin communities in the other EU countries and I guess there are already
well organized and well structures criminal networks. In terms of changes, I know that
there are some recently born trends, people speak about, such as a ‘softer’ recruitment,
even about a exploitation happening in ‘softer’ manner and involving rather emotional
violence and manipulation rather than physical violence. But, based on the cases we and
other organizations worked with, we can see the whole range of recruitment methods and
forms of exploitation. Basically, we work with females victims of sexual exploitation but
lately, we’ve been referred more males as victims of trafficking (obliged to commit crimes,
to beg or labor exploited) (Witness, T1, Al., Female Psychologist).
We reported to the differences between the period before 2007, when Romania joined
the European Union, and found that the methods were more based on the violence, the
kidnappings, the seizure, although if such methods have not entirely disappeared during
our days. However, after 2007 we noticed a sophistication regarding the methods in the
way in which such methods moved from a physical constraint to a strong constraint at
emotional level and that the specific ‘point’ at the psychological and emotional level is
precisely this vulnerability on the gender (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director of a Centre).
There is the orientation of HT towards a sort of ‘agreement’ or ‘consent’, i.e. between the
trafficker and the victim, for example, for practicing ‘prostitution’ within certain legal
limits; traffickers found the proper ways to ‘convince’ the girls, and somehow they do not
feel exploited (Witness, T5, OCO, Female Operative Officer).
The exploiters would rely on emotional and psychological manipulation to convince the girls to obey the
rules, making them complicit and scarcely aware of the levels of exploitation they were compelled to, this
representation of the phenomenon finds relevant confirmation also in the interviewed done in Italy and
Spain.
The borders don't pose any problem anymore, and the nets have become moving.
Another change is that the organised crime networks ceased to operate in one country
only… but in multiple countries, targeting less known destinations, but where there is a
strong demand. For example, from Spain they tend to move and act in UK and Ireland or
from Italy to Switzerland and Northern countries (Witness, T5, OCO, Operative Officer).
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Whereas until the first half of the years 10 of the XXI century the girls repatriated to Romania came mainly
from Countries of ex-Yugoslavia, starting from 2004-2005 the main destinations have started to be Italy and
Spain followed, during the past years, also by UK, Germany and other Countries of Northern Europe.
If in the beginning, when I started to work, most of the victims I assisted were repatriated
from former Yugoslavia countries, starting with 2004-2005, Spain and Italy started to
come up in the picture as destination countries for sexual exploitation and they continue
to be the major destination countries; on the other hand, lately, North European countries
are added and also, internal trafficking for sexual exploitation knows a continuous
increase (Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
If it is to think about any changes in human trafficking routes, they have somehow
changed, even if Italy and Spain remained the main destination countries. Lately, in 2011
and 2012 there have appeared other more attractive priority destinations such as the UK
and Germany, I would say the Nordic countries, even if not that much, including Germany
and Belgium as well. As I said, we can keep talking about Italy, Spain and Greece, which I
have forgotten and it is well-known for sexual exploitation (Witness, T4, IA, Researcher).
A relevant fact concerns Romania as well, as a country of origin, it seems that it has also become a
destination country, with new cases of sexual exploitation involving girls from the Republic of Moldova.
I think that HT has been under a continuous growth ever since I began my work in this
field. Basically, although Romania is as an origin country, I am sure that it has become a
destination country as well, especially for sexually exploited victims from the Republic of
Moldova (Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
Internal traffic - increasing – involves girls always younger, sometimes children (12, 13, 14 years old), that
are “tested” and selected for the internal market, so that the “best” ones will be diverted to external
markets once they will turn major.
Some changes occurred in the age of the victims…younger and younger (like 12, 13 or 14
years old…minors). And it is interesting that these minors are first exploited internally –
like a sort of a training and learning, supported and encouraged by the traffickers who
manage to become their ‘protectors’ and persons who care about them – and the ‘best’
are ‘promoted’ for external trafficking and continue to be exploited abroad after some
time (Witness, T5, OCO, Female Operative Officer).
Basically, we speak about adults since, according to the law, it is more difficult to cross a
minor over border.
As a pattern what we found was that some of the sexually exploited abroad adult victims
had been previously exploited in Romania for several years while still minors and ‘moved’
abroad when legal age (Witness, T1, Al, Female Psychologist).
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We know very few of the exploited males, only that it handles about minors, generally “rented” for one
week from male clients.
If we look at the situations of males (boys) who are exploited, the information our
research revealed shows that they are mostly very young boys, minors. During the
interviews, several interviewed persons in Italy spoke about different exploitation
practices used for the boys, as compared to the exploitation practices of the girls. They
mentioned about situations when ‘clients’ can ‘rent’ a boy for a week, hosting the
respective boy in his own house and keeping him available throughout the week for any
and all sexual ‘services’ that the client wants. Speaking about these situations, we see that
the customer is again a male as well. Therefore, in both the cases of girls and boys victims,
we go back to a common element – the male client (Life Story, T4, LA, Researcher).
For the case of minor children there is usually a complicity of the families – that receive an economical
remuneration. The period of exploitation at home is used by the exploiters to construct a trusty
relationship and to instil progressively the idea of a future abroad as a desirable objective.
What I experienced…were the cases of families, quite aware that their children (minors)
were victims of exploitation and accepted the situation in exchange of money (Witness,
T7, MB, Social Worker).
If a minor, we still have problems like false ID documents, involvement of the family to
entrust the minor (boy or girl) to a stranger. But, this is also a reason why the minor
victims are first exploited in Romania by the traffickers….to consolidate the relation with
the family (usually families receive some financial support because the ‘child’ works well),
to be closer supervised and to gain trust (plan for a life together) while the idea of ‘abroad
work’ is inoculated little by little…as a promise for even more money, better
opportunities, more money for the family…so on until they cross the border (Witness, T5,
OCO, Female Operative Officer).
1.4.2. Net's organization and recruitment strategies
Exploiters are, generally, compatriots organized in groups on a familiar basis availing themselves of local
supporters and accomplices deployed over the territory. The roles are clearly divided and nothing seems to
be improvised or done randomly. A fact of great importance is that sometimes relatives or husbands of the
exploited girl are also involved in the criminal net.
[…] seems that being sold or exploited by husband or by a close family member is not an
exception (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director of a Centre).
The very notion of human trafficking implies the existence of an organized group. Those
groups may work nationally or internationally and may include more members of the
same families, even members of the family of the victims. We have had cases in which the
traffickers were even the parents of the victims (Witness, T6, MM).
33
Talking strictly about Romania, the groups are well organized, they know very well their
‘job description’, what to do, who to look for, how to make their presence felt in a discrete
way for the wider public and how to subtlety infiltrate in the life of the potential victim;
they are well organized nationally, supported by their local ‘helpers’. There are many
cases in which, unfortunately, even some family members are part of these networks
(Witness, T7, MB, Female Police Inspector).
[…] sometimes traffickers come from intimates, family or a group of people victims know.
For example, in the networks we can find a whole family dealing with trafficking (Witness,
T9, B., Police Officer).
The criminal racket is distributed as a net also in destination countries with a functional division of the
tasks, in order to grant an efficient mobility over the territory and a strategic management of traffic and
trafficking.
For example, in Great Britain, they can have their ‘operation centre’ in London, but the
exploitation can take place in another place. ‘Coordinating’ everything from one point
makes it easier for them to ensure border crossing, recruitment, the time for the victim to
‘accommodate’ with what it is about to happen and actually the command of the entire
operation (Witness, T4, IA, Researcher).
The recruitment is therefore often done by people – men or women – directly involved in exploitation. All
the testimonies collected, both in Romania and in Italy, converge describing the recruiter as a person close
to the social environment of the victim – acquaintance, neighbour, friend, boyfriend, relative etc. - or
anyway as a subject provided of great manipulative capacities and able to infiltrate in the life of the
detected girl in order to gain her trust.
Recruiters can equally be men and women, members of the larger or immediate family,
school mates, ex-colleagues or so, people from the community having a certain
community role; even persons returned from abroad having a much better economic
situation and who recruit other fellows for labor. This last case works as a success story
and positive example!! The ‘successful story’ is still a catching story!
In many cases, the families know who this person is… because, slowly but surely, this
person succeeds to become a trusty ‘family friend’, ready to at any time and making
promises. Therefore, the potential victim does not expect the worst from such a ‘good’
and trusty person (Witness, T1, Al, Female Psychologist).
One of the strength of the recruiters is the ability to convince the nominated girl, systematically and
patiently, to adhere to the migratory project: one installs in her life, one seeks to seize her fragilities and
needs, appealing to her desires – money, affection or both – inducing her to “choose” to leave, so that she
has the false perception that she decided in full freedom, although what she's been promised is never
corresponding to realty:
34
[…] they are described a situation totally different from what it is going to happen but they
are given the impression of total freedom on deciding whether to accept or not the huge
amount of money which is always part of the described situation (Witness, T1, Al, Female
Psychologist).
Two are the main strategies of recruitment: the offer of a desirable and well payed job and the
representation of the “in love” prince.
In the first case the recruiter knows very well the difficulties and needs of the girl to which he appeals to
offer tailored solutions. In order to confuse the girl one rushes her, obliging her to decide quickly, without
having the time to reflect over the thing at calm or take information on the authenticity of the offer.
What we noticed was that the job offer often comes from a person in the proximity of the
victim, a person of trust who knows well the needs of the girl and promises her the ‘job’
which is to cover exactly what the girl needs. He says, for example: "I know you want your
mother to receive the best treatment for the disease she has and I found this job for. So,
you sacrifice yourself, go abroad, work for a few months and collect the money for her
treatment, and help her with the treatment". Or "I know you want your younger siblings
stay in school and I found the best solution how to help you with this". So, the recruiter
starts from the problems he knows about and, moreover, the time he gives his potential
victim for thinking and making a decision is very short: ‘You need to decide by tomorrow
or you need to decide until Monday, otherwise someone else will take this opportunity,
especially now when a lot of people lose their jobs; thus, he puts a high pressure on the
victim, doubled by pieces of advice such as: do not share this opportunity with anyone or
do not seek for any other information, all you have to do is to decide immediately to
accept the proposal (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director of a Centre).
The offer is still desirable and resolving comparing to a fortuitous problem (medications for a hill relative,
money for studies, etc.), and the idea to have few time to decide (“take it or leave it”) easily persuades to
incautious adhesions without further examinations.
Moreover, the areas where the victims are recruited from are the poor areas, areas where
people are desperate and a simple promise is enough to make them go all the way
through and accept everything without asking questions, although they are not asked for
being qualified for the ‘promised’ job (Witness, T9, B., Police Officer).
The work offer gains credence also in the light of the present economical crisis and the numerousness of
the the compatriots migrated abroad.
I think the main way of recruiting remains a false promise of a fake job, taking into
consideration that, as I said, following the migration routes, the offer of a job stays very
plausible and is ’supported’ by the economic crisis in Romania compared with the Western
countries where things look much better. Currently Romania has more than 3 millions
people working abroad and who have managed to cope and find a job. In this way, the
fact that someone knows or a friend of someone (already having a job abroad) knows and
can arrange for a job abroad, is very credible, I mean, it is a credible ‚offer’ but the victim
discovers ‚the truth’ about it only in the exploitation country. Where does recruitment
happen? I could not necessarily say that it is predominantly in rural or urban areas of the
35
country. I think it happens all around the country while the victims can no longer be
separated in ‚with or without education’ persons. If I were to give a profile it would be to
some extent similar to the profile of the Romanian migrant, who at this time, if a woman,
goes to work as a maid, so not having much of an education, maybe secondary or high
school education level. Now the elements of vulnerability appear and they can lead, on
the other hand, to the fact that the person who receives the ‚offer’ is very likely to have no
suspicions because of the environment she comes from (broken family or no other
alternative in the country). Even if something feels wrong, anywhere must be better than
home and then, to some extent, can accept the idea that once there she could manage
things somehow or that the „devil's not so black as it looks”(Witness, T4, IA, Researcher).
The second strategy of recruitment is the one of the “Prince Charming”, of the “perfect male” who makes
progressively his way into the girl's life appealing to her desire to love and be loved.
We know cases of girls trafficked whose recruitment lasted for months, during which his
behaviour was ‘perfect’ and mainly focused on her need for affection and the naturally
human hope that, one day, things will be better, while the new ‘man’ in the life of that girl
will make all things work, and work well. We were told about situations when the girls
promised by such a Lover-boy that they will go together to build a future abroad, where
they could have access to some money to enable them to return in the country and have a
house, a family and kids; but once abroad, the girl was told that, in fact, she has to
prostitute because the situation is not that good as expected and ‘he’ cannot find any job,
while she was the one who needs to ‘sell’ herself to save their relationship, him, herself
and be able to continue to live there. All these messages perfectly fit and ‘replicate’ the
initial messages about how woman should make all the sacrifices and the final promise is
that they will stay together, no one will find out what really happened and she is be the
heroine to save their situation while none of the things she has to do will affect the
relationship between the two. The 'Prince Charming' or the ‘the perfect male’ strategy
seems to be a very frequent recruitment strategy (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director of a
Centre).
As in the case of the job offer, the recruiter-exploiter knows very well the details and fragilities of the life of
the selected girl, and works with expertise and manipulating crafts on those fragilities. In this sense,
problematic families with gaps on the affective sphere represent an optimal recruitment area.
The second method is the‚ lover boy, not so much used as a short while ago, but it still
works; as a fine psychologist, the trafficker knows exactly what to target and goes for
young women, young males, coming from environment where family affection is missing,
where the received attention is almost absent, where the social context is distorted and
which makes the potential victim to seek the affection, attention and care in completely
different other environments and from other people (Witness, T7, MB, Social Worker).
[…] history marked by situations of abuse, violence, or about situations of gender
inequality in the family, even if abuse or extreme violence were not reached in all cases.
We were talked about cases of neglecting that put children and especially girls, practically,
in the position of having very little of the emotional needs fulfilled and have a very poor
sense of self esteem and value and that they deserve to be protected and it is worth to
36
protect themselves (Witness, T7, MB, Social Worker).
Obviously the concept of fragility is always deeply incorporated in society, in its cultural models and
processes of social construction of femininity and masculinity. And so, in order to better understand the
dynamics and forms of exploitation it can be useful to dwell on how the cultural context models and
produces desires, expectations, perceptions on possibilities, on one's own self and own value and
contractual power. The society defines, in terms of space and time, the features of love: what is love and
what is not; which are legitimate loves and which illegitimate (therefore sanctionable); which spot has to
occupy love defining one's own self and the life paths of women and men; which role models in a couple
are imposed according to membership genres. On this theme, one of the interviewees points out with
subtlety:
The aspect of gender is very striking in the promises of love that traffickers make even
when the girls are in the situation of exploitation. Since love is the most important wish
for a girl – and that is a message what media continues to convey, i.e. that love is
important - any kind of love, without thinking whether the other person is the right person
for you or can hurt you; it is often when the exploiters use this argument - "I love you, I
cannot live without you. Stay! Don’t go!". It is just a way to connect more and more, on
emotional level, to the person who actually makes them worse (Witness, T2, LA, Female
Director of a Centre).
To young girls, women to be, it is thought that love is important and it has to come before any other thing.
Love is important also because a man will be able to protect them and lead them through the hardships of
life, and this can be done only by a strong and confident man.
On the recruitment side, again, the gender aspects have a strong impact, especially when
it comes to the future of the girl in terms of low importance regarding the education but
very high importance to identify a male protector, a strong husband (male) to protect the
woman. Basically, the success of that girl translates into identifying the right, good man,
and her ability to become a diligent housewife, a good wife and a good mother. To a very
small extent the young age girls are encouraged to believe that that they can protect
themselves, be independent and increase their level of self-confidence; it is preferred to
transfer this strength / power and capacity to the father, the brother, a male rather than
to make the girls believe that they can change something about their lives, be on their
own, be independent and able to take care of themselves (Witness, T2, LA, Female
Director of a Centre).
The representation of the fragile woman, not independent and in need of love and male protection is
produced by the society so as it is reproduced and reinforced by the familiar domain, especially in those
families in which the role division is strongly marked in a traditional and unequal sense.
In families in which gender roles are highly differentiated, meaning that the mother
appears to be a person with little decision-making power in the family, often herself the
victim of violence, including extreme physical violence, the father, being the authority
figure who makes the decisions, who gives orders the other family members, and if the
father dies or leaves, the male role is taken, almost immediately, by another family
member, also a male, whether it may be a big brother or a new mother's husband or
37
partner that appears in the picture (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director of a Centre).
Endlessly, the processes building the social female identity are also modelled through the message diffused
by medias for which youth, beauty and sexuality are the only contractual power held in the hands of girls.
There is a very strong sexualisation process, here and beyond, the sexualization of girls
and girls only in terms of valuing their sexuality both in media and society. This is the way
girls ‘socialize’ in many of the cases. This contributes to the fact that girls see themselves
as sexual objects, as having value only in this area, and if the family reinforces these
messages, the vulnerability to trafficking is subsequently increased because the sexual
exploitation is seen by them as normality, unfortunately (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director
of a Centre).
The recruitment is therefore made easier by educational models inducing girls to pursue love – the one of a
strong man that can protect them and guide them – and to consider their own body and their own sexuality
as a desirable object and, therefore, cornerstone of their own contractual power.
Therefore, when you are socially educated to know that love is important, to know that
your sexuality is important and it is a ‘weapon’ and may be the only ‘weapon’ available, it
is very easy to become ‘the object’ of a strategy that functions on the emotional level.
Many of the interviewed girls and many of the girls specialists talked about, emphasized
that the girls wanted to get away from home, from very harsh conditions of life, whether
they were subject to violence or they had to work from very young ages to support their
family (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director of a Centre).
Certainly, these models aren't determining itself, but facilitating, especially in presence of other fragilities
factors, as the economical disadvantage, the absence of significant and healthy affective relations within
the family circle or even the incidence of psycho-physical-sexual abuses. As we remarked already earlier, in
fact, the exploiter is:
[…] a good psychologist, [who] makes investigations and analyses a potential victim,
actually identifies a vulnerable aspect of the potential victim, then with a lot of patience
and skills takes all the advantages and explores her vulnerability (Witness, T3, GSA,
President of Association).
From the interviews done in Romania, so as in other partner Countries, it emerges the role of the internet
in the recruitment of the girls and the relevance of this instrument seems to concern both strategies: the
job offer so as the technique of “Prince Charming”.
38
We have less experience but, lately, the internet recruitment seems to be one pretty
‘functional’ method (Witness, T1, A, Female Psychologist).
I faced situations when we received emails related to job offers on the internet, email
exchanges like this one:
"I found a job in Cyprus.” /“
Well, where do you have the information from?/
From the Internet? /And how does the announcement sound like?”/ “‘We provide jobs at a hotel, offering 2,000 euros per month, no language skills are
necessary, and no experience is required” (Witness, T9, B., Police Officer).
In case of job announcements, as in the one described in the testimony above, the perception is that girls
easily content with the appealing descriptions presented, without further examinations. As it always
happens, though, much depends on the social and cultural capital, meaning the social-cultural-relational
resources that the girl has at her disposal, and the most vulnerable seem to be those socially more fragile.
I think here the things can be split in two categories: indeed, there are persons who ask
for more information, as I said, it depends on the place / environment she is coming from.
If the person has any family at home or any resources you could mobilize, then, yes, she
gets informed or at least she leaves the country having some minimum information or
some money. In this way, if anything happens, she can have the chance to come back, to
run away, to make a phone call, etc. In the second category, there are the other persons
who have no resources and, since most of the recruited persons, especially girls, are very
young, the element / influence of the ‘gang / group’ becomes an essential factor, along
with the desire and the enthusiasm to build a life…while the danger / adventure factor can
add some ‘sense’ to their future. Usually, people get the minimum of information and
leave / accept the offer, even if they heard - at least at the level of public perception - that
some bad things can happen to them. It really depends on the personal situation of each
one of them. But, the thinking that “it cannot happen to me” is strongly rooted.
Nevertheless, there exists at least a minimum of information, concerning both the minors
and adults, and each person knows that the Diplomatic missions of Romania abroad can
provide, at least, this kind of information (Witness, T4, IA, Researcher).
Some of them seem to have more instruments to realize that there is something wrong with the received
proposal, but normally, as the earlier mentioned testimony reports, it is easy to fall into the trap of “it can't
happen to me”.
1.4.3 The routes of trafficking
The routes provide mainly, still in a non-exclusive manner, travels by land, to avoid invasive controls made
by airports.
39
When organized crime groups have very substantial amount of money, victims can be
transported by plane, using Henri Coanda Airport; in most of the cases, there are road
transportation means used, regular shuttles of various transport companies; it is much
easier because the victim is not exposed to a thorough inspection, such as the one on the
airport, and the victim has fewer opportunities to ‘look for’ and get into contact with state
institutions, given the specifics of land border control where it is not required to get out of
the car (commonly, its is the driver who gathers all the trip documents of people in the car
and handles the documents to the boarder control officer, as opposed to the airport check
in procedure, where there are several control filters and the victim has more
opportunities to claim its victim status (Witness, T10, MS, Female Police Officer).
The entrance of Romania in Europe made geographical mobility more nimble, and during the past years it
appears that the routes of Romanian girls' trafficking have expanded their horizons up to the inclusion of
non-European Countries such as Mexico, United States and Canada.
From some of the cases I dealt with in the last years, the routes seem to have extended to
other continents, as well. For example, people are taken to Spain (with Ibiza as a focus
point) – free movement after 2007 much easier inside Europe – and from there, are
moved to Mexico, USA and Canada. As far as I know, this is still an active and powerful
‘network’ acting in Europe and North America and very difficult to dismantle, despite the
international/ transcontinental efforts and cooperation of law enforcement authorities
(Witness, T11, P., Prosecutor).
1.4.4 Exploitation, violence and subjection strategies.
The dominant rhetoric emerging from the interviews seems to tend towards a reconstruction in terms of a
progressive passage from exploitation based on a brutal physical violence to strategies in which a
psychological-emotional violence - less visible but not less serious - seem to prevail.
Well, as I said violence tends to be replaced with other, more non-violent means
of control. For example, if they are there as a couple (lover boy) at some point there is a
bigger need of money to pay the rent, to buy food, to visit some places, to save for their
future home, so on…so, she is going to ‘work’ just as long as they’ll get the money they
need… which never happens. Or, if they are there as a concubines, she is encouraged to
have a child… but only to use this child to blackmail the woman…..One of the forms of
blackmail is by video recording her ‘adventures’ with the clients and if she does not obey
any longer than the family will know what she is really doing abroad… so, it is more like a
psychological blackmail, threatening, violent language, sometimes very small things and
fears … but very important for the victim (Witness, T5, OCO, Female Operative Officer).
Currently, the method of violent control is no more used; it is a rather a subtle
psychological control used by the traffickers…which makes it very difficult to identify the
exploited persons as ‘a victim’. You see, a bruise is visible…you can see it, while a
psychological problem cannot not be ‘seen’. The victim is psychologically and emotionally
abused / controlled and she is constantly repeated that she has or she is of no value; Of
course, if needed, physical violence is used as well, but usually, traffickers start with the
emotional part (Witness, T7, MB, Social Worker).
40
In reality, as it always happens, the scenario is more complex than this, and physical violence seems to
persist, although in a non-exclusive way.
Talking about methods of coercion, it remains the part of extreme violence, i mean there
are beatings, there are rapes, there is that part of setting an example to the others with
one of the victims, so that the others could continue serving the traffickers (Witness, T4,
IA, Female Operative Officer).
Physical transportation can be done by means of ground transportation or by plane. If we
are talking about children, the traffickers need a mandate from their parents, who are
more or less aware about what’s going to happen, so it is basically a legal exit from the
country (Witness, T6, MM, Female Police Inspector).
They use physical and verbal violence, threats, starvation, beatings, torturing. They even
eliminate one of their victims in order to terrorize and ‘give an example’ to the others, so
that to fully obey and do as they are told. It’s a tragedy (Witness, T9, B. Police Officer).
Also the testimonies of some girls obliged to prostitute report some recurring episodes of physical violence:
Their behaviour was typical for such persons. Every day they would give me orders, very
often violent behaviour…I was beaten pretty often due to various reason: didn’t make
enough money, not smiled enough…something I didn’t do… Therefore, a big minus in
terms of their behaviour and how they treated me. At first…I tried to fight back …but I
realized I had no chance. My only chance to survive there was to simply obey every order
they would give to me (Life Story, I, RV1).
[…] look…this is how you’ll work there….come on, try to do it yourself…this man will let
you do it to him…I said a strong NO…I’ll never do such things …to put my mouth there on
his….I better die ….’you said you would take me to pick grapes, so take me to pick grapes.
If you don’t, I’d go back home’. All right. The man in the room was really agitated …he had
locked the door and I said I needed to go to the bathroom …I intended to jump out of the
bathroom window and run back home. It was then we I realized …..Next minute he hit me
so strong that I felt my head shaken when bumping into the wardrobe…Why…why…I’ll tell
my mother about it…He was mocking me with all sort of bad words…and said ‘you’ll go
where I want you to go’. I answered I would no go and then he hit me again over my moth
and broke my lip bleeding….Then he grabbed my hair and pushed me into the car. I
continued to should and tell him that I would open the car door and jump…but soon he
locked all the car doors and when trying hard to open one door he said ‘look, if you are
not a good girl, I have a gun and you’ll be dead’…I was thinking how to escape… we were
still in the country, no police on the rod, nobody to hear me if I screamed or hit the car
doors…it was 5 in the morning …I continued to cry and shout all the way and, every now
and then, he would turn from the front sit (driving) to hit my face again and again…I was
crying….[…] I remember the first days…the first week … I used to run through the rooms
saying I did not want to do it…. later, he started to beat me… then A. started to beat me
also…. and she pushed me in the cabin with some male telling me how and what to do.
Those males used to give the money to A., not to me… and then A shared the money with
him….it was 150 E pe hour….and A threatened me all the time and said that I had to stay
there with that male for 1 hour to do what he wanted because otherwise I would have
41
been punished. And, I continued to do so and to be beaten by A. that until I got the
amount for L. They cut my hair, they cut my skin on the back…they did whatever they
wanted to me. […] Snapped me over my mouth and then dragged me to the bathroom
and beat me badly and said to me: ‘if you ever do that again, I’ll kill you. You have to do
what you have to do to give the money back to L…Euro 3600 – because L. paid this money
to buy you from C. I was confused…how this money…. because I received no money … just
some small money C. gave to my mother. I would tell my mother about this when we
speak on the phone… I would tell my mother how much money C received…. But A. said
that if I was to tell my mother she would cut my neck with the big sharp knife (Life Story,
A., RV2).
Violence – always present in force – is used as a strategies to annihilate the personality and tend to
diminish by the time the girl shows her compliancy and trustworthy:
Usually, they place more victims in the same location, such as an apartment, they are
physically abused and systematically humiliated so that, at some point, their personality
disappears and become ‘obeyed’, at the total disposal of the network – it is what we call
the Stockholm Syndrome. So, little by little, they become ‘part’ of the network and, in
their turn, it is very likely to become recruiters themselves. Once they demonstrate their
full ‘availability’ for the network, the victims are organized in ‘cells’ and continue to
provide sexual services under the strict control of the ‘pimps’. An important share of the
money they have are given to the network, while the victims can keep certain smaller
amounts of money – only after they pay for their rent, food and other needs (Witness,
T11, P., Prosecutor).
I kept bringing the money for L. who started to trust me because I had become obedient
and gave him everything he wanted....I was ‘a good girls’ – that’s why he trusted to buy
me a 80 Euro mobile phone…and promised me to bring some clothes to send a package
home to my children…..and he left to the country …they had a villa somewhere near
Bucharest, as I heard (Life Story, A., RV2).
The different repertoires of violence seem to change according to the clan, the level of
submission/acceptance of the girl, but also to the type of strategy used by the exploiters: more
psychological-emotional and manipulative in the case of boyfriends; more linked to beating, tortures and
intimidations when the exploiter doesn't pretend to set up a relationship with the girl.
The situation is slightly different if it is about an ‘exploitation inside a couple’ or about
‘exploitation of a trafficker’. The inside the couple exploitation – at the beginning (violence
and threatening) are not used; it is rather an emotional manipulation, based on the
feelings and attachment of the victim to her partner – who, is not perceived as an
‘exploiter’ but as a partner. For the other victims, yes ....the verbal aggression or
threatening exists from the very beginning (of the exploitation). It happened that I spoke
today with one girl who was immediately told said about ‘the debt she had to pay’ and
when she replied she would not provide sexual services …she was threatened with death,
with her fingers cut……So, yes, threatening continues to be used either for the victim or
her family members…especially if the victims have small children left in the country
(Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
42
The boyfriend, specially at the beginning, tends to stage a representation in which he pictures himself as
the one to imagine a life with. Prostitution is among the sacrifices that the girl will have to do for the
common good or the hardships of the moment, sacrifices that are payed through a remark on the
difference between her treatment and the other girls' working in the sex market.
[…] the sweet talk when they make use of the emotional blackmail, when they promise a
future together, when they give examples by sayings like „i don’t beat you as X clan does
to...”, „i hold you better”, „i’m not holding you from that hour to that hour”, things of this
type, which can appear to be simple but which, in the main time, taking into account the
situation of the victim, put a lot of pressure on her. Or, if you have never heard a good
word in your life, suddenly, your world gets a new sense. In addition, if we make reference
to those vulnerability elements, when all of your life you haven’t had or you don’t know
how it is have a normal family, it is very easy for you to think what the trafficker tells you,
that with him you will make a family and that this is how life goes (Witness, T4, IA,
Researcher).
There are also clans choosing strategically to manipulate the consent of the girls promising economical
rewards and/or letting them know that the money has been sent to their families. Or also, letting them feel
guilty or responsible for the family of origin's good or the pseudo-love story.
There are also networks who decided not to use the physical violence, maybe also less
emotional violence but, every now and then, offer victims certain ‘prizes / rewards’ or
money or make sure that victims know money was sent home to families …yet strongly
and constantly inducing the idea of the victim being totally guilty or the idea of the victim
who is really ‘good and should do whatever it takes not to disappoint’ since the whole
thing is given a personal ‘responsibility’ like ‘you are doing this for me or for your family or
for our relationship’. In this combination of her fear for being physically hurt and the idea
of receiving a ‘validation’ or a reward or is given a ‘value’ results in a much stronger
effect…so, it is ‘valuing’ the person which keeps her there and prevents her to leave
(Witness, T1, Al., Female Psychologist).
Other well spread subjection strategies are the confiscation of the ID, without which the girls are not able to
move freely, and the debt for the supposed expenses made by the exploiters for their different services,
definitely inferior compared to the amount asked to Nigerian girls, but normally endless.
Confiscation of their IDs, communication units, i.e. I mean the mobile telephones or only
the sim card, then the girls are explained that they have a ‘debt’ to pay for the ‘services’
they received and it is not possible to payback the debt only by working in the ‘promised’
job, but that they will be free to do whatever they want only after they manage to pay the
debt….which for them means to enter an exploitation situation (Witness, T3, GSA,
President of Association).
Actually, traffickers confiscate the IDs and thus make it impossible for these persons to
move or leave (Witness, T11, P., Prosecutor).
43
Once there, they found themselves in exploitation situations and asked to ‘work’ to
payback an inexistent, but never-ending debt. In some cases, the traffickers induce the
victims the idea that what they ‘do’ there is illegal and if police comes they should tell an
already ‘invented story’ not to end up in prison. So one way or another, the victim is
induced the idea of being guilty and that she needs to pay a certain amount of money for
their guilt not to be disclosed…which amount of money shall never be covered (Witness,
T1, Al., Female Psychologist).
The ‘debt’ – and the debt gets never paid off! (Witness, T9, B., Police Officer).
Many victims are not even aware of how much money make a day because they receive
few and never make enough money to pay a never ending ‘debt’ (Witness, T5, OCO,
Female Operative Officer).
1.4.5. Life and working conditions.
Concerning the life and working conditions, the gathered testimonies mark many similarities both on the
different types of trafficking – internal vs external – than on the different declinations of the work – on the
street or indoor.
The apartments in which the girls live (and sometimes work) are generally unhealthy and lacking of an
individual space, therefore it is frequent for them to sleep in shifts on the same bed, or also the couch.
We deal with Romanian victims exploited abroad but also with victims of internal
trafficking and we have identified some common elements. Traffickers do not take them
to stay at a 4-star hotel. Usually, they stay in apartments that are unsanitary, in which they
are forced into prostitution (Witness, T9, B., Police Officer).
- What about ‘at home’, how did the apartment look like?
- I slept on a coach...pretty large, there was a table a big Plasma TV...
- Was it decent, clean. Who did the cleaning there?
- I did…(Life Story, A., RV2).
In terms of general safe living conditions…the victims does not have any control over herown life any longer. Usually, there are many girls leaving in an apartment, sleeping on
mattresses or chairs, working and sleeping in ‘shifts’ with the only idea of being available
when is needed, having customers satisfied and making money (Witness, T5, COC, Female
Operative Officer).
Daily life is ticked by long and exhausting working shifts and by a high number of clients, characteristics
shared by all the sex workers exploited by rackets, independently by nationality or destination country.
44
[…] Wake up, eat and get ready to go for the so called ‘job’ …I had to look nice and I had to
stay in that ‘window’, to smile and wait…for the clients. The client came, took the money,
got the ‘job’ done …then the guy came to collect the money from me…maybe, for fear not
to disappear with that money...or so. After 10 – 12 hours spent there, I was finally allowed
to go to sleep, have a shower…and that was pretty much the daily routine. Minimum 10
hours per day, during the weekends …sometimes, even 15 – 20 hours (Life Story, T, RV3)
- How many clients per day?
- Well, 14-15, 16 if worked until late in the evening ...if from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. even
more....maybe 30 ...there were many and you had to handle them all….A. used to give the
paper to L. and he used to caress my face with his huge palm…I was afraid of him… also,
they tried to teach me what to say to the clients, something like „Hallo, wi gehtsdia”, I do
not want to say what it means…but I said only ‘Hallo’…. Also, he made some phone calls
and used to bring clients in the apartment, as well, writing down on that paper….about
Euro 400 at home. So, we started early in the morning and finished late in the
evening….this was our ‘work program’...(Life Story, A., RV2).
The control of the exploiters is constant and pervasive, taking over to the different spheres of life: the
freedom of moving into space, for which it can result impossible even to cross the street and go alone at
the market near home to get food; the possession of money, systematically taken and checked after the
working services; the relation with the family, calls can be made only in presence of a person monitoring all
that is being said; the relation with the clients, girls are limited in confidences with them, because among
them there could be spies sent expressly by the racket to check on their trustworthiness.
-There were shops around and L. used to buy the food..
- What about you? Have you ever gone to the shop to buy food?
- No, never...he had never let me go to the shop…
- Ok, but…at least, did he ask you what would you like to eat?
- No, No.
- Never asked you…
- No, I used to eat whatever they wanted to eat. Meat or potatoes ...whatever, but they
used to buy food, lot of food, chicken wings, pork…..
- Did he have a car while there?
- He had a car, a BMW …I don’t know its colour…
- It is not important. Did he drive you to the club or you walked?
- By car. Used to drive us there and to pick us from there.
- OK, he controlled you all the time. Have you ever had any credit on your phone card to
use it as you wanted?
- Just 1 euro when they came to Romania …to be able to call them in case anything
happened and they would call his friend B – living next-door – to come and see what
happened.
- So, only to use it for him. But some credit for you to call your home and your mother?
45
- Oh, no.
- You said you spoke with your mother once…have you ever spoken again with her ever
since?
A: Yes.
- The same way…with them around you, holding the phone for you?
- Yes, they asked me to. They said to call my mother not to go to the police. Because I
haven’t called her for one month and she went to the police in our village, showed them
my picture and told the police that no phone call from me for one month and that she was
worried about what might have happened to me. My mother also went to that women in
the village and beat her and asked her to get me back home to the children… After a while
my mother called L. and I could speak to her….but, if I would have wanted to call my
children or my mother….he would throw with the mobile phone into my head (Life Story,
A., RV2).
I did not try because I was told from the very beginning not to try to speak with the clients
…because they will send their friends also (as clients) to control me and see what I could
speak about…..so, in this case I could not trust anyone (Life Story, B., RV4).
- During that period, could you keep contact with your family?
- No, not at all…I couldn’t get in touch with them at all…I was forbidden and I had no way
to communicate with my family. I was thinking to ask the clients to help me…but I was
pretty afraid of consequences.
- Could you send any money home?
- No way, if I couldn’t even talk to them by phone....no, I could send no money home (Life
Story, T., RV3).
No, usually, they live in private apartments, rent spaces, with extremely low freedom of
movement, always accompanied when they go out from those living spaces (Witness, T3,
GSA, President of Association).
This gets all worsened by the absence of trusty relations that could relieve or comfort them. Among
colleagues a climate of suspicion and competition prevails, whereas there are no contact with those
working elsewhere for other taskmasters.
- How would you describe your relations with other women (if any) in the same situation
there with you?
- Hmm, there…everyday there was a small ‘war’ because of the money, so I can not say
that the relations between me and the other women were exactly extraordinary; in
addition, I had no contact with those who we not working in the same place with me…
- But…was it possible to talk to each other?
- Yes, we could talk but most of the times we were nearby other persons so, we could not
46
have too much of a discussion …it was just ordinary, daily things we were talking about
(Life Story, T, RV3).
The resulting life quality is therefore very deficient: exhausting working rhythms, irregular and random diet
(you eat what you get), disturbed sleep due to the absence of a real bed – not shared – and the high risk
with contracting infections, sexually transmissible diseases, abortions in unsafe conditions. All this risks to
compromise the health of these young women.
Proper conditions…no way ….In terms of food, it is never adequate, in terms of sleep…far
from any normal life and for any person having a healthy life (Witness, T3, GSA, President
of Association).
Sometimes, of course, traffickers make them do the abortions …sometimes they pay for it
to medical clinics, sometimes everything happens illegally…under not proper medical
conditions…(Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
I’ve heard of cases where the condom is used but there are cases that the trafficker
doesn’t take into consideration this aspect, the important thing is that the victim goes
with the client and brings money. Most of the times, the girls have been beaten because
the client did not want to use a condom and the girls did not want to have sex without it
(Witness, T4, IA, Researcher).
However, from the interviews done in Romania, so as in other partner countries, the health of the girls
doesn't seem to worry exploiters. Prevention is absent and the cares are improvised or home made. From
the point of view of the criminal organizations, investing on the girls of the sex markets' health is wasteful
and risky, since it could lead third people to find out the truth on the existence of serious forms of
exploitation. It is not worth the effort to risk therefore, since a sick girl can easily be substituted.
They can have various STDs diseases, and other transferable diseases or HIV. The girls are
not taken to the doctor for periodical medical check up or tests and identify potential
medical risks for the clients. The trafficker is not interested to take her to the doctor for
fear of revealing things about their exploitation situation. Also, the working conditions in
the streets are terrible. At summer, 40 degrees outside or winter with minus 20 degrees;
we see these persons forced to stay there providing sexual services for clients. The
trafficker does not care, because if a girl gets ill, he can ‘replace’ her at any time. The
trafficker exploits a girl as long as she is able to provide the services, then she is removed
from the circuit and replaced with another person. In conclusion, from the perpetrator’s
perspective, there is no interest to ‘invest’ for the health of these girls because, first it
would mean to spend (lose) money and, second, victims would expose him, risking for
someone to find out who the girls are and who the trafficker is (Witness, T9, B., Police
Officer).
Their living conditions, even if hosted in an apartment, were unsanitary, we cannot speak
about medical insurance…it is utopia. Their working program exceeded 12 or 14 hours;
there is no concern or sensitivity regarding their medical condition. Even if health
47
problems occurred, the aim was to carry on their activities/work, using empirical methods
of treatment, treating the problem symptomatically rather than the cause. There were
cases when the girls had to work in the streets, brothels, or simply exposed in the
windows. In case of pregnancy, they are clearly told that they must get rid of the child; as
concerns the sexual protection and use of condoms, they are told to use it but if the
clients want sex without condom…they have to accept it….because, their job is to provide
sexual services for as many as possible clients…..while the concern for their health does
not practically exist (Witness, T7, M.B., Social Worker).
The health theme, one worrying fact reported by one of the witnesses, is the recent practice to oblige the
girls to take contraceptives without their agreement or the compulsory medical check ups.
Something rather new: once they enter the exploitation situation, the girls are injected 3
to 6 month action contraceptives, without their consent and, of course, under no medical
specialized supervision. Such contraceptives are injected either where the girls are
exploited or in the apartments they live in (Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
The induced drug assumption doesn't seem to be a relevant problem, since it is expensive and counterproductive, whereas the abuse of alcohol occurs frequently as a problematic knot: alcohol as a strategy for
exploiters to domesticate the girls; alcohol chosen by people working in the sex market in exploiting
conditions to anaesthetize themselves.
The girls working in clubs...they have to drink and make the client buy drinks from that
club…in terms of drugs, just few cases….I do not think it is in their (traffickers’) interest to
make them drug addicted…it would mean more extra money to spend ….yet, during the
last 3 years we assisted 2 cases with drug addiction. As concerns the alcohol...yes, they
often end up drinking alcohol just to be able to resist those exploitation conditions
(Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
Alcohol was the ‘method’ for exploiters to get the victim quiet and calm, or a method the
victim used to ‘forget’ ot to ease the pain, like anesthesia (Witness, T7, MB, Social
Worker).
1.4.6. The escape, the repatriation and the hardships of rehabilitation
If initially the girls are induced through manipulation strategies of the exploiters to “choose” for an
uncertain migratory project, the impact with reality, the disillusion with the received promises, the
hardships of the life they are subjected to and the suffered violences, grow a strong desire to escape.
- When was the first time when you wanted to escape from that situation?
48
- I realized from the very first moment the situation I was in and I wanted to escape. I tried
several times and...ultimately I succeeded.
- How did you succeed? How did you escape?
- (she smiles) After much struggle and many failed attempts... a scandal broke, I was
severely beaten, some people from that town saw me – especially the owner of that
place, a woman, who got really scared and wanted to call the police. In the end, for fear of
being caught by the police, the one who had beaten me, left me alone and ceased to look
for me ever after
- Besides this lady owner, who else helped you…if any?
- No one else, she was the only one who gave me a helping hand. It was with her help that
I succeeded to escape and return in my country (Life Story, T, RV3).
The occasion to escape can grow from the brave intervention of a person not involved into the sex market
scared by the visible marks or the recurrent physical violence, as in the case of the above reported
testimony. In other cases, clients, organizations and realties involved in contrasting trafficking can
represent, instead, a mainstay.
Some of them succeed to ‘escape’ either helped by a client or an organization, or simply
run away…or otherwise, it is difficult to say how…They go to the police or to NGOs having
outreach mobile teams (especially in Italy – which is a good thing)…they have to make a
statement and depending on their decision to cooperate with the authorities they can be
referred to some assistance programs, protection program or they are free to decide
whether they want to stay in the destination country or return home (Witness, T5, OCO,
Female Operative Officer).
Sometimes the girls decide to organize their escape. Also Romanian exploiters, so as it happened for
Albanian ones, sometimes leave the girls to get back home, because they consider her “trustworthy”,
finally alone. Concerning the reasons of these fortuitous departures we can only make hypothesis: it
handles maybe about actions contrasting the pressure of the police forces; necessities concerning their
urgent “business” at home; need for residency permit renovation. After having suffered harassment and
violence, the improvise and unattended absence of the exploiters can represent a perfect occasion to
conquer back their freedom, as one of the interviewees says:
he really believed everything I said to him….I used to do everything he told me to do just
not to beat me….they used to beat very badly….until bleeding, many times they burned
me with the cigarette – on my neck, by breast, my face, my hands…everywhere he
wanted….as if I was….oh, God!. After I made all the money for him, he left 1 euro credit on
the phone card because he saw I was a ‘good girl’, I ‘got used’ to that situation and I ‘liked
it’ …and I behaved like his ‘daughter’ ….He said he would buy a house for himself and then
he would buy a house for me and my children…. That day, he bought 10 packs of Marlboro
cigarettes, food, beans, chicken and asked me whether I would stay in the house…I said
‘yes’ and he left no ‘guardian’ at the door … and he hid the house keys behind the
laptop…during the night I said I would go to sleep…but I did not go to sleep…I couldn’t
wait for them to leave – for two weeks, as they said before. I thought that I could escape
during these two weeks while they were gone….even if I had to wonder in the streets to
find a police officer, something…So, he left, kissed me goodbye, told me to be a ‘good girl’
and that he would bring me a present ..as if I was a small child to bring me a candy... We
49
said goodbye again, put their luggage into the care and left….For one day I did not do
anything…I wanted to see whether they arrived in the country (Romania) and I used to ask
them where they were all the time….I was still afraid they were somewhere around, close
to me…and may come back any minute….I checked where they were and they said they
were in different places, eating or having some juice…until they said ‘now we are close to
A.’ When I heard ‘close to A’ …I said to myself that I was also going to A. I started to walk
through the rooms, talking with the TV and with my red pillow (my ‘ladybug’ as I called it)
and shared to them that I was going back home and see my boy…this is what I did,
honestly….
Well, I said to myself….I might call that client R. having much money and that huge mobile
phone and tell him that ‘Ich sweg Romania’ – I leave for Romania, home at my baby. Then
I saw a police officer in front of the other building. I could not open the window – which
was locked with the key – I had no key and window was pretty thick ..and then I grabbed a
chair and broke that window and lots of pieces of glass scattered around the room – but I
did not care – I opened the window on the other side and hurt my hand a little – I found
the door keys and I needed real strength to open it…. Then I called 112 ...as if in Romania
and I received an answer (Life Story, A., RV3).
Not all of them, after the escape, decide to go back home and the comeback is filled with hardships.
Repatriation, for instance, is assisted only if organized by an IOM (International Organization for Migration),
otherwise the girl gets back alone and without any assistance.
If it is IOM – then we can say it is assisted repatriation, including an escort. Having an
escort means assistance throughout the return journey, in case the victim has medical or
physical problems or is under certain psychiatric treatment, i.e. medical escort. There can
be also a security escort, as well, if IOM is involved, welcoming at the airport, under full
safe and security conditions. But, if it is the repatriation, as I said before, it is hard to say it
happens since victims come back alone, unaccompanied, under the care of bus driver – far
from being a ‘specialist’ – but who, on the contrary, can be much more aware of (their)
exploitation than of assistance and protection. I am sorry to say that, but this is what
happens in reality, its facts (Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
According to one of the witnesses, the shelters are numerically insufficient and the tutoring period
previewed by law is too short: 3 months for an adult and 6 months for a minor.
About shelters.....they are insufficient and even if there were more - some time ago - they
have been closed for different reasons: first, because they were too public (should be
secret locations), then because there was not specialized staff, then they were too big
which created security problems….therefore, right now there are too few centres
compared to the very high number of identified victims. Usually, the NGOs provide long
terms assistance for the victims. Well, about the social assistance
departments….somehow the law allows these institutions to say that there is almost
nothing they can do…because, according to the law the assistance period is very short, i.e.
for an adult victim is of 3 months while for a minor victims is of 6 months – and the
possibilities to extend it for longer periods depend on the decisions made in a penal trial.
As stated in the law, it is not focused on the needs of the victim but an intervention in
crisis rather than a real process of assistance. So, for the reintegration….it is only the NGOs
left to do the work on long term (Witness, T3, GSA, President of Association).
50
Another element expressing criticality, still according to one of the witnesses, is that very often the girls do
not perceive themselves as victims, making identification even harder. As previously remarked, the
subjection strategies of Romanian exploiters appeal to efficient emotional manipulation systems, aiming to
induce the selected girls to “choose” to adhere to the migratory project whose results will be far from their
expectations.
In Romania a victim can be identifies either formally – meaning she / he agrees to make a
statement against the traffickers and her statement is also supported by other witnesses
or informally – by NGOs …For us the big problem is that some persons do not perceive
themselves as victims …so it is very difficult for a police officer or a some other relevant
specialized operators to make the victim aware of this victim condition….sometimes it is
also risky since a new trauma might be added to the already existing one. That is why this
process takes – sometimes – a lot of time and many informal discussions and meetings
with that person (Witness, T5, COC, Female Operative Officer).
However the biggest problem is on the cultural level. In all cultures, not only Romanian, for a woman to
become a sexual object means to renounce to the symbolic citizenship and loose some rights, as the right
to respect and protection. In this sense O’ Connell Davidson (2001) speaks efficiently about prostitution in
terms of social death. Who finds herself selling sex in exchange of money, no matter if “by choice” or under
constriction becomes, to the judgment of the society, a non-citizen, a woman-for-bad, subjected to violent
processes of stigmatization and blame.
In Romania, unfortunately, there are many people who perceive human trafficking victim
as a prostitute!!?? And, when it happens that person experiences a second drama
(Witness, T9, B., Police Officer).
What horrified us in the campaign and showed us how difficult it can be for a woman to
return after an experience of sexual exploitation and how big is the risk of re-trafficking
and re-victimization, was the attitude of the community and the authorities. But I want to
talk specifically about a generalized social attitude, in which the responsibility for those
exploitation experiences is almost always placed on the victim. It was very interesting for
us to see that, while discussing with various people, including people who should provide
support for victims of trafficking, the discussion easily moves away from those who should
be held accountable from what happened, i.e. the recruiters, traffickers, exploiters, to the
‘responsibility’ and guilt of the victim. It is considered that if she was a decent girl, wearing
appropriate/decent clothes, having an appropriate behaviors, not doing things absolutely
natural for her age, such as falling in love or get to know / dating boys to go out, then that
girl would not have ‘entered’ into such a bad experience. It is one way the society not only
punishes the wrong people, but basically does the same as with girls who have been raped
when they were 10 and could not receive any support from the family or from the
community because they were not believed but blamed (Witness, T2, LA, Female Director
of a Centre).
Very often, stigmatization processes are amplified by violence and media language, as for the case
illustrated by the following testimony, speaking of 11-12 years old girls obliged to prostitute and defined by
some journalists as “HIV bombs”, and represented as a threat for the health of the victimized clients'.
51
There were reports in the media which adequately mirrored how the society looks
at such cases: the girls of 11-12 years old who are forced into prostitution are
called ‘HIV bombs’, while the men - who are or have been their clients – are called
‘the victims’, after it was proved that the girls were HIV positive and infected
some of their clients (Witness, T4, LA, Researcher).
1.4.7. Clients in the girls' representations.
As we all know, not all the clients are violent and some of them are even particularly generous offering the
girls pricey gifts, that they won't however be able to take advantage.
They used to bring me presents, watches, earrings…even made of gold…a big Samsung
mobile, or a Galaxy S3 big... and white. Well, but these presents were not for me…even if
they gave it to me…I just said ‘thank you’ (Life Story, A. RV2).
Nevertheless, to the question “what is the image that comes into your mind thinking about clients?”, the
answers report decisively negative representations:
- What about the clients? What is the image you can associate with them, in general?
- Something ugly. How to say it…disgusting, nauseous…a monster! (Life Story, A., RV2).
People of nothing. If a human being is able to….and has the impression that another
person – either a woman or a man – can be his in any way - in exchange of money –
then….how to say it…than such people is lacking any human feature, people of
nothing…(Life Story, T, RV3).
As it always happens, stories on the violence suffered are not lacking.
One of them broke a bottle into my head. But when L. heard about it …what a punishment
that client received…(Life Story, A., RV2).
Usually (when they treated us bad), we used to alarm the others or I used to go to
Madalina and ask her to come there and she came several times to help us…there were
mad / crazy clients who used to beat us in the rooms (Life Story, D., RV4).
Among the clients, there is also someone helping the girls to escape and also others remaining indifferent
to the help requests, both explicit or implicit (crying).
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I asked for help from more clients…they all said they were afraid of him …(Life Story, A.,
RV2).
- Have you ever tries to ask them for help?
- Yes, I tried ...but I could not speak his language...yet, I was crying while having sex and
the client could see me crying…I did not know how to explain to him….but I could not help
myself and continued to cry and cry…(Life Story, AN., RV5).
In certain cases clients can pretend not to know the exploiting conditions, but in certain others, as in the
testimonies reported above, some decide consciously to ignore the problem, “consuming” in a not-critical
manner and becoming accomplices of the trafficking and exploiting system.
1.5. The research in Brazil
1.5.1. The evolution of the phenomenon of trafficking in Brazil
Brazil is a country that during the past few years has been experiencing a great economical and cultural
development, according to some privileged witnesses the phenomenon reached the point that from
country of origin with remarkable migratory fluxes, it is apparently becoming a destination country, with a
significant amount of arrivals from those countries that represented traditionally an arrival for Brazilian
migrants: Spain and Portugal.
Now Brazil is having an amazing growth, it is becoming a country welcoming immigrants.
We have surveys documenting for instance last year,no sorry, in 2011 many Spanish
immigrants. We received more Spanish migrants in Brazil than Brazilian in Spain. It was the
first time in history that the trend of immigration ever inverted. I mean, Spain, Portugal,
are countries that, due to the proximity of the language, were countries in which we sent
a lot of immigrants, besides United States, obviously, the American dream, right? So, in
Europe, there were two countries as main destinations for Brazilian. And the flux inverted
(Bras1, Public Functionary, SNPDCA).
No doubt, it's remarkable, it increased, maybe doubled, tripled, the number of people
seeking for Brazil, either for a request, or simply to change life. I think that Brazil is more
and more recognized on an international level, people talk a lot about Brazil, despite the
international crisis, I mean, Brazil has not faced any crisis, the picture is the one of a
developing country, there's job available, therefore many people are attracted, I think that
this is one of the reasons used by enticers to swindle the victims, as a way to bring them
here; so the number of foreign victims on exploitation purposes increased (Guar2, Caritas).
However, it's known that trafficking and immigration are phenomenons very much connected one another
and therefore Brazil, as an immigrant attractor, is also becoming a destination country for trafficking
victims, in particular people coming from Latin America exploited in markets of the domestic and industrial
labour, other than the sexual one.
53
I think, there's an interesting profile to explore in depth, the profile of the foreign victim.
More and more often, Brazil as a country, not only of origin, but also of final destination of
the victim. So it was in the past, but now it's more evident, they're most of all Latin
American victims for domestic work, sexual exploitation and slave-work in textile
industries. (Bras3, Female coordinator, SNG).
We've been remarking lately in Brazil, an import of slave labour, most of all from Bolivia
and Paraguay, for the textile industry. This happens mainly in Sao Paulo, in Jaraguá,
because it's a great centre for clothing, many victims have already been found from
Paraguay and Bolivia, in a city of the Bolivian inland, Goiás, a little town of 50 thousand
inhabitants. So this is preoccupying phenomenon; the access of traffickers for an
economical labour. Paraguayan and Bolivian suffer directly exploitation due to their social
vulnerability, they come seek for a better life, then they find themselves in a hard
situation, the working routine, the working hours, 16 hours per day, it's really hard. (Bras4,
Judge, CNJ).
In Brazil, so as in other partner countries of the project, the testimonies underline the role of internet, as a
new element. Girls contacted for tempting offer proposals, or situations in which they are enticed on
Facebook or on other specific sites like “Brasil Cupido” by fascinating gringos [slang expression to define a
foreign man], that lead them to fall in love making them dream for a better future. The “Prince charming”
syndrome is present here as well along with the dimensions of the gender vulnerability as we discussed in
the Romanian case.
Well, I'll start speaking about the new modality of enticement through the network. We
received a case from the district of Sobral, in which 3 teen agers got enticed to work as
models in São Paulo. The enticer sent money, so the girls started to transform, improved
their hair style, clothing, and the director of the school realized it: “ the family declared to
have no income and that the girls were transforming with their own means. But in the end
they said: “actually we are about to leave for a trip”. So the school community, the school
direction, was able to forbid this enticement in time. Very interesting. This is the case that
I use as an example as I go in the inland to invite school to take part to this fight.
There are different types of network like Facebook, Brasil Cupido for instance, we had a
case concerning this site about girls seeking for a love relationship, and in the end a big
gringo arrives, strong, with blue eyes, right? The profile of the Prince Charming that we've
been hearing our moms speak about our whole life; so the girls left by plane, to live
abroad , to have picture taken and put them on Facebook – this is what I've heard from
one of them – they dream about Prince Charming and then they leave. And they [the
enticers] actually send them the ticket, you know.
I have to remind myself about a case we took care of. The guy saw the profile of the girl on
the website and he writes her: “ Hi, I'm divorced, I have two children, I'm self employed, I
have a good life condition, I come to Brazil often, and you are beautiful, nice, I hope that I
can get to know a woman like you to share my life with, I have to come to Brazil from.. to..
only to get to know you, I'm deeply in love. If you want you can talk to my translator, the
name, who is in Brazil”. So we see clearly that this case works as the one of the soap
54
3
opera whit an enticer and and an intermediary - the enticer was Livia and the translator
Vanda. So this enticement is really strong in the internet sites, unluckily we don't have a
listing of them, but we put together information coming from International NGOs, the
Police and ABIN (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) as they get in (Bras2, Female coordinator
NETP).
Criminal organizations use a lot social network nowadays, through which they entice the
victims with promises (Guar1, ASBRAD).
Many testimonies report the positive impact of a recent and very well-known soap opera “Seu Jorge”,
which was on during the unfolding of the interviews (october 2012-may 2013) on one of the national
Brazilian channels (Rede Globo). It has been a very successful production facing the theme of the woman's
trafficking on prostitution purposes. The main character is Morena, unmarried mother in economical
hardships living in a favela in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro with the young kid and the mother. Evicted
from her house, she accepts the proposal of Vanda to work abroad for some months in the fashion and
entertainment sector, she gets hired, along with other girls, by Livia, who owns in reality a nightclub and is
directly involved in trafficking networks. In fact, once arrived in Turkey, Morena and the other girls, will be
sold and will find out to that they had been selected for the sex market.
According to the testimonies, the soap opera worked on the public opinion as an awareness method, to
inform people on the phenomenon and break the stigma on girls involved in exploitation. The
denunciations increased, consciousness and the term “trafficking” results more familiar and
comprehensible if used in the common language.
I think that the soap opera Seu Jorge clears out a lot of things, the centre that earlier
received two denunciations per per month, has already received five or six since the
beginning of the month; people are trying to take information on the phenomenon of
trafficking. Even the work we've been doing in schools raised the curiosity of teen agers,
because here in the State of Ceará it's normal for a teen ager to be victim of enticement
with false modelling or dancing promises for girls and football for boys. They receive this
type of proposal and once they get to destination, for instance São Paulo, is to be
enslaved, or the proposal they received never comes real. […] We do a work on it in
schools, with teachers and actually after the beginning of this soap, student talk more
easily about the subject. They would spend in the past 15 to 20 minutes to explain that it
wasn't about drugs or arms, but people trafficking, that they would select people like me
and you, it would take awhile to understand, whereas nowadays, they take people of the
soap as reference. “it really happens? Is it all real?”. But there is still a lack of information,
mainly within national borders.
[…] My daughter disappeared, my son disappeared, I think we're in a situation of
trafficking”, nowadays people trafficking is known more thanks to this soap opera [Seu
Jorge], this expression “trafficking”. Now they can use more this expression. The soap
opera is not saving the nation, but it's still helping (Bras2, Female coordinator, NETP).
3
Brazilian Soap Opera named “Seu jorge” that faced the themes of trafficking and sexual tourism.
55
1.5. 2 Types of trafficking and criticality of the Brazilian laws
In Brazil, as well as in Romania, trafficking is not only international, but also internal. Furthermore, there
are other types of trafficking besides the one on sexual exploitation purposes: trafficking on working
exploitation; organs trafficking; minors trafficking for beggary; trafficking for menial marriage, very hard to
unveil.
Trafficking for prostitution, organ's trafficking and trafficking for working exploitation. But
there's also trafficking for adoption, trafficking for – something that is being unveiled by
the feminist movement – for menial marriage which is even harder to discover, because
many men coming from European countries, looked for Brazilian women to marry them
but once they get there they become real housemaids, subordinated to men (Fort2, Nun,
ONG).
It isn't so easy to explain. There are different types of internal trafficking, for instance,
enticement for children trafficking, minors or teens which is different from enticement of
TT persons and women (younger or not), it isn't the same as exploitation, it isn't
comparable to the promise of a better life. For this reason it is necessary to make a
distinction. In internal trafficking, for instance, we had cases of kidnapped minors
exploited for beggary all over Brazil. For instance, the case of a girl, very young, that with
the promise to go at a party in a farm, in a village... it's an adolescent transgression, of
childhood, isn't it? Then, they use every mean to convince a girl, don't they? It's hard to
establish a scheme. I always say that every victim, every case is different (Bras5,
Journalist).
According to different testimonies, one of the criticality of the Brazilian law is not to consider the
multiplicity of trafficking.
What happens is that only the crime of trafficking on exploitation purposes exists not
including: Organ's trafficking, illegal adoption, enslavement for debts, and non of these
modalities that we know exist. This really interfered with penal actions, punishment in
these cases, is a stimulating factor for organized crime, because impunity is very high. We
hope that the Congress now is more aware. It has been sent in december a project to
modify the law, characterizing a larger type of trafficking, including all the exploitation
forms and since the moment is quite favourable due to the soap opera Seu Jorge that
brought the problem to greater light, we hope that also the atmosphere at the National
Congress becomes favourable so that this modification to the law enters immediately into
force (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
The concept of people trafficking that we use is the one provided by the Protocol of
Palermo. The Penal Code identifies people trafficking specifically for sexual exploitation.
56
So, we are trying to modify the law as provided by the protocol, but in a wider view
involving organs trafficking, sexual exploitation and so on (Bras1, Public Functionary,
SNPDCA).
Nowadays, practically, the penal code provides only the crime of people trafficking on
sexual exploitation purposes, we know that there are other modalities to put this criminal
practice into action which is nowadays not included in any regulation (Bras6, Politician,
CPI).
The other situation instead is the reality of women receiving working offers, not linked to
prostitution, to leave the country; in those cases we realize that trafficking is not only
linked to prostitution. I mean, there are women moving from a pale to another to work,
we know of a situation that became famous in the textile industry, for forced marriages,
menial marriage - where she marries and finds a jail in it afterwards, she cannot go out,
she cannot have any autonomy. Therefore, these are also cases of exploitation. So we see
the crime of sexual exploitation as the most known, the one people work more on and
historically the most spread in the majority of cases, but we realize there's a lack of
knowledge concerning to other exploitation realities, making it harder to identify cases of
trafficking, because it's the hardest to understand, included the responsibility, because
our regulation, nowadays, includes this connection, I mean, that the law constrains
trafficking to prostitution. Therefore, it's hard for you to define cases of trafficking of
prostitution, so this register isn't appearing in the register of justice nor in the one of
public safety. These realities are underestimated, but we know that other type of
exploitation exist. (Bras7, Responsible of a Centre Anti-violence).
Some testimonies underline the exiguity of the punishments given, the substantial impunity of exploiters
linked to the modalities of penalty application and the victims vulnerability as well as their families' in case
of denunciation.
It's ridiculous, because in Brazil is considered worse drug trafficking, cocaine – with a
punishment from 5 to 15 years – compared to human trafficking. We suggested to the
group CNJ, to the Ministry of Justice and the National Congress to increase the
punishment from 6 to 15 years of confinement, it appears that it will be approved only
from 4 to 10 years. The trafficker is certain of his impunity; he knows that the penalty will
be of 8 years, and that he will have to serve it in semi-opened regime, that means that he
will sleep in jail, but he will be free during the day, so he will keep on trafficking. Therefore
I think that the penal system, the repression system in Brazil, functions as a stimulus for
people trafficking. For this reason it is urgent to modify the regulation (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
It's the condemnation itself, the dosimetry of the penalty, isn't it? A person, the main
accused of this type of crime, has the same condemnation of a person that steals your cell
phone, that means, from 1 to 4 years – which is an extremely mild punishment dealing
with a crime violating the most important rights of a society: human life, the human being
(Bras6, Politician, CPI).
57
We already have difficulties as for denunciation of the cases are concerned, because in the
majority of cases the victims feel embarrassed and are scared to suit, their families have
been threatened. In Brazil there is not a correct system of protection for a victim, that
mean that there's no proper protection. The victims are absolutely vulnerable. The State
doesn't give any protection to the victim as they suit, a system of protection. Neither to
the victim nor its family are put in a safe place. There's no promotion for the rehabilitation
of the victim into the working market, for instance. Therefore, the victim doesn't feel safe
at all suiting the exploiters, and all these reasons end up leading to impunity in Brazil, and
this is a stimulating factor for exploiters (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
Finally, still concerning the dimension of the criticality on the present Brazilian legislation, the testimonies
report the absence of limits concerning the transfer of minors within the national borders. Minors to travel
within the national borders don't need adults, tutors or parents authorization. This total freedom risks, in
reality, to make minors vulnerable, facilitating the action of the criminal networks and potential exploiters.
[The means of transport] are by land or not by land, because nowadays, for instance, a
twelve, thirteen years old can move within the national territory; the law doesn't forbid it,
the ECA (Statute fro Children and Adolescents) allows it, with no authorization from
parents, tutor, judge, nothing. A kid can take a flight in Belém, in Pará, and reach São
Paulo, I mean by land or by air, the kid is only travelling with his ID. He is free to move, to
displace. This is one of the things, for instance, that we mean to correct in the legislation,
to try ti inhibit a bit the vulnerability of a twelve years old teen, a kid aged twelve years
old can move autonomously, displacing within the national territory (Bras6, Politician,
CPI).
Well, accordingly to the Statute of Minors and Adolescents, a minor is aged from 0 to 12
years, an adolescent from 12 to 18, and they can travel alone, then the matter – if they
can be travelling alone within the country – has been discussed in forums, conferences, by
social movements and also by the Brazilian Government (Guar1, ASBRAD).
1.5.3 Protagonists of trafficking, vulnerability and forms of enticement
Potential candidates of enticement are biological women – already working with sex or not – and
transsexual women, for which the sex market seems to be the only possible option in a society still
unopened to change and discriminating people that seem to violate a gender identity not responding to a
biological body.
Practically, there are three different types of victims, in the region of Goiás, for instance,
there are a lot of cases of women victims of traffic; these women go abroad not knowing
that they will be prostituting, nor that they will be exploited, they leave in search for jobs
as bar woman, waitress, care taker, dancers, models instead. The girls from here, Ceará,
from our experience, already know that they will be prostituting, they think they will be
payed in dollars, in euros, that they will be able to do tourism, to travel. “I will send the
money to my mom” then once they get there it's nothing similar, they cannot choose
clients, they have to work many hours per day, the debt is huge. The debt of trans is even
bigger, because they get out already with a debt, for instance the megahair – the
hormones treatment – the silicone prothesis, therefore the debt is is much higher than the
58
one of women and once they get here the reality is different, they know that they have to
prostitute, there are some that manage to get back and set free from the scheme, but
some others think it's worth to suffer this sort of violence, they still keep hoping to raise a
bit more, to send the money to their mom, son, the family and this is another obstacle for
the crime of trafficking: because it touches the hope and dreams of people, they will never
believe that something bad can happen to them, that they could die, etc. They always try
to obtain improvements they cannot obtain here (Bras2, Female coordinator NETP).
The victims are generally prostitutes already working but maybe saying “ah, I wish for a
better life, I'll prostitute there and I'll make a lot of money” the only thing is that he
decides to go, then she has to pay for the ticket, the rent, practically she works for free, all
the money are used to pay the debts, for clothes, flights. There are also the naïve ones,
“ah, I have to go for a trip, a training, they promised me this and that” then once they get
there it's about prostitution (Fort8, Chief of Police).
Who exploits chooses, as it always happens, the candidates basing on socio-economical and affective
vulnerability: very young girls coming from families with problems or unmarried mothers, often alone; with
a modest degree of education: problematic biographies marked by violence.
Look, the profile of these people is of economical and affective vulnerability (Bras6,
Responsible of a Centre).
The victim, from the facts we gathered so far, are often very young, from 18 to 30 years
old. They are people with a modest level of education coming from families with low
incomes, poor. Many are head of the family, I mean that the family relies on this person.
In the case of people trafficking on sexual exploitation purposes, the majority of the
victims is already in a condition of prostitution and gives in to tempting proposals of a
better life, with a higher income. Usually it works like this: “Listen, you'll have to prostitute
yourself, you'll be payed in euros, in dollars” - what happens afterwards is that the person
is normally payed in reais and often very few. We also have information, especially in
Goiânia, about university victims looking for a dream - the desire to become models – and
consider to offer sexual services, but look anyhow for something bigger, a glamour, which
is actually an illusion. They buy this illusion and, I think, they don't know themselves what
will happen, but still they search the illusion, the dream. The great majority of the victims
has a low level of education is in social and economical vulnerability. Generally, they have
at least a child, they are unmarried mothers and leave, thinking to offer sexual
performances from 180 to 200 euros and this is something absolutely unreal (Bras4,
Judge, CNJ).
The victims of internal traffic are mainly adolescents girls, almost effectively exploited by
their community, by their family, maybe they suffered some sort of violence and they start
going around the villages of the inland, working in massage rooms, little brothels,
surrounded by great highways , gas stations, where the amount of truck drivers is quite
high, so that they can be exploited also on the street. Then once they turn 18 they are
good for international traffic. They are often women with already one or two sons, living
with their grandmother; there's no conventional family structure like father, mother and a
son, it's all different, they are generally mono-parental families composed by the mother,
her children, her sisters, the children of her daughters, so they get out of here that they
already have children, or they don't have any yet, but sometimes they get back pregnant
or with sons – as a result of their stay abroad; in any case, it's a context of a non-
59
structured family or, on the contrary, not structured at all, maybe they already suffered
some sort of violence, or exploitation, or domestic violence within their family, little by
little they tell their stories (Bras2, Female coordinator NETP).
The stories of the interviewed girls – all very young, already with more than a child, and a low level of
education – seem to confirm what sustained by the testimonies reported above.
Yes, [I suffered violence] from my uncle! And in this case, my dad should have been the
first one to support me, right? To help me.. but he has been the first one willing to hide,
not to create a scandal in the family. And from this abuse I had a daughter, and we live
together as sisters, you understand? It's a complicated situation. I'm 34, my daughter is 15
almost 16. And so she doesn't know that I'm her mother, we treat each other like sisters,
wherever I go, she comes along. Because I will never abandon her. Listen, please excuse
me but after all that I've been going through, my family doesn't exist to me, you agree?
Because I used to have values and they destroyed them, you understand? Since then I
dived into the world into life.. a promiscuous living, right? So I work.. to prostitute (Life
Story, V., Fort7R).
I married, I left to live with him, I had my daughter. I suffered a lot with my daughter. I
already spent nights out in the cold, under the rain, with my daughter, she was still little.
My goodness! My daughter was so beautiful, beautiful, she was like in a magazine, blonde,
green eyes, an unexplainable beauty, but my daughter spent the nights out under the rain
with me because we couldn't come back home because that drunken wouldn't let us in,
he broke everything that was there, that was still there, everything that remained, he
would break it. He was like that, he was a disaster, a cross that I born. I was seventeen
when my daughter was born, and I broke up with the guy as I was 19 because I couldn't
bear it anymore, you know. Then, one day there was this friend of mine that would also
hang out in Beira Mar [neighbourhood in Fortaleza], I didn't even know what this
neighbourhood represented, I wasn't from here, I came from the inland. My friend told
me “Come on you're suffering too much, you have nothing for yourself and your daughter,
why don't you come at the beach with me at night?” ( Life Story, Y., Fort6R).
What pushes the girl to accept risky offers is the need and the dream to improve their situation. In this
sense it's possible to speak about choice without constraint conditions.
Trafficking is always linked to a dream, a well dreamed dream and never realized (Fort2,
Nun, ONG).
There are many people harassing girls here you know? I'm telling you, none of us does this
job because she likes it, we do it because we need it, there are people saying: “ah they're
prostitutes? They're there because they like it”. No, it's not easy to be with a different one
every night, it is not easy. There are times in which you spend the whole week without a
buck in your pocket, it's not easy. Having children.. family to provide for, rent to pay. Right
now, I have to pay 600 reais for the rent and I don't have a buck, you understand me? Yes
I know, I'm borderline, the girl of the bank is always making pressure on me, you
understand? (Story di vita, V., Fort7R).
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It' s the old story of Prince charming, they always think for the good. Even the girls we
encounter. Besides, the president of APROS, Rosarina Sampaio, during one of these
meetings I told her: “no Rosarina, there are some feminist movements defending the
woman's autonomy, the woman can prostitute herself because she own her body “my
body is mine and I do whatever I want with it”. And she goes: “no Livia, the girls that I
know don't do it because they want to”. I'm following a case, the victim at the time had 5
children, no one would give her a job, so since she was in need – with her 5 children – and
working hours upside down – so she ended up prostituting. Even the girls that we meet on
the street: “that was the way that I found, I didn't have any degree, I couldn't keep up
with my studies” or that they didn't have any interest in studying, they had no family
structure, they didn't want to study at home, “It was what I've been able to find, because
it was easier, more practical” (Bras2, Female coordinator, NEPT).
The offers used as enticement concern a job within or outside of the national borders, as for women
already working as sex workers or transsexual women, the offer refers specifically to the sex market. The
offer, in these cases, becomes tempting due to the illusion of great incomes and a good life and – for
transsexuals – also by the possibility to transform their body in a coherent way to the perceived gender.
They say a lot of things. That they go there [abroad], then they find themselves in
4
hardships – more or less like in the soap opera Seu Jorge . But that's not fiction, that's real
life. Many times it happens for real. So, for the majority when they travel is for sure for
work, like in the soap opera. I also left, I was there for three months but I was there for
vacation. He is a serious person, responsible. But there are many girls that get out of here
with the illusion, with a million of proposals, that today she's poor but one day she'll be
rich. This is not real. Abroad life is completely different (Story, N., Fort5R).
No.. he told me so: “you'll be earning a load of money, because they really want Brazilian
girls there” and stuff like that.. this illusion obstructing the view. So I left, everything all
right, flight ticket, everything.. until I got there.. a whole other story, the same – this time
– of the soap opera Seu Jorge, it's a real story, they take your passport, and you have to
stay there, you understand? Every night you have to work… morning, afternoon, night,
you understand? (Story, V., Fort7R).
So we have two situations that we identify as the most frequent. One is of womenprostitutes that are aware to go there to do it, they guess, to prostitute, in other
countries, or states of Brazil and receive offers that could improve their present working
situation as prostitutes. So once they reach the destination, they actually realize that all
the promises didn't become real (Bras7, Responsible of a Centre).
4
For further details see note on the beginning of the chapter.
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Only for biological women the offer of a job in the sex market represents very often a choice in a condition
of constraint, for many girls and transsexual women it seems to represent “the only choice”, faced to a
family that refuses them and a society non ready to welcome with equanimity those not fitting in the
prescribed models.
So there were a lot of cases of parents and even their children not willing to have a gay
colleague, imagine a TT person... so they send us away of our lives, and so we have no
alternatives to work, to study, because companies don't give you this right, because
beside the fact that we don't have a bachelor, they don't even give us the possibility of a
training course and so we're not able to do a certain service. So, there's only prostitution
left, which is not even easy, it's the society itself sending us towards prostitution, it's the
society looking for us, harassing us, throwing stones at us, massacring us, to clean out the
city as they say (Fort9, Female coordinator, ATC).
TT persons always tell this. For sure some of them say: “no really, it's a characteristic of
my personality as a TT person, I prostitute to feel desired etc”. Some of them. The
majority of them says instead: “look, I go thrown out of my house very early, I haven't had
a family. I stayed with other trans people and found myself prostituting, the only way to
survive I had. We listen to this every day in our job, we also listen to national testimonies
and researches. It's exactly like that, trans at the beginning they think:” It' fantastic! I can
spend my whole day straightening my hair, since prostituting I can raise more money!”
Because it's like that, the job possibilities are: hair stylist,make-up artist, manicure, you
understand. There's not job as make-up artists for everyone, and not all of them are
interested, it's a challenge, it's a challenge to them as well, because they never had a
chance like this before, and they do it because they want to have their own money, they
want to survive, they want to be dressed well, they want to be treated like ladies, because
they leave Brazil, because they think that Europeans, for instance, are kinder, and they
don't treat them bad, they will be treated like ladies, so as they want to be treated here,
they won't suffer violence. There's also this idea (Bras2, Female coordinator, NETP).
Homosexuality is a sexual choice, ok? Who studies transsexuals knows that at the
beginning they get thrown out of their house, they're not accepted in school. Therefore,
the sexual activity sex working is a preferable choice to them and at that moment, they
enter the same situation as prostitutes. They can find themselves in an situation of
exploitation or not. They can enter the swim of a normal prostitution, and fall into the trap
of trafficking afterwards. They can exit this situation of exploitation and go back to a
normal prostituting situation (Bras8, Female Anthropologist).
Women, biological or transsexual, choose – still in hard conditions and without any alternative – situations
perceived as concrete and decisive. But it's a choice in any case, and probably for this reason they can't – or
they don't want to – perceive themselves as victims.
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The great difficulty is this, because in the majority of the cases, the victim moves freely
and willing to. That's the difficulty. According to the Federal Police, 90% of the trafficked
women on sexual exploitation purposes, don't recognize themselves as victims, because
they really want to exit the country. What they don't realize is the conditions that they will
find out there. They are aware of the fact that they will be sexually exploited, often they
want to get out of it but, they don't admit to be bugged, because they want to have the
right to come and go, given by the Constitution. So here's the difficulty (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
They [transsexuals] don't recognize themselves as victims, they think that artists, actors
have their manager, people raising their money with the job of others and so they tell me:
“Why can't the pimp – in commas – cannot raise money as well?” So having this
opportunity, a life-changing opportunity for that girl – that TT person - thinks “it's always
better than staying here”, without any perspective, and in the situation she's in she thinks:
“let me give it a try, maybe it will work, maybe not, but I have to try” (Bras2, Female
coordinator, NETP).
Even in the Brazilian case, in similar situations to the one described for Romania, the person enticing is
usually a person close to the selected one: a neighbour, the hairstylist, the tailor, a family member.
Look, the person that recruited the victims was generally one of the closest ones, the
hairstylist they were really taken for, a person working with dance; actually A. has been
the biggest enticer of this area, he was a tailor; he really was a person close to the victims,
because then one invites the other you know.. she entered the situation by mistake and
she calls her friend in, or someone of the family, the family ends up aiding them, but
sometimes before they don't want to know anything about it, often when they're not yet
into that violent jail, that oppressing situation, they don't suit, and they don't perceive
themselves as victims (Fort4, Chief of Police, DDM).
So, through our assistance, what we have been perceiving is that the enticer, usually, is
very close to the the victim. Therefore, he can remain in a domestic network, among close
contacts, a friend, someone coming from the same community. So, they're are trustinspiring people and although not among the closest, they still are trust-inspiring. This is
the profile that we have of the enticer (Bras7, Responsible of a Centre).
These traps come from the neighbour, from the friend, from the bar owner, from the
boyfriend, the ex-husband, from everywhere, in different ways, I've already seen all the
possible ways to entice a girl (Guar1, ASBRAD).
It isn't rare that the enticed girls become enticers as well tomorrow, playing on an image of successful
migration.
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Generally they're local people, trying to reflect a reliable image, of success obtained
abroad: “I left, I came back, I raised money, I bought my own house, I transformed (in the
case of transsexuals), I was successful, you can be successful as well! Often, the victim of
yesterday becomes the enticer of tomorrow, and if a contract was made, for instance a
person abroad willing to exploit a victim in Italy, she will be looking for a person here,
preferably a woman speaking the language, showing the good things and the success she
obtained abroad, to seduce the victims at the earliest; therefore, they are not in crews,
they are foreign people, foreign people that organized in crews, having the support of the
people here who are already working with the pimps, intermediaries already working in
the sex market (Bras2, Female coordinator, NETP).
Then we also know that, many of the victims, have a great possibility to become enticers
as well. They get trapped into this system, they became victims and for some reason, at
destination they end up becoming enticers and also exploiters. It happens that once they
reach the destination, they find themselves in a condition not so different from the one
they were living earlier, that mean to have some benefits in a frame of slavery, they start
enticing as well (Bras1, Public Functionary, SNPDCA).
No, it's not an organization. We've been hearing it from 50 different interlocutors. I mean,
what we call trafficking is not managed by a great organization. It's small networks, not
visible as such. It's simply people going back to their origin country, they're payed by their
bosses, and they speak about a very optimistic and positive story, about the experience
they lived abroad with their friends, acquaintances, what you'd call familiar people.
Practically no one would be swindled by a stranger. Generally, what we call nets are:
friends of the neighbourhood, relatives, in any case they are familiar people, because this
is very reassuring to the victim. The cousin cam back very well-dressed, with jewels etc
saying that in Europe you earn a lot of money, so the victim trusts that cousin. The nets
know exactly where to pick the victims. They start with neighbourhoods filled with known
people. It's much easier (Bras9, L., Female Minister).
Generally, the victims are enticed through a criminal network, and if I say “criminal
network”, I'm not speaking about a structured one, a big one, no. Sometimes, it's a
person, a neighbour, sometimes, it's even a person of the family, that lived a traffic
situation already and goes to the further step, and becomes a local enticer. So she comes
back to her country, to her city of origin, and tries to entice people, through working
promises, included the field of prostitution. This happens also because people's trafficking
is not against policies (Bras3, Female coordinator, SNG).
Their are not foreign people, they're Brazilian. Sometimes a Brazilian marries a foreign
person and goes living abroad. The foreign person is already involved in prostitution
trafficking, and start therefore to entice people here, maybe he also has friends,
acquaintances, knowing the situation and willing to raise some money out of it; there are
also those who are acquaintances of the family (Fort8, Chief of Police).
Often families are accomplices, because even if they're not directly involved in exploitation, they don't ask
and don't intervene until they don't receive money anymore.
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We suspect [the families]. They won't tell us “I've been exploited by my mom”, but they
say, for instance..this girl I'm following says: “you know I have to bring the money home, it
doesn't matter how I raise them, what was important was to bring them home. My mom
and dad knew for sure what I was doing, but they wouldn't say anything, they just wanted
the money.” And to us this is a problem, a challenge, to see a family suiting just if the girl
disappears, for instance abroad or in another Brazilian State. And so how did the girl
disappear? Did you realize why she wouldn't write or call anymore? “no, she's just not
sending us the money anymore”. Therefore, even if the victim doesn't say anything about
herself and her life conditions etc but she sends the money, then the family doesn't even
think to look for a Centre. We had a case in which the family only looked for us as the
victim wasn't sending the money anymore, but sometimes it's too late. In this case it
wasn't, we reached to localize the victim, she was all right, she wasn't a victim of traffic, as
she initially said to the family. This case has already been forwarded to the Consulate and
the Embassy, anyway, as I said, families come suit only when the girls or boys stop sending
them the money; even a survey on “Transatlantic journeys” recently published by the
Ministry of Justice speak about a mother.. a mother and her daughter were in telephone
contact and the girls said: “ l'm suffering this and that.. I can't bear this anymore”, and the
mother said “daughter, look, I'm finishing refurbishing the house, hold on a bit more and
then do whatever you want”. There's a relation of total dependency, the family staying
here needs the money raised by the victim in pain abroad (Bras2, Female coordinator,
NETP).
Because my mom respects me now because there are money arriving on her bank
account, you see? Money are setting the rules, if I have money, my whole family accepts
me, it's exactly so, if I don't have money anymore, my family rejects me. For us
transsexuals, the situation is exactly so.. a situation very.. it doesn't matter if I'm sick or
not, if I have HIV or not but if I send money to my family everything changes, maybe they
buy themselves a house, far away from me, but.. every once in awhile you can come see
us, we eat something together.. otherwise stay where you are, don't come bother us
(Fort9, Militant transsexual).
1.5.4. That slight border between sexual tourism and trafficking
Trafficking, we were saying, arises from an unrealized dream, the dream to improve one's own life
condition, get away from poverty and escape problematic – if not violent – familiar situations. The dream,
for many, remains the one of “prince charming”, of the gringo – the foreign tourist – that arrives, charms
them and promises them a bright future not only from an economical point of view. Dreams that for the
majority of the cases, break once they meet reality.
The woman always has the illusion to marry, to be well, of this and that. You heard what
happened three, five days ago, a girl from Ceará married a German guy, but she didn't
treat her and the children well.. she would be in jail at home, so what could she do? She
came back here in Ceará, with no money, exactly like before. So there are still those girls
that flatter themselves with marriage, what can we do about it? (Fort9, militant trans).
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Girls from Ceará, especially in Spain, in Santiago de Compostela, we remarked an
interesting news in the researches: not only cases of sexual exploitation, but also
individual cases, in which they leave Brazil with marriage offers; once they get to
destination they don't marry but they 're put to work like slaves in domestic labour, or like
sexual slaves for friends and parents. Women and transsexual that go abroad, think that
the gringo is the prince charming and we often see this situation. They always want to find
a blond gringo, tall, rich, the prince charming they would hear about from their moms
read about in fairy tales, and they search for the marriage of their dreams, they look for
love, not only the money, but this perfect man, this love that they never found here
(Bras2, Female coordinator, NETP).
I'm happy, I'm celebrating because I'm about to go live there, it's a person I've known for
three years; there's no danger he can hurt me, I've already seen many cases of men having
women prostituting or stuff like that. My husband loves me, right? Since three years
(Story, A., Fort8R).
Sexual tourism can wear itself out as an experience itself, but it can also become a springboard for
trafficking.
Sexual tourism functions as a springboard for people trafficking, this is what happens: the
tourist arrives, meets the girl, falls in love with the girl, and she realizes her dream, as the
thing she always dreamt that could happen. In general, they [the tourists] provide for the
girl during their stay here, because the girls live in a very unfavourable condition; then
they're brought away with false promises that in Italy it will be a fairy tale, and so the
trafficking starts, girls subjected to violence and enslaved to sex or to domestic labour.
Often I saw this. The victims of trafficking, were from 18 to 24 years old, young, mulatto –
not black skinned – with tiny structures, skinny, their bodies were quite childish, with no
breasts. We wouldn't even age her 18! They preferred this type of girls, and I asked them
why, and the said “ah, girls from Ceará” they're more affectionate, they're hot. The sexual
tourist would be making comparisons as we asked him questions; and they said “no,
German women are arrogant, the English one is cold.. You know they even had a
stereotype on girls from Ceará. It's a funny vision they have of the girls here they think
they're easy to court, to be with, often for their unfortunate economical condition, the
low level of education, poverty and the family that often abused them during childhood,
so to her.. he really thinks to be prince charming, really.. she didn't go for choice.. she says
“I went with him because I wanted to”, but as things start to turn wrong there [abroad],
they find themselves in a situation of violence and restriction, then they start
understanding what trafficking is about (Fort4, Chief of Police, DDM).
At the beginning people tried to hide this connection between sexual tourism and
trafficking. But practically it happens that we know that they're linked.. We tried to
deconstruct the term sexual tourism. Once it happened that I was doing a lesson in school
about tourism and they ask me: “Madame does the right of corruption exist?”, so I go:
“There's environmental right, penal right”. And the answer “so why isn't it called sexual
tourism? Sexual exploiters exist and they use the touristic structures to support their
illegal activities.” Since then I stopped using this expression sexual tourism. But it still
exists, it's visible, sometimes as the girls meet in certain areas, there are.. taxi drivers that
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arrive, from the blue, as if they were doing security service or something, and hotel
networks, especially foreign hotels and restaurants.. there are some owned by a foreign
person, or there's a foreign person as director, entrepreneur.. if we suspect of anything
we call the police, the police assisting tourists or the federal police depending on the case.
Its existence is remarkable, for this reason we made a prevention campaign with hotels,
taxi drivers association, touristic information point, we intensified it in the central market
area for instance, especially now with the World Cup; the same problem is on the cities of
the coast.. the owners are the buggys [cars running on the shore]…There are also
“entrepreneurs” owning “books” [photography books] of girls to be offered to tourists. It
also happened in the fairs.. it happened for instance, during the fair of Padre Cicero. There
was a person showing these albums filled of pictures of girls. Unluckily it exists. There is a
relation, in fact we are thinking over a project to organize a course on sexual exploitation,
people trafficking and tourism for professionals of the public safety, in order to have them
recognize these cases both theoretically on Human Rights, than practically this
connection, how it works, what to do to break the stigma because many say: “ah, if she
does it, it's because she was willing to”, and no one can do anything about it, because if a
teen ager is exploited she cannot tell if it's good or not for her (Bras2, Female coordinator,
NETP).
Yes. The two things are linked. Sexual tourism is one side of the coin. Through sexual
tourism, foreign people get in touch with Brazilian night clubs, brothels, they meet the
Brazilian men and women, they have the first contacts that will be fuelling this flux.
Therefore the two things are strictly connected (Bras9, L., Female Minister).
So, let's try to reconstruct the scenarios of tourism starting with the gathered testimonies.
The hookup is quite easy and closer to an approach disjointed from the practice of sex purchase.
Well it goes like that, you're sitting in a bar and the guy starts flirting with you and he
invites you over at his table, you get there, you chat a bit and you already arrange the
price for.. the value already. So he agrees with it, an hour costs “x”, fine let's do it. Then if
he likes it he becomes your clients, you see? Otherwise he says “..I'm staying here for 20
days or so, I'd like you to be with me during these 20 days, can you do me a lump sum for
20 days? That's the way it works (Story, V., Fort7R).
Tourists, according to the testimonies, are both foreign and natives, not so young, lower classes, having
working positions not in luxury domains.
I think so, you know why? Europeans come from higher social classes, I mean, I don't want
to say that there's no one [Brazilian] like that, but usually it's linked to a lower social class.
I don't think that entrepreneurs come express to do that, they are from the working class,
a lower class, they come here with dollars, dollar has a higher value here (Fort, Taxi Driver
2).
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They are mature men and the girls very young. Actually, there are no younger guys, only
mature men (Fort, Taxi Driver 1).
Tourists are Brazilian and foreigners. All of them, all. Men from here, Fortaleza, tourists,
natives, as tourist say “natives” [local people]. The majority of the girls are not on the sea
shore, tourists don't stay on the sea shore the whole day, they inform themselves on the
girls with the best prices and they go in the surroundings to look for them (Fort1, NETP).
The European works the whole year as waiter, decorator, masons, plumbers who are well
payed there [in Europe] whereas in Brazil they aren't. Then they come to Brazil and the girl
thinks that he's rich, millionaire but he isn't. He's a worker. It's a lifestyle they don't have
once they go back to their home country they're not partying every day. Everything has its
rules. So the majority of them are workers. Working class men. Mine works in the civil
building, he raises quite a good sum also because euro which have a higher value here
(Story, N., Fort5R).
As for nationality is concerned, in Fortaleza the Italian seems to be the prevailing one, followed by Dutch
and Swiss, Portuguese, Norwegian and lately also Chinese, whereas Spanish and North American don't
seem to be in great numbers.
Italian. The Italian, the majority of them are Italian, then Swiss, Dutch.. and more rarely
Spanish, even more rarely Americans. Ah.. here it's as if it were a second house for Italian,
Beira mar, the second house (Story, P., Fort10R).
There are more Italian than Dutch, not many English, nor Spanish. A bit of everything, you
see? They're not old nor young, they are a bit over their 40s, 50s, 60s but I can't tell you
much on this sex matter, I know that half of the people I know come here to discover the
land, and other express for sexual tourism, as we already know (Story, H., Fort01R).
Well… Holland, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Switzerland depending on the area.. now a lot of
Chinese are coming, there's a great Chinese Firm here in the centre of Fortaleza (Story, T.,
For04R)
Some women don't think there is any substantial difference in the behaviour of men coming from different
countries, but some thinks that difference is there and Italians are the worst.
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Well, personally there's no difference, they just change address and name, because men
are practically all the same. To me they don't have anything different, only the country
and the language, other than that, there's really nothing different. “Gringos” and Brazilian
have practically the same behaviours (Story, H., Fort01R).
I don't like Italians at all, they are the worst, the worst ones of the whole species. I have to
tell you something, ti's quite unkind, but if I had to be the President of Brazil, I would
throw all the Italians out of my country. Sincerely, they are pigs, nasty. They're bad.
There's no comparison, they are ridiculous, unkind. They're real fools. It's better if no one
makes me the president of this country, otherwise if I had to be elected, Italians would
never get into this country again. They're tyrannical, they don't value the woman, they
don't want it at all, I mean they only think that since they're paying they can rape a
woman. No, not like that. It's not the way it works. Everything has to be done nicely, even
sex. There's no love, there's sex. Sex is a relation. And every relation has to be lived with
affection and tenderness. I say affection, I'm not speaking about love because it's just sex,
but he's paying for sex with affection, we can feel affection for many things, for an animal,
a dog, a kitty, isn't it? So why can't they treat a woman as she should be treated? I don't
like them. Then there's something else, as they get here they seem to be wearing a mask.
They have a certain behaviour here, but in their home country they're completely
different. In their home country they're vipers, they treat women badly, they do many bad
things to women in their home country. Here they're sweet, kind, but you try to go to
their home country, you'll see. I've never been there and I have absolutely no lust to go
either. (Story, Y., Fort6R).
This last testimony is interesting because it allows us to think over two different suggestive dimensions.
First of all the type of maleness staged by the sexual-economical exchange (Tabet, 2004), which is often a
maleness in which the identity is defined through an hydraulic sexuality (Ciccone, 2009), meant as an
outlet, in which the other – the sexual partner – is a mere object. To this shall be added the dichotomy
representing the female, still prevailing in all western societies (still with different shades) seeing a
contraposition between the good- woman, beholder of rights and deserving respect, and the bad-woman,
the woman who lost the right to respect and protection as a sexual object, as a prostitute (O’ Connell
Davisdson, 2001). At the light of such a social construction process of an hegemonic maleness, the client
can feel authorized to exercise the sexual act as if the other weren't a person. Everything, therefore, is
legitimate, even brutal manners, the lack of respect and even violence. The client/tourist, who “rapes”,
abuses or shows indifference to the desperation of a person asking for help – as in the case described in the
previous chapter with the Romanian girl crying during the sexual act – doesn't loose his dignity as a citizen
and remains a good-man, to his and the society's eyes. He remains a “man”.
The second dimension is concerning the stories on sexual tourism. The women interviewed – biological and
transsexual – stage representations aiming to highlight and claim the human relation dimension and the
distance taken from the reality of prostitution itself, therefore, the economical exchange exists but remains
a scarcely relevant detail for the definition the situation.
There are types, how can I explain.. there are some shameless ones, some more held back,
some more discrete, or some others more straight forward: “how much is it?” What does
that mean? I'm not for sale. They don't know how to approach a woman, “How much is
it?” “How much do you want?”.. not like that!! You cannot stay calm at the counter that..
here they come.. maybe you wanted to stop by at Beira Mar, go at the disco, and have a
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bit of fun, and you can't. Nowadays you're practically harassed in every place you get, at
the seaside, at the disco, in brothels. Beside this fact, there are also good men. Many
others looks for young girls (Story, H., Fort01R).
He picks you up there, he brings you to an apartment, he pays you and if he liked it he'll
call you. If he liked it, he goes like: “hey, we can meet tomorrow, I liked you, let's keep on
hanging out until the end of my stay”. And I go like: “Ok”. Only during the time I go out
with him, I'm not raising money prostituting, I'm going out with him because I like it, he
makes me gifts, so that I can travel, I go to Canoa, to Jericoacoara, things like that. As I
said, I don't hang out much, I don't go out that often. It's not about choosing, because if
one arrives and says “Hey! If you come out with me, I'll give you so much”, it can happen
that the quantity he gives me is not worth it. Therefore it's about this: if it's about hanging
out, I'll do it, but if it's worth it; I don't just go out with someone coming just for the
money, no, I like to do it if I feel to, if I want to (Story, G., Fort03R, TS).
In sexual tourism the frame of the sexual-economical exchange changes, allowing to build different
representations comparing to the relation client/tourist – variously defined as client, friend or boyfriend –
and therefore even his role in the exchange game and the society in general. Whatever the level of
involvement of the representations of reality is , one of the results is to water down the stigma, favouring a
mimetic operation (more efficient for biological women than for transsexual) allowing them to be less
perceived by others and to perceive themselves less as bad-women.
For some ways, this mimetic function works for the “tourist” as well, who can, more easily as the traditional
client, produce a conversation less inclined to auto-dissolute (for further details of the figure of the clients
please see the fourth chapter of this report). In other words, the construction of an “artificial” frame to
inscribe the script of the relation client/prostitute and relocate it in the legitimate context of the seduction
among free men and women in consent , enables the tourists to speak about their personal experiences in
paying sexual relations purified from merely economic purchase aspects, edulcorating the matter of the
imbalance of the powers through he aesthetic lenses of a “couple”. These dynamics, reflect colonialistoriented representations which, from the clients' point of view, on one hand exasperate the stereotyping
characteristics built on ethnical basis – the joyful, “caliente” and light-hearted South American girls, the
sexually “bestial” African girls etc. - and on the other, they use the awareness on the depriving conditions
the “girlfriends” live in as a premise through which they can auto-dissolve and sometimes value themselves
- “making gifts you're doing good to these people that don't have anything”.
1.5.5 Networks, routes and exploitation in Brazilian women's traffic – biological and transsexual
All the testimonies gathered on trafficking agree on considering that it's not possible to speak about
international organizations involved in its management. Both in the case of internal trafficking, as for
international, they're managed about small groups organized as a network to foresee a clear division of the
work and an economical profit for everyone.
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No, it's not an international organization, they are well organized crews, groups. For
instance the enticer from there wan a Tzigane married to a Brazilian girl, R., and the two of
them organized everything. He was the owner of the club in Salamanca, and he would
come pick the girls up here. He was about to bring 5 girls at once, but he managed just to
bring two of them, because the others renounced for some reason, anyway, he would
come here often in search of labour, let's say (Bras6, Politician, CPI).
What we actually have is proofs. Evidence. So we know that both in international as in
national, internal traffic of people, there's a certain level of organization. Usually, there's
an organizing crew, where one of them stays in the origin country, to entice people, one
takes care of transport, another one receives the person and another one to exploit her.
It's a chain. Everything starts in the country of origin of the victim, then it gets to
destination. Everyone takes advantage of the situation: the enticer, the transporter, the
receiver and the exploiter (Bras1, Public Functionary, SNPDCA).
Well, from what we've seen, it's really hard to trace a proper profile, a single profile of the
trafficker, because the network of trafficking has different agents, starting with the enticer
that in many cases can be a member of the family of the victim; taxi drivers, restaurants
owners, bars, discotheques. Also, there are components of the network taking care of the
transport of the victims, in the case of international trafficking. And then there's the direct
beneficiary, which is the leader of the exploiters crew, who are generally, from what we've
seen, people living here in Brazil; so, there are members of the crew staying in the country
of origin, and others in the destination country. Therefore it is hard, in our opinion to trace
a single profile because we realize that it varies a lot. Especially now, which are the cases
of people trafficking in which drug traffic is involved? Therefore, a profile, from what we
see or read is quite a complex thing to define exactly (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
The routes of trafficking are multiple and subjected to continuous changes, even concerning controls and
repressive actions. As for internal trafficking is concerned, also subjected to changes, the significant fluxes
are from north to south-east and, in the area of Fortaleza, from the inland to the coast. The state of Goiás
seems to be a crux, both for internal trafficking and for recruitment centre for international traffic.
Concerning this last one it is even harder to trace back the routes. What we know is that usually the
Brazilian girls involved in the exploitation travel from a different country compared to the destination one.
The routes vary a lot, they vary because often the police identifies a route, which,
fluctuates, then modifies and changes to take another direction , it often happens.
Anyways, according to all the studies on this subject, made by UN and the Ministry of
Justice, and along with our investigation, there are about 240 routes of national and
international traffic. This is what we've been able to identify until now (Bras6, Politician,
CPI).
What we've seen in the past two years is that there has been a change in the routes, Goiás
has become a destination country for the victims, especially victims from the Northern
Brazil. Something we've remarked is that there has been a great traffic of adolescents, of
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transsexual adolescents, on sexual exploitation purposes here in Goiás. We realize that it
is something that varies a lot. The first routes were from Goiânia directly to Portugal,
thanks to the linguistic facilitation. Then, time after time, they looked for alternative
routes, because there was higher repression there [Portugal] as well as in Spain. So we
started to have information of people going to Argentina and end up in Spain, or to other
Latin American countries, and we also have notice of people trying to reach Europe
through Africa. I think that the Federal Police is trying to map these routes. There is a
variety of routes, right to try to escape repression. In the majority of the cases, the victims
are thought not to speak about the reasons of their trip. Normally they make up an
excuse, they say they're travelling for tourism, to visit a relative (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
Brazilian usually enter a country which is not the final destination one. Somehow they
manage to find or they are found by enticers and the exploitation net, making it harder for
the national authorities to control. Therefore, those directed to Spain, enters Portugal first
(Bras9, L., Female Minister).
There are many cases of transsexuals, leaving from the north and directed south-east, an
internal route. They reach destination, with the usual promise of the body transformation,
which is not possible in the North, silicone application, hormones, megahair, the change of
the person's image, I'm speaking about this type of public obviously. The same thing about
sexual tourism happens in the north-east, in the inland, on the coast In the city of
Fortaleza we know that the movement from the inland to the coast is very strong. In
Goiás, we know they had victims for Europeans routes in the past. Not only in Spain,
Portugal and Italy but also Switzerland, which is always a desired route. Then there are
international routes having Brazil as final destination. There are always more Bolivians,
Paraguayans trafficked for domestic labours or to be exploited in the South East. There are
all these movements going on. (Bras3, Female coordinator, SNG).
International trafficking has Europe as main destination and, in particular, countries like Portugal, Spain,
Holland, Switzerland and Italy.
Therefore, in that period in the region of Niquelândia, which is up north, close to Uruaçu,
we already remarked a great migration towards Europe, especially Portugal, Spain,
Holland, Switzerland and Italy (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
As for the trip is concerned, the international mean of transport used is the plane, on which the girls –
biological and not – travel with regular documents that are taken them away once they reach the
destination. On the contrary, internal trafficking is mainly characterized by land transfers since, as
remarked, the streets are less frequently subject to controls.
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Well, basing on our assistance experience, they go by plane, it's all well organized. They
buy the ticket, they have their original passport. The story of documents falsification
doesn't actually take place. It's all legal and regular. (Bras7, Responsible of a Centre).
In internal trafficking, we've had cases of people brought from the North-East to the
South-east of the country. The exploiters looks for their candidates among the poorest
citizens.. they get there, they entice the girls and bring them to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro –
in the metropolis – to exploit them sexually. Lately we've had in Altamira (Pará) cases of
women taken from the Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, they faced a six days trip by
bus to reach Altamira (Bras1, Public Functionary, SNPDCA).
They go by plane, they have been taught well.. once they retire their passports they're
very elegant, to mask their condition of poverty (Fort1, NETP).
One thing was clear: the person that would prepare the documents of the girl was the
same person that took her; once the girl reached destination, the documents would be
taken away from her. The girls would not be left with any of their personal documents,
which was held by the person that payed for the ticket. They all said the same thing
(Fort3, Prostitute Association).
Exploitation follows known paths, already seen also in the other partner countries, without substantial
difference between internal and international trafficking.
Beside the detainment of the documents – particularly important especially in the international dimension
of trafficking – another recurring element is the one concerning the debt, to which all the other expenses
shall be added, as board and lodging, consumption goods, eventual medications and, for transsexual girls,
also the costs for silicone treatments done by the so called bombadeira.
They take her passport, then the girls are also afraid, because they don't have their
documents along, they're there illegally, they're prostitutes, they're transsexuals, then, in
the case of transsexuals it's even worse because being foreign, transsexual and
prostitute..means being always afraid to get caught by local authorities, or get asked to
pay the debts “hey beauty, you still have to pay for hair, tickets, clothes..” therefore
they're blocked in a house, in a ring to live and work (Livia, Fort1, NETP).
In the case of sexual exploitation victims, they are obliged to make a certain amount of
“dates” that the girls usually cannot make, therefore they've even more debts. We can
verify that, in all the cases, the most used mean to keep the girls in the exploitation swim,
is to have to pay debts. So they “present” her the flight ticket to go abroad, but afterwards
she'll have to pay everything back, because everything is put on the bill... it's not only the
ticket, but also the stay, the bathing soap she uses, everything that – between parenthesis
– should be included, she'll have to pay anyways. The debt keeps on raising, so they have
the perspective:”I'll bear this situation until I'll be done paying my debts, once I'm done
with it, I'll be free and I'll have the control over my prostituting work”... but they are
blocked in there (Bras10, Female Director of a Centre, SPM).
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Most of the times they declared to use condom.. besides these condoms were sold by the
pimp – which increased also their debts – not only condoms though: the sheets, the rent
for the room.. everything would be increasing their debt (Bras2, Female coordinator,
NETP).
There was the case of minor transsexuals for internal trafficking. They got trafficked from
Pará to Goiás. Same thing. The enticer made the promises, the exploiter pays for the
transfer, therefore the victim arrived, the victim is “bombed” - have you ever heard this
term “bombed”, meaning that she's been injected silicone on her ass and tits to model her
body – therefore from the trip the debts are starting. The person is obliged to submit to a
condition of servitude and other threats due to her debts because, as I said, the enticer is
always very close to where the victim lived, or she knows her family, which makes her
believe in the threats, because the person knows where she lives, where her family lives.
Therefore it's easier to believe (Bras5, Journalist).
Concerning the degree of consciousness on the existence of the debt, the testimonies are differing, we can
still hypothesize that this apparent contradiction reflects in reality the multiplicity of situations, therefore
some will be supposedly more conscious than others.
These women get there with a debt of 3000 reais each already. But they didn't know it,
they were not given this information. They knew they would have gone there to
prostitute. Where they were before they were doing it already, but as they got enticed,
they were not told, first of all that they would be brought elsewhere with an initial debt of
3000 reais. Second, that all that they would consume would become part of the debt.
Third, that they would live in a private prison in inhuman conditions. The inhuman
conditions are, maybe, the less important aspect since you're violating already their right
to freedom, applying servitude for debts. The person is exploited from the beginning,
since the transfer she gets closed in a room where she has to serve five to six clients per
day without getting a buck for it, in inhuman conditions. This is to be considered for us,
human traffic. The person has been brought away from her town, she's been enticed and
brought in a different place form her normal one of residence, to be exploited (Bras1,
Public Functionary, SNDPDCA).
“Therefore as we leave Brazil, we know already how much we'll have to pay, we already
know that we have to pay for the stay, the rent of the working place, transportation to go
to work, lodging, all this.” Only thing is that once they get there, they think it will be
enough to save some money to bring to Brazil, but no! There's quite a lot of suffering, as
here in Brazil, but abroad it seems easier: if a girls remains one or two years she brings 50
thousand euros, meaning 150 reais, so in one year she doesn't even make a thousand
reais, getting 20 reais per day.. and then the expenses that she has to pay (Fort9, Militant
transsexual).
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To the debt and the expenses shall be added the fines for those that violate the rules defined and imposed
by the exploiters.
Well, the fines. In brothels, but the same exploiter as well..there are some rules, they
establish some rules. If the victims don't respect the rules, they get fined. This works both
for international trafficking than for internal trafficking, as for the case of transsexuals. In
the case of transsexuals, if the client brought her home, after work, at the end of the
work, she gets fined. It's forbidden! If she didn't pay for an instalment of the debt, of if she
forgot to clean something – she left a dirty glass – there are fines. In the case of
international trafficking and exploitation, the fines are applied if the victim had her period,
and as a consequence, refused a client.. there are other situations as well (Bras5,
Journalist).
Everything is dealt as a commercial transaction. Therefore the girl arrives and the owner
of the commercial activity tells her: ”Listen you owe me 9 thousand euros, until you don't
pay me, you'll get only - I don't know – 20 or 30 euros per day for the expenses and the
working conditions will be the following: you'll have to do at least 10 sexual encounters
per day, the days in which you won't be working you'll have to pay a fee, if you refuse to
go with a client there will be a fee, you'll have to pay the lodging, the clothes, the drinks”.
That's how it works (Bras9, L., Loiza).
Biological and transsexual women live and work mostly in brothels (although there are some working on
the street) in hard deprivation of movement – up to be defined in almost all the testimonies as a “private
jail”. It becomes impossible to move alone or even to make a phone call home.
The information we have is that they are lodged in brothels, where rooms are available,
but they can't go out freely, like in a private jail. What we know is that they're obliged to
work different times per day, staying with 8 to 40 clients, men, women – practically they
live in private jails, they go out very few, if they go out there's someone taking them, this
is more or less what we know: they get out if someone is with them or they stay closed in
there under the watch of some taskmaster, who are actually informers (Fort1, NETP).
They have to work, this girl, for instance, was to supposed to have at least five “dates”
each night, for about 6 months, to try to balance her debt, according to what she told us
in her testimony. Which was absolutely degrading for her human condition. She could not
answer the phone if someone wasn't nearby, she could not go in and out freely. She could
not take the money of her dates because they got subtracted by the lodging rent. We
observed the same thing in the region of Xingu, at the hydro-electric of Belo Monte
(Bras6, Politician, CPI).
They are involved, often some friend of hers already went through a similar situation and
they're also invited by these friends, what they don't know is the conditions they will be
working in, the private jail, the obligation to respect an amount of sexual encounters per
day – sometimes we hear on the news from 10 to 15 sexual encounters per day – then
they're also obliged to drug themselves to be able to bear this routine, therefore they end
up becoming sex slaves (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
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No [I could not go out]. No, phone calls just once, once a month, you understand? And so,
since they knew that I didn't have a strong bond with my family, to them it was much
easier. Generally they select girls having almost no contacts with their families, so there
are no problems. First of all they keep your life controlled. To them it's good if you don't
have a family. I tell you, I know girls that have been living there already for 5, 6
years..maybe until today. (Story, V., Fort7R).
Even the working rhythms are exhausting.
You would work all the time! Morning, afternoon and evening, no matter what time
(Story, V., Fort7R).
Girls hardly remain in the same city for long periods. Generally they change “spot” every three months. The
continual changes prevent them to create sympathetic bonds and the girls become even more vulnerable.
There is a great movement within Europe, they call it “the change of spot”. Rarely the girls
stay in the same city for long time. In general, every three months, they are brought to
another city. This make it hard to create friendships, bonds, roots and makes the victim
stay vulnerable, without friends to count on, receive help or information on what to do,
how to get out of that situation (Bras9, L., Female Minister).
Violence is another ingredient to exploitation which is also present in the Brazilian case. Mainly
psychological and physical violence, often becoming harder for transsexual girls – considered
as a “freak of nature” or an intolerable form of perversion. Violence through threats and
blows, violence not only exercised by exploiters but also by clients.
Concerning physical violence, we've had a case of a woman affirming that she was
subjected to it, but she was traumatized to the point that she couldn't tell us anything
about it, she was always crying and we couldn't assist her. We didn't have any case of
magical rites. (Fort1, NETP).
In the case of transsexuals, the situation is even worse, there's more violence linked to
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discrimination than compared to prostitution. In the case of transsexuals, exploitation is
done by another transsexual. It's a close and violent market, with various psychiatric
diseases linked to the pressure they're subjected to. Often their clients – as males – are
subjected to psychological problems as well, denying to have sexual relations with trans
people. All this ends up generating violence, even physical. Therefore the situations of
physical abuse are more common for trans girls than for biological women, who are
generally more subjected to psychological violence and threats, but concerning cases of
hard physical abuse, transsexuals are subjected to the most dramatical ones (Bras9, L.,
Female Minister).
It always happens when I speak about that period, that it seems to me to live those
moments back, that sufferance, to be there, on the sidewalk and get blows on the face,
stones, eggs, mangos, you see? Faeces on the face! It already happened to me. I was on
the street for a prevention work, and a man calls me “hey” and I go like “Hi” and he goes
“how much do you want?” and I answer “I'm not working at the moment” and he goes
“no?” and so he threw me a dish full of shit on the face, what for, I ask myself! What did I
do wrong? Why all this violence? (Fort9, Militant transsexual).
1.5.6 Health in conditions of exploitation
Exploitation puts always the psycho-physical well-being of the people involved at risk, acting on different
levels.
The first level is the one of emotional repercussions of violence – physical, psychological or sexual. Some
violences leave indelible marks, it's not always easy to forget.
As they arrive [the victims], they are assisted, they are in terrible physical and
psychological conditions. A bit more than a year ago, there was a victim that we assisted,
she was a transsexual brought to Italy, she got back with very serious post-traumatic
disease; she is under psychiatric medications because she was subjected to all sorts of
violence in Italy. Therefore, her physical and psychological conditions are the worst ever
seen (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
A second level is the one of sexually transmissible diseases, whose risk is increased by the well-known
request, by many clients, to have unprotected relations and the pressures of the exploiters to always
content the client.
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I've heard about a girl that had been obliged to do it without condom. Then as she came
back here, she got blood tested and everything was fine, but she was obliged [to do it
without condom] when she was abroad because they payed her more. She was obliged by
her exploiter to do everything that the stranger wanted her to, because he payed a high
price to do it without protection, therefore she was obliged because the value was higher
(Bras2, Coordenadora NETP)
The third level concerns mainly transsexual girls. One of the witnesses said that trafficking start with an
unrealized dream, and the dream for transsexual girls is to transform their body in the way they feel it
should be. What they desire for is a feminine body and the exploiters – the cafetinas, Brazilian transsexuals
as well – attract them with this promise to realize their dream. On this purpose they are entrusted to the
bombadeira, who inject them, in unsafe medical conditions, very dangerous industrial silicone. The effects
of these injections can be devastating: deforming, due to a movement of the silicone throughout the body;
difficulties to move; tumours, edemas; death, provoked by the spread infections.
In the case of transsexuals there's no doctor in the clinic, only the bombadeiras; it's more
of an informal thing among colleagues, also transsexuals, applying silicone in a very
rudimental ways. We don't know who these bombadeiras are, to make these applications
without medical care. There's no health care network supplied by the Government nor the
State (Fort1, NETP).
The fourth level, finally, is the one of drugs and alcohol abuse. In the case of Nigerian and Romanian girls
trafficking drug doesn't seem to represent a relevant problem, for Brazilian girls – biological women and
not – the use and abuse of illegal substances, beside alcohol, comes back frequently in the testimonies.
Another serious problem is the one of alcoholism and drug addiction, because local
owners make much more money selling alcohol and drugs, than with prostitution
exploitation. Therefore, the people working in this market are lead, both by the exploiter
and the client, to consume drugs and alcohol, and in the end a chemical addiction takes
place (Bras9, L., Female Minister).
The drug matter is very strong, not only concerning women, but also transsexuals girls
who assume drugs and drink with clients, therefore there is a situation of chemical
addiction and hard depression (Bras3, Female coordinator, SNG).
Well, we deal with quite a lot of women that had problems with illegal substances. We
know that they are subjected to a control system – if it can be called so – general control
over health, therefore they're obliged to get periodically blood tested to see if they
contracted any sexually transmissible disease or similar, and the results often remain in
the hands of enticers. So, let me tell you, it's not the girls' worry, like “oh!I have to get
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tested to see if I'm well”, no it's not on their initiative, but the enticers'. Therefore, the
women can find themselves in the situation of getting sick or having any sort of problem,
reach to get out of the swim and get absolutely no attention (Bras7, Responsible of a
Centre).
They do it but just to go to work... get drunk, get stoned, just to go to work... no it's not
men asking them to, at least the ones I know don't do it. Nowadays men don't do these
sort of things anymore, women do it more. Now it's less visible because they're leaving
Brazil, but when they come back... (Story, H., Fort1R).
As we observed already in the Romanian case concerning the alcohol consumption, the use and abuse of
alcohol and drugs can be incited by the bars owners, but sometimes the women entrust substances to
cloud their mind over and make daily life more bearable.
1.5.7. Autonomous work, exploitation and agency in the sex markets
If it's easy to fall in the exploitation networks, it's not as easy to work in the sex market in an autonomous
way. In Brazil, as in Europe, also the streets are managed by local powers, which control and divvy up the
territory.
Well.. it's a bit complicated for the women who want to work with sex
autonomously, because from our experience, observing this night work, it's clear that
some zones are dominated by a pimp, or an influent person, so for those prostitutes,
rd
willing to have a working spot there at the 3 pale of the Beira Mar – this is just an
rd
example, in effect the 3 pale doesn't exist – but she'll need for protection, she'll need for
someone who'll look at her by far, to check if no one is treating her bad, if someone wants
to get in a fight, because she works in better conditions, so that no one else wants to
compete for the same working spot, so that no one tries to be violent with her.
Has it ever happened?
They say that to avoid these situations, they enter the exploitation swim. They end up
paying for the rent of the working spot. Also transsexuals complained about this, they end
up in the exploitation swim, therefore the majority of them is not autonomous, it's
exploited. They feel to be autonomous because they're paying to have a manager, for
instance, but they're held already by the exploitation swim. The money they earn from the
dates it's not theirs 100%, they have to give something to the policeman – in commas –
that protected them the whole time in that spot, which was more appreciated, filled with
rich clients that pay more, so they.. Therefore this all exists, they don't give away these
information on the mapping of the working spots because they're scared (Livia, Bras2,
Female coordinator, NETP).
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It's so hard to work as a free lance in European countries, there's a mafia controlling the
market. For instance, in Italy we've just heard that a mafia exists. On the street, for
instance, no one works as a free lance prostitute in a corner, because at every corner, in
every street, every piece of the pavement, everything is owned. There's the Albanian
mafia, the Italian mafia. So somehow, the person will keep on being exploited (Bras9, L.,
Female Minister).
Exploitation seems to be unavoidable, although if it will not take the form of trafficking, but the women
interviewed, as earlier underlined, don't perceive themselves as victims, since they adhered to a migratory
project – although in a socio-economical-affective vulnerable condition and not acting having all the
implications of exploitations clear.
From this point of view the testimony of one of the transsexuals appears significant:
This word “pimp” seems to strong to me. I mean, I live with a pimp.. this doesn't exist.
Pimps exist, but many of them rent the spot to the girls as if it were a hotel. I live in an
hotel, I have to pay for my stay, if you are a male heterosexual and you declare it, you go
live in a house, you have to pay for the rent for that house, for that hotel. The owner of
the hotel doesn't want to know if you steal, if you kill, he doesn't care as far as you pay for
the rent. For sure I'm speaking in a depreciatory way, but the owner of the hotel doesn't
really want to know what you are doing. He just needs the money to cover the expenses.
Therefore, in the case of transsexuals, it happens like this more or less, they don't want to
know if you're prostituting, if you're studying, if not, if you have a family or not.. what's
important is to be punctual paying for the rent, if you stay 3 days without paying, it's
almost 100 reais more, the fourth day she throws you out, you see, and you cannot bring
anything with you until you bring the money you owe. She also has her rights, therefore, I
cannot deny her right, she fed me, she payed for my bills, she gave me a roof over the
head and I don't pay her!?! For sure she'll be doing word-of-mouth, so everywhere I'll go,
she'll go up to them and say:” Look, she did this and this to me, she owes me 100 reais and
for the spite she made me, because she ran away of the house, instead of 100 reais, now
she owes me 200 reais”... That's why they say there is a form of exploitation of
prostitution, due to the mess the transsexual made, you see? The cafetinas [madam]
aren't as bad as they say, they can also address you to an arranged marriage, to stay in the
country, there are quite few benefits. There's the good and bad sides (Fort9, Militant
transsexual).
In this testimony it's remarkable the strong and interesting parallel with Nigerian trafficking and the
ambivalent role of the maman, seen from many Nigerian girls as mom-stepmother, the one that fooled
them and takes economical advantage from other compatriots, but in the end she's also the one that was
present when they were in need and without her the European dream would have never become true
(Abbatecola, 2006, 2012).
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1.5.8. Going back
Being trapped in the exploitation swim to follow a dream is relatively easy. Harder to get out of it.
Denunciation is not always the solution, because the risks are high. As an activist tells us, suiting, in the best
hypothesis you can get just one of the gears of the engine arrested, and from that moment on you will
always be in danger. Run away means starting to live in fear, for yourself and for your family.
If I suit, going back to the subject, I have to leave the country, the city, for instance, if I'm
in Italy I'll have to take off to Portugal, France, Ecuador , any other place.. Because the
cafetinas, although she'll get arrested.. you know there's trafficking network. Therefore, if
I was enticed by a person, if I suit this person, a gear of the engine is missing, I haven't
reach the boss yet, maybe this one passes me by and I don't even know who he is, you
see? But like in drug dealing, there's the manager, a person to listen, the accountant, it's
exactly like that.. Therefore if I suit, I take away just one gear out of a whole engine, but
the scheme can put out branches elsewhere, and become another scheme, but I'll be
marked, you understand? I'll be marked then one day they'll find me, and I'll be knocked
out (Fort9, Militant transsexual).
They're afraid of the judgment of the society and even more of the threats of the
traffickers (Bras4, Judge, CNJ).
Many of them feel threatened, so they come back, they're scared: “..and now what will it
happen to me? The criminal net will come look for me, they'll use my family”. Therefore
they have the enter safety programs for victims, at the Human Rights Department, or a
protection program for witnesses, always at the Human Rights Department (Fort1, NETP).
Going back is hard even if the migratory project didn't end up well. Migrating means to question not only
one's personal future but also the family's future, the Identity, the Self, one's own dignity. Failure is not
expected, and for this reason even at the come-back (even temporary) the migrant tends to stage
edulcorated representations of one's experience abroad. The one who failed is ashamed, and this can be a
very strong deterrent.
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There are victims spending 4 to 6 months only deciding if they shall go back or not,
because they're afraid to go back to Brazil, and being in search of a better situation,
they're afraid to see their family to feel ashamed saying: “Look, I went there and come
back with nothing” or other people saying “Oh my God! So I went there, so I came back”.
“I tried. I told everyone in my family, friends and relatives that I was making my fortune
abroad, much money, and in the end, I get back empty-handed”. They're ashamed. They
think it over a lot, if they shall come back or not, if they shall stay.. (Bras2, Female
coordinator, NETP).
The shame and guilt sometimes are linked to the prostitution experience itself, worsened by the condition
of exploitation and the stigma associated with sex markets-linked professions.
The victim? Look, the most important thing to say is that the victim of traffic doesn't
recognize herself as such. She thinks that she lived a failure, she feels guilty, she's very
vulnerable, she is ashamed, often because she's exiting a situation of exploitation,
therefore she's ashamed of her body and the situation she's involved in itself. The
exceeding amount of hours, the humiliation and the precarious situation.. and she feels
even guilty. Therefore it's hard for her to go back, the family reception, going back to the
community, because she feels guilty (Bras3, Female coordinator, SNG).
Huge prejudice, “They go because they want to, that's it” from my three years experience
as researcher and coordinator of the centre, I've heard a lot of graduates and postdoctorates saying: “If this is a problem that exited the country, it's a disease that exited
this place, if it disappears it's better”. There is still this huge prejudice. First of all
ignorance concerning the theme of trafficking, not everybody knows that traffic is a
crime.. and I'm not speaking about drug dealing, nor arms. Secondly, we can start
explaining what trafficking is about, it is a real phenomenon and it's punished about the
penal code..but people think “This only happens to prostitutes, and if it just happens to
them.. who are these prostitutes? It's better if they get killed!” so there is this.. this
prejudice of the society against fighting trafficking (Bras2, Female coordinator, NETP).
The society can be heartless with people selling sex in exchange of money, more than with people
exploiting or people buying sex from exploited people, and it's also on a cultural change – in all countries –
that the challenge on human trafficking will have to be played.
1.6. The research in Spain
1.6.1. A global view
The interviews done in Spain to privileged witnesses and girls that exited sexual exploitation, confirm the
facts that emerged in other partner countries.
Trafficking oriented to internal markets, concerns mainly Nigerian, Romanian, Brazilian and Chinese girls,
on this last group few is known.
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There were some cases of Chinese girls. Usually silence is kept on the modalities in which
they are picked, recruited and transported, but it's linked for sure to the debts payment.
As they arrived they have to pay. Sometimes they happened in Spain under false
pretences; trough offers made by compatriots. And then they become victims of
extortions. (Witness, P5, Barrister).
Not all Brazilian girls – biological women or transsexual – seem to be victims of trafficking, even though
forms of exploitation cannot be excluded.
On Brazilian trafficking victims I cannot say much, because although the percentage of
girls prostituting is high, we have not identified specific episodes of prostitution in clubs.
Moreover they [Brazilian girls] are more free to move and we have not remarked a lack in
their autonomy which happens for other nationalities. In the case of transsexual Brazilian
girls the trafficking phenomenon is not very relevant. We were with some of them that
prostituted themselves in apartments or clubs with monthly revenues up to 2.000 Euros, a
very different situation compared to the trafficked victims that could not control their
money, as for instance Romanian. (Witness, P2, Female City Councillor).
For the case of Brazilian girls, they came mainly for modelling jobs, to be female
companions or to take care of elderly people. Sometimes they would even come with
their boyfriends that would leave them in a club after having taken their passport away.
(Witness, P3, Female Director, ACF).
Nigerian girls come mainly from the State of Edo, and it's exactly Nigerian trafficking that attracts the
attention of public opinion and institutions, because it's more visible – both outdoor and indoor – and
somehow more “exotic”. The practical note about magic rites – that we call voodoo – catches the curiosity
and hits the imagery because it is distant form the rationalistic European approach.
We work mainly with Nigerian girls from the State of Edo (Witness, P2, Female City
Councillor, Accem).
We are very, very focused on the problem, since African networks, right because of their
idea of a woman, of the human being, the characteristics brought along by it, and its
spectacular aspect, right? Concerning voodoo, for the way they exploit girls, for the public
life, right? It's very evident, very shown off (Witness, P12, Chief Inspector, UCRIF).
Because of the subjection strategies exercised by the racket, the approach to Nigerian girls is for the
services, easier. As analysed in paragraph three of this chapter through the results of the research in Italy,
Nigerian racket can be extremely violent against rebels and not willing to adapt to imposed rules. However,
the prevailing strategy is the one of psychological control through: magical rites – in which they deeply
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believe; ambivalent relation with the maman – loved and hated, exploiter and supporter in the meantime;
then the debt. Nigerian girls considered “trustworthy” have wider edges than Romanian girls, to which
control is more oppressive and, so, they set up easier a relationship, for instance with the workers of the
Street Units.
To Nigerian girls there is voodoo (nails, pubic hair, pictures). There's a whole world that
we cannot include due to the cultural difference existing. It seems to us a very different
reality compared to the Romanian victims, for instance. They are as well very much
controlled through the cell phone, but suffer less the physical control than the Romanian
victims because, besides, sometimes the exploiter doesn't live in the same city as the
victim. Voodoo is very powerful, it is a real obstacle hard to defeat even to girls that
already exited the exploiting network. They will tell you clearly that voodoo can kill, and to
them this is a reality, even if to us this is hard to believe (Witness, P2, Female City
Councillor).
Nigerian girls have more contacts with our Associations operating in the street, but
approaching Romanian girls is more complicated. Even to us working in the Street Units it
is hard to work with them (Witness, P8, Social Worker, V.T.).
Even in Spain, speaking about Romanian girls trafficking, the testimonies indicate 2007 as a turning point,
although not necessarily positive. The entrance of Romania in the European Community has certainly made
it easier for the geographic mobility, therefore the trips are more direct and comfortable. However, the
acquisition of new citizens, didn't catch the grip of exploitations and weakened the efficiency of
investigations which are established and thought mainly for migrants in clandestine situations or
administrative irregularity.
The majority of them did it arriving by land, by bus, sharing the trip with other women.
Many of them arrive by plane, especially since when Romania belongs to the European
Union, where the mobility among countries is free for Community citizens (Witness, P1,
Social Worker, FSA).
The girls said that before the entrance [of Romania] into the EU, they would arrive from
Italy; then later they started to arrive directly to Madrid (Witness, P3, Female Director,
ACF).
One of the main difficulties is with no doubt the fact that Romanian women belong to the
European Union, on one hand this favours the access to their rights, on the other it makes
the investigations on trafficking more difficult. Another difficulty is that the girls don't suit.
Article 59 bis is not working as it should have […] It keeps on failing on the identification of
the victims or the trafficking potential victims (Witness, P1, Social Worker, FSA).
Concerning Romanian women, since they don't have the problem of illegality anymore,
from 2007 on the situation worsened, because the [social] interventions are directed
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mainly to people being in an administrative irregularity and they are not in this type of
situation, therefore they are not included in many services, in many cases (Witness, P11,
Female Coordinator, ICAS).
Concerning the actions contrasting the phenomenon two types of criticality emerge, in particular,: the
effects of repression on girls' vulnerability and the inefficiency of the punishments on exploiters.
In “gentleman's areas”, the interventions are made through busts or fees to safeguard decency, but these
local policies directed to hit visible prostitution – instead of exploitation – induce the networks to find
peripheral areas, dark and isolated where to exercise prostitution. The girls find themselves working in
situations of risk and vulnerability to the clients' violence, always present in force. The alternative – for
Romanian girls – is to work in clubs, where control is even stronger and the intervention of associations
risks to be undone, because of the lack of occasions for a connection.
In Huelva they were very close to the city centre, in Gran Capitan, though due to local
policies, they were annoying and the whole area transformed into a neighbourhood for
rich people, so they've been taken away form there and ended again on the street or in
dark corners and so they got back to vulnerability because they get assaulted, with stones,
in the dark, with no one that can hear them. Otherwise they have to go to clubs (Witness,
P3, Female Director, ACF).
In clubs they cannot have relations with anyone, besides clients or people of the club,
except for cases in which the client has to pay to let her out (in that case she has more
freedom). In clubs the girls can have some relations with cooks, hairstylists, lingerie
sellers.. a real mafia,if one considers that they couldn't even go out to buy themselves a
dress. The price would be very high for everything so that their debt would keep
increasing (Witness, P3, Female Director, ACF).
Well, we have had meetings with institutions that clearly declared that regulations
punishing women make it harder for trafficking to go further. In any case, they tell us that
they gotta eat somehow and that if they gotta eat somehow , so if they get hounded they
will go elsewhere (Witness, P4, Doctor, MdM).
The punishments given to exploiters, basing on the testimonies, are too short. Even when caught, they are
released after few time causing not only a risk for the girls' safety, but also discouraging them to suit.
We worked a lot in collaboration with the Immigration Office and we remarked that even
if they arrest people involved with the mafia or the network, after four days they're out. In
the case of Chinese mafia they caught them all, but they told me that she [the girl that
suited] had to pay attention if she went out because they would have come out briefly.
Sometimes it is frustrating to see how these men get back to the street after few time. We
don't know if it's like that for legal reasons or laxity in the punishment's application.
Clearly it's an interesting business for many people (Witness, P3, Female Director, ACF).
The testimony speak about prostitution and trafficking and not about sexual tourism even though, lately, in
Granada a phenomenon similar to tourism can be observed. It is the practice to celebrate the leave of
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bachelorhood in town entrusting boxed offers including, among other options, also “particular messages”.
In Granada I'm not sure if it's possible to speak about “sexual tourism” because I think it's
more of a fashionable phenomenon among the male population to come to town and
celebrate the leave of bachelorhood, and I know that in many boxes by leave of
bachelorhood, is meant an “happy end” with a visit to a club, so it is somehow related
(Witness, P1, Social Worker, FSA).
Even in Spain, so as in other countries, trafficking doesn't only concern sexual exploitation. In Huelva, for
instance, it is very well known the working exploitation phenomenon of the strawberry picking, involving in
particular Colombian and Moroccan girls.
In Huelva they would also arrive with the excuse of the strawberries which was the trap to
exploit them sexually, especially in the cases of Romanian girls, but there were also
Colombian and Moroccan girls for the working exploitation (Witness, P3, Female Director,
ACF).
In the following paragraphs we will present the main aspects of Nigerian girls trafficking and, most of all,
Romanian girls, we will also mention Brazilian exploitation. The results of the interviews and Life Stories
confirm what already emerged in the Italian and Romanian case presented in this report, which can be
consulted for further details.
1.6.2. Recruitment, networks and prevailing forms of exploitation
As it always happens, the enticement takes place appealing to the girls' need and vulnerability, not only
economical.
Normally with Romanian and Brazilian girls it happens that they have to take care
personally of the family, they don't have money and accept certain situations, without
knowing everything. Romanian girls are very desperate, they seek for work and sometimes
an acquaintance offers them a job. From airports to cafés expressively dedicated to this
type of things, and if they [exploiters] know their stories they're even more vulnerable.
Romanian girls come normally from Constanta, Braila, Bucharest. Very much familiar cooptation and a significant condition of poverty, they need to send money to their
families… (Witness, P3, Female Director ACF).
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Yes, she has a family, parents, brothers and even a son that at the moment has been
entrusted to the Romanian State. Her father beat her, insulted her and yelled; he would
always beat them, all the time, all the time (Life Story, v6, Cristina, Romania).
What I wanted is… I had a daughter … my daughter was 8 months old when I was 14 years
old. I had her when I was 13, and when I was 14 I met these people and these people
offered me to come work in Spain, but .. as a cleaner (Life Story, V5, Alma, Brazil).
The father of her son told her that in Bucharest there was a person that could have found
her a job in Spain. So she saw this person as a way out, she was ok with it and in the end it
cam out that the person in Bucharest sold her to another person in Spain, that put her to..
It happened what happened and now this person is in jail (Life Story, V6, Cristina,
Romania)
In the case of Romanian women, usually exploited by compatriots, it strongly emerges the role of familiar
and friendly contexts in enticement and exploitation. Many of the testimonies go in this direction.
In the case of Romanian women, who are the ones I know better, most of them have been
recruited by close people, mainly “boyfriends” or family friends (Witness, P1, Social
Worker, FSA).
In one of the cases, as a matter of fact, we had a girl in very bad physical and psychological
conditions, we suspected that the mother was the one that sold her, due to some things
she affirmed in moments of lucidity […] Romanian girls speak generally about a decoy,
which is normally a job offer in agriculture or in the household, but the reality is that often
these offers are made by a member of the family, cousins, brother in laws, etc. They are
co-opted mainly by the familiar domain. The person in charge to entice a girl sometimes
takes contact with a person of the family even directly from Spain (Witness, P2, Female
City Councillor, Accem).
I don't know the mafia itself, what I know is that the majority of the girls says that has
been co-opted by boyfriends, sisters, brother in law.. and then sexually exploited (P3)
Romanian girls that spoke to us said that they had been recruited by the family or the
pimp, I mean the “boyfriend”. Many of them come from Braila. Then what we saw is that
men don't leave them alone even to go to the hospital, and you can remark this even if
they don't talk about it (Witness, P4, Doctor, MdM).
There are frequent cases of enticement through the “boyfriend”, who is a figure appearing also in the life
stories which we widely spoke about in the paragraph concerning the research in Romania. The “boyfriend”
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makes progressively his way in the lives of the selected girls – perceived as vulnerable – creating a
relationship of psyhco-emotional dependency they will have a hard time to emancipate from.
Many Romanian say that they arrived here following “boyfriends” finding out afterwards
that the same guy exploited different girls. It's about gender violence because women are
completely subservient. They believe that the guy is really their boyfriend, that there are
feelings involved. Moreover, they turn him in all the money. There are some relations in
which they get beaten and sexually exploited. The girls normally come from a situation of
poverty with many familiar responsibilities, and children left in their home countries
(Witness, P8, Social Worker, VT).
The ones that I knew arrived here through their boyfriend; he is the one that swindled
them and brought them here, practically in all cases. Actually what happens leads them to
hate deeply the person they trusted (Witness, P9, Female Psychologist).
Even though the situation is strictly connected to transnational criminality, my cases are
mainly linked to boyfriends. They're not always swindled concerning the activity they have
to do, but usually they don't know the conditions (Witness, P10, Lawyer, State).
Well, now I'll tell you. So let's say that the people that brought me in this situation were
introduced to me at a friend's party. From that moment on I started going out with one of
them and little by little talking to them they told me that there was a possibility to come
here, that I could have earned a lot of money and have a decorous life […] because I had
some problems with my parents and I wanted.. I wanted to leave. So he told me that I
could come to Spain, that he could have helped me to get here, that we would arrive here
as a couple, obviously, and he told me that I could work in a club and earn a lot of money.
He always gave me the money to go to the hairstylist, to buy myself clothes. He treated
me very well. And.. but I didn't realize that.. what they were really. So in the end I
accepted, because, obviously we were a couple and I thought that I would come [to Spain]
to earn money for us both and be well together (Life Story, V2, Mari, Romania).
They are enticed through false job offers or through “boyfriends”. As a matter of fact the
Romanian girls' stories reminds me the stories of typical Spanish pimps that exploited
their girlfriends. It is very similar to the situation of the Spanish post-war period when we
were told about Spanish old women that started to prostitute themselves (Witness, P8,
Social Worker, V.T.).
The “boyfriends”, once arrived at destination, stop being gentle and start exploiting them, putting into act
also exchange forms and trading.
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Actually in many cases they call boyfriend the person that brings them to the club or that
exploits them directly. These boyfriends normally last three to four months. And they
exchange girls. Sometimes they sell girls to each other (Witness, P12, Chief Inspector,
UCRIF).
Either “boyfriends”, relatives, friends or acquaintances, the Romanian enticer establishes a trusty
relationship with the selected girl, so that she is the one choosing to adhere to the migratory project she
has been offered. Violence is not included in this phase, because the strategy is the one of a consent
construction.
I had some problems in my home country. For this reason I met X and little by little I
started helping him out with his job, because I knew him and sometimes I would work
close to where he worked. So I started trusting him, I even met his family. He knew that I
had economical problems and he told me that he could help me because he was in touch
with some people in Spain, I would start working as a cleaner in a hotel. I trusted him
because he lived several years abroad and said that during that time he had already
helped a lot of people. Furthermore I also knew his family and I could not believe that
something bad could happen to me (Life Story, V1, Rosa, Romania).
Speaking about categories is terrible. But my perception is that Brazilian girls know what
they are about to face, although they don't know the conditions, Romanian girls instead
say that they have been swindled by some relative and that only once they arrive they get
to know the reality. As for job offers are concerned they are informal offers, by word of
mouth, based on the trusty relation between the victim and the person who is offering her
the job, such as “the house I'm working in could hire you” or something similar. Normally
[when it's not relatives, the enticers] they reach them through relatives or someone
known, as for instance an old friend of high school. We found a case like this (Witness, P2,
Female City Councillor, Accem).
Always referring to the Romanian case, the perception is that you cannot speak about great organizations,
but more about micro-networks family-based.
Then I found out that it wasn't the truth and that his all family knew that he would live
thanks to the girls' job. Furthermore his son knew what was going on because as a matter
of fact he told his son that he should have girls fall in love with him to take them away. I
heard him saying this personally. He told this to his wife on the phone. He told her about
his job, but I'm not sure if she knew this already. Also his cousin and his girlfriend took
care about these things and as a matter of fact they had their 18 years old nice and other
girls prostituting through their son. The girls keeps on being exploited in Spain (Life Story,
V1, Rosa, Romania).
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We remarked that also minors, brothers of the real exploiters, enter the world of
exploitation controlling the girlfriends of their brother, the girlfriends of their cousin
(Witness, P12, Chief Inspector, UCRIF).
In the case of Romanian women we speak about families that made of prostitution a
modus vivendi. They personalize the co-optations and there are links among them. They
know each other, support each other and help each other. The girls know that even if they
try to run away they can be found by their exploiters' friends. Everyone has the exploited
women under control, but among them [among exploiters] there are connections.
Romanian girls don't speak about other exploitation forms if not the Romanian (Witness,
P8, Social Worker, V.T.).
In our experience, we can say that it seems that, concerning networks, we are not
speaking about great organizations but micro-networks and in any case in most of the
cases about acquaintances, especially in the enticement phase, in charge to set up a
relation with them and exploit them (Witness, P2, Female City Councillor, ACCEM).
In my experience I associate Romanian girls to familiar circles (Witness, P6, Female Lawyer
- Foreigners).
Romanian girls always speak about one or two people that earn money, both having two
to four girls. In the case of Brazilian girls, we had the impression of a more sophisticated
organization, because there was a guy from an agency, the one that would co-opt them,
the one that would pick them up, etc.. (Witness, P3, Female Director, ACF).
Referring to Nigerian girls it is confirmed that the networks have a pyramid structure, in which women can
have a career according to the rules defined in a clear way. The progression is linked to the payment of the
debt: the girls that are almost done – and that showed their trustworthiness to racket – can become
controllers and help the mamans with the management of the girls. Once the debt is payed, they are
formally free to change their lifestyle – hard option to realize due to many factors, among which juridical
irregularity – or continue prostituting themselves autonomously so to be able to spare the money for the
purchase of girls to exploit, becoming so themselves mamans.
In the case of Nigerian girls I pictured myself that they act as cells, so many times the
exploited girl becomes exploiter, as in a pyramid structure in which the exploited girl
becomes part of a circuit fuelling with transfers [chaperoning during the trip] and the
recruitment of other women, in which the person controlling is paying in this way her
debt, without causing any problem to those living comfortably in luxury, have contacts
with Nigeria and finance new arrivals (Witness, P5, Barrister).
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The exploiters are women, but also men have a role in the exploitation of Nigerian compatriots.
During one of our interventions, it once came out a guy with a knife intimating us to leave.
Besides as the girls come ask for the Sanitary card, there's a guy speaking for them,
controlling them. This is the situation. (Witness, P4, Doctor, MdM).
For Romanian girls, vice versa, there are no forms of emancipation from exploitation, and also the “career”
chances are limited, in any case always linked to a submission criteria under the male domination of the
“boyfriend-exploiter”. The woman, in fact, will never have the power to decide for herself or others; at the
most she will be able to earn some privileges, taking up the role of the “trustworthy-girlfriend” whom the
supervision and control of the “others” could be delegated to.
And so we started, he took me for a trip, he bought me clothes and brought me in a club.
He introduced me there to his real girlfriend that was working with him and shared the
room with me and with other girls, she kept all our passports and the money that we
earned every night. She was the one we had to give the money to (Life Story, V2, Mari,
Romania).
The trip, can be either by car or by plane and longer or shorter depending on the nationality and the
strategies of the criminal networks, it can also become an occasion to “supplement” the incomes of
trafficking on sexual exploitation purposes through the transportation of clandestine migrants that get
“collected” throughout the path.
Romanian girls, take normally a couple of days to arrive by car. During the trip there is no
prostitution and in some cases different people sum up during the trip. They receive a
loan for the trip and I've also seen cases in which people that live in neighbour countries
to the European Union, get an offer [from the criminal network] to reach countries like
Spain with false documents included, in exchange of money. I mean, the network can take
care of different types of crimes. We had a case of a Moldovan couple that travelled like
this and they told us that during the trip girls would get collected throughout Romania
(Witness, P2, Female City Councillor, ACCEM).
The ingredients of exploitation are always the same – debt, violence, psychological subjection, control –
although balanced differently according to the strategies adopted from the different national groups.
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Brazilian girls not working autonomously are linked to the exploitation networks through the debt (less
consistent than the Nigerian one) and threats to the family of origin. However, they seem to be more free
to move and the perception of the privileged witnesses is that they don't have to bare that much violence.
In the case of Brazilian girls we remarked that are not threatened personally but
intimidated on their children, and in any of the cases the family of origin of the victims
showed a real interest. They were also threatened through the money of the trip
(Witness, P3, Female Director, ACF).
Debt and intimidations to the family characterize also Nigerian racket, in which the salient characteristic is as already mentioned – voodoo, as a form of very powerful psychological violence. Whereas concerning the
Nigerian's debt and magic rites much has already been mentioned (for further details the reader is referred
to the Italian case presented in this report), less known is the use of children born in the destination
country as form of blackmail or exchange value.
Concerning Nigerian girls the connection is voodoo and intimidations to the family, but
most of all they use children as exchange value in a horrible way. I think they get them
pregnant on purpose. First of all, to have them entering the centres of acceptance [in case
of escape], and to have more control on them (Witness, P8, Social Worker, V.T.).
As for Romanian exploitation is concerned, violence is much more evident, although it takes place – as
already mentioned – only once the girl arrive at the destination country. Violence is often of the physical
type.
I had to give him all the money, they wouldn't even leave me a euro. They would buy me
what they thought necessary. As I didn't bring them the money they expected they would
beat me […] He hit me very often. He told me that he couldn't live without a woman. The
cousin and his girlfriend would not help me, even if they heard me yelling. Actually when
he hit me the cousin would leave and he didn't tell him anything. If they have problems
with the girls they never talk to each other. They are all the same, they won't help you […]
I was supposed to go to the club every day. In four months I've had the permission to rest
only for two days because I felt sick. He would not care, when he hit me in the morning he
would send me to the club in the afternoon, even if I was bruised. People would see me
with black arms, black eyes, all black, the legs under the mini skirt. So I bought some
trousers and a long-sleeved shirt to hide the marks just a little […] Before going to the club
they obliged me to clean the house and to prepare them food. I could not eat anything. I
couldn't. They hit me also because I wouldn't eat (Life Story, V1, Rosa, Romania).
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Most of the times Romanian victims speak of experiences of physical violence, they get hit
hard as they try to escape or if they don't earn enough money, including cases in which
some clients “fall in love” with them or want to help them somehow (Witness, P3, Female
Director, ACF).
The forms of exploitation for Romanian girls are linked to physical violence, much heavier
than in other cases (Witness, P5, Barrister).
There is a lot of violence especially in the destination country (Witness, P2, Female City
Councillor, ACCEM).
There has been an increase of Romanian girls. Romanian girls are shier. Romanian girls
don't speak much. Also Nigerian girls say that they feel sorry for Romanian girls, because
they're hardly hit and suffer much more violence from their exploiters, they say that they
have a hard time opening up and telling something (Witness, P8, Social Worker, V.T.).
Beside physical violence, also psychological violence is present, it is exercised through constant control, at
every moment of the day, and sentimental blackmail. Many are the testimonies on this.
We observe fundamentally two types of control: knowing where she is and with whom at
every moment, and the control over money, expecting a daily or weekly amount. If they
don't get to arrange it they get beaten. For this reason the girls tell us that as they don't
get to earn money, either they're obliged to steal or to find it in another way, because
otherwise they'll get beaten. They are controlled as well through the phone, but the
presence of the exploiter is more perceivable because they are controlled directly as well
(Witness, P2, Female City Councillor, ACCEM).
I could speak to my family only if he was there, but not to my husband. I could not tell him
where I was. I didn't know what was going on to me. He was jealous about my husband
and the clients as well. He would take me there and come pick me up (Life Story, V1, Rosa,
Romania).
Concerning control we remarked that it is more intense in the case of Romanian girls,
because they get called constantly and furthermore they get controlled by car. In these
cases we noticed signs of violence on the girls bodies, although they deny it (Witness, P4,
Doctor, MdM).
No, you could not speak to anyone because you were always.. You were simply not
allowed, he said that you were always under control (Life Story, V6, Cristina, Romania).
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But if I wanted to call them I was allowed, always in front of their girlfriends though, and
therefore I always had to lie (Life Story, V2, Mari, Romania).
The phone control is brutal. Every time that we took a girl in the car with us, or as we took
her away from the street to go to the police, or contact an NGO, or something like that,
she received phone calls during the whole trip - because obviously if she wasn't
answering, even if at work, it's because something is going on, right? (Witness, P12, Chief
Inspector, UCRIF).
As for Romanian girls are concerned you would see the guys around with the car 20.000
times a day, when they're on the street, furthermore they're controlled over the phone,
they're beaten and threatened of death, them and their families as well. They run with the
hare and hunt with the hounds. As to say I don't threaten you directly as you stop paying,
but emotionally reminding you all that I've done for you etcetera, furthermore the girls
think they should be thankful (Witness, P8, Social Worker, V.T.).
There are clear intimidations against them, get beaten, and a very important component
of gender violence because there's a love relationship involved, which creates dependency
(Witness, P10, Lawyer, State).
There is a psychological control. The manipulation leading her to think that she is really
obliged to do this and she cannot speak about it and she cannot say anything because he
is right even when he gets to be physically violent. The girls think that they deserved it
because of something they did. They fully justify it (Witness, P9, Female Psychologist).
Beside the differences between the subjection strategies exercised by the different criminal networks,
control and other forms of physical violence – such as intimidations and frightening – are actually
transversal:
In the club the waiter was always there, the responsible and us, we had a time to sleep, a
time to wake up, to eat, to call, to work, and so things were, everything was very
controlled and if you had to go out they would always come with you (Life Story, V5, Alma,
Brazil).
The threaten Romanian girls telling them that their families will be damaged, they say they
will cut a finger to their mother or things like that, in fact we had a case in which the girl
received one of her mother's fingers telling her that it was her daughter's (Witness, P3,
Female Director, ACF).
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No, no, no, let's say that they were never physically violent, but they threatened me many
times using my family furthermore, we got attacked on that theme most of the times,
because it wasn't profitable to them to bruise us or things like that, but they threatened
our families vey often (Life Story, V2, Mari, Romania).
In the case of the girls in the club in Huelva, they tell us that at the beginning they bring
some clients dressed up as policemen, although we are not sure if they are real ones or
not, if it's just a costume to scare the victims. This story is quite frequent (Witness, P3,
Female Director, ACF).
Yes, they controlled me. They reached the point to control the conversations with my
mom. For instance as I got here, I called my mom to tell her not to report my missing or
things like that, because my mom didn't know anything at all, she didn't know where I
was, nothing, nothing about me. I didn't tell anything because they threatened me and
they had my daughter’s picture, my mom's, my brother's and I didn't want to worsen the
situation. I was scared and told my mom not to suit. (Life Story, V5, Alma, Brazil).
In the end he started threatening me telling me that my family was under control, that
they kept an eye on them, and if I didn't want to work they would have killed them.
Obviously at that time I thought about them because I didn't want them to suffer for a
mistake of mine (Life Story, V2, Mari, Romania).
Everything is based on fear. It's terror, the girl's personal one, as you say, the reprisals in
the country of origin, this is a fundamental matter, otherwise it wouldn't make sense
(Witness, P12, Chief Inspector, UCRIF).
The capacity of action of the migrants subjected to exploitation and trafficking, they suffer numerous
limitations, because fear is the real chain.
Their limitation in the freedom of movement is far beyond illegal detention, there are
invisible prisons, because sometimes, control forbids people to take decisions personally;
if one's continually threatened, there's no need of chains (Witness, P10, Lawyer, State).
Rhythms and working conditions, as widely shown in the previous paragraphs, are exhausting and hard to
bare. They always have to work, even when it rains and it's cold (as for the street is concerned) or one's
feeling sick, contacts with external realities are almost non-existent, even when working in a club. They
don't trust police forces – among them some people abuse of their power claiming sexual performances for
free – clients are almost disinterested, if not violent.
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As we had out period we were obliged to work anyways, there was no rest, we couldn't
stop, they wouldn't let us, but thanks God I never had health problems (Life Story, V2,
Mari, Romania).
In the hottest days of Sevilla, or when it rains harder, I had to work up to 12 hours. This
can't be a pleasure for anyone, you shoulder it and you resist just because there's a much
greater fear, and well-founded, of the consequences (Witness, P12, Chief Inspector,
UCRIF).
Usually they don't have many social relationships, although certainly very often it's the
girlfriends in the clubs or on the streets sustaining them if they want to get out of the
swim. As you well know though it's not always so, many women are very lonely,
sometimes one of the initial requests is to be surrounded by people that make them feel
safe and protected, because in the other context they can't trust much close people
(Witness, P1, Social Worker, FSA).
Romanian girls furthermore they don't trust police much, because they think they're tied
to the exploitation network, and Nigerian girls suspect them because of the experience
they've had with these forces in their country of origin and during the trip to Europe.
Although it seems scandalous to me, it's for sure that they tell you that policemen are
consumers of prostitution, on favourable terms, without having to pay for the “services”,
for free (Witness, P2, Female City Councillor, ACCEM).
I asked many clients for help but no one helped me. I don't know if they got scared by my
situation and the fact I could not escape it because X had many friends. One of them lied
to me, he was a Doctor. He asked me for money and told me that he would be back to
help me but he didn't do anything. He only took the money. Other clients told me that if I
wanted to get their help I should have gone with them [she means sexual performances
for free]. I would have preferred not to, because I didn't want to exit that place and enter
a relationship, no. They told me they would rent an apartment and as they wanted me to I
had to go with them. So, once again like a slave. (Life Story, V1, Rosa, Romania).
I also had some conflicts with clients, because we would agree something downstairs and
as we got upstairs, they wanted something else, as they arrived they wanted to force you
and beat you and rape you (Life Story, V5, Alma, Brazil).
They're assholes, sons of bitches. Quite disgusting, [they want] everything they can't have,
let's say, everything, and done well (Life Story, V5, Alma, Brazil).
In general, a supporting relational context is missing, especially concerning Romanian girls, that cannot
trust the other girls they're working with.
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I could not speak with the girls in the club because he threatened me, even if they asked
me questions, because they saw me said or injured. Furthermore [speaking to them] it
was a problem because at a certain point I asked for help to other Romanian girls and they
told it to the boss of the club, and he told it to a Spanish girl friend to a Romanian, that
knew my exploiter. They ringed the club and so I couldn't escape, the boss of the club told
me that he wanted to help me but his boss didn't want to have problems so he told me to
send me off. It changed for the worse, my exploiter put me into another club. There I was
controlled by a Spanish girl that would pass all the information to my exploiter. In the last
club I was controlled by a Romanian girl instead. (Life Story, V1, Rosa, Romania).
Under this point of view Nigerian girls appear less lonely. There is a community of reference, still
ambivalent, and even in a trafficking situation solidarity moments can arise, friendship and practical
support, other than emotional.
1.6.3 Exploitation and health's risk factors
The actual condition of trafficking on sexual exploitation purposes implicates different risk factors for the
health (expanded theme in the paragraph concerning the research in Italy): risks connected to working
conditions and rhythms; those connected with a bad nutrition – lacking or constituted by inappropriate or
unhealthy food; risks linked to unprotected sexual practices, with clients and exploiters; and endlessly, risks
connected to alcohol, tobacco and cocaine consumption.
They prostitute in miserable conditions, they spend many hours on the street. They don't
have the appropriate clothes to face cold, in any moment of the day, not only in
exploitation moments, since they don't get to manage money to satisfy their primarily
needs; even nutrition.. they can't even buy themselves a sandwich. Many of them can't
even protect form sexually transmissible diseases because we observed many cases of
minor venereal diseases. Even in apartments prostitution takes place in very precarious
conditions, without heating during the winter, not much food.. or they have breakfast and
eat just once a day, except for the day where we can offer them lunch. Sometimes they
even get discredited for this, mainly due to the complicated condition they find
themselves into. Often they tell us about all the abortions they had to face against their
will or in unsafe conditions and in fact, they hide pregnancy until it's possible,and since
they're badly nourished they manage to do it, because the belly isn't much visible either if
they're about to deliver. (Witness, P2, Female City Councillor, ACCEM).
They have unprotected sexual relations with the exploiter because they don't think they
have to use this sort of protections with people they consider boyfriends. This is a risk,
because exploiters normally have more than a girl. As for clients are concerned, normally
they use condoms and they even put the clients condoms on without them realizing it, in
oral or vaginal penetrations. (Witness, P8, Social Worker, V.T.).
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From the point of view of nutrition we remarked different problems, they eat always the
same things in the club and it's very fat food, we even observed cases of anorexia because
girls eat few and consume cocaine, alcohol and tobacco. Although we tell them that
they're even more vulnerable doing this. We remarked a cocaine consumption reaching
40%. For those working indoor, much alcohol consumption, because they finish other's
drink in many cases. In other cases men want them to consume cocaine before going with
them (Witness, P4, Doctor, MdM).
There is even a more evasive matter, less visible and maybe harder to take care of, it is the one of psychical
well-being. To suffer violence and living in fear produces invisible traces marking people's biographies,
sometimes in an indelible way.
Emotional and psychological health are a disaster, they say they live fear and terror. We
see them shy, they hardly speak, they're afraid of everything, they're contradictory and
sometimes this confuses us (Witness, P2, Female City Councillor, ACCEM).
1.6.4. And afterwards?
Even in trafficking girls maintain the possibility to act, and some of them get to exit exploitation. The
society, though, doesn't seem to have much to offer to migrant ex-prostitute women. Work is a rare good,
especially during times of crisis, and it is unstable and precarious. The people who invested much on
themselves cannot wait too long, therefore frustration arises and prostitution becomes the only way.
During the economical moment we are going through it's even harder. Many women get
to a precarious job, frequently domestic and unstable. Hardly they integrate into society
at proper conditions (Witness, P1, Social Worker, FSA).
The main problem is work. Those deciding not to suit don't have their documents and
even for those suiting the procedure is long. Not having a job with fix entrances brings
worries along you know? They rapidly need to have the sensation to earn their own
money, to have their house, to be autonomous. The autonomy matter. This bring along
the matter of training, to get ready, to do things well, there are many worries and the
freight not to be prepared enough. On a psychological level there's much frustration you
know? Every time they look for a street or see difficulties, they sink. What happens is that
they project their anger against everything they have around them (Witness, P9, Female
Psychologist).
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Some of them told us that they had to go back to prostitution because they didn't see any
way out, and actually they got back to the swim (Witness, P3, Female Director, ACF).
Besides there's the problem of the stigma. Once you sold sex in exchange of money you are and you will
stay a prostitute, half a citizen, a B-series woman, you won't be able to effort the luxury of a dream,
considered normal and desirable for the good women: a family.
Now my family knows it. I would like to have a family, but I don't think it will be possible
(Life Story, V1, Rosa, Romania).
The scenarios traced so far speak about hard and hurtful realities, we would like to close with a positive
testimony though, to stress on the fact that the so called “victims of trafficking” are not only total victims,
they remain individuals able to resist and sometimes the possibility to fully perceive themselves authors of
their destiny arises back again.
Well, what else can I say? To me everything that happened was an experience, it made me
realize that you can actually go through hard moments in a life, but if you are able to fight
you can find an exit, with dignity. You can obtain things. You just need the will of it (Life
Story, V2, Mari, Romania).
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2. BRASILIAN TRANSGENDER AND TRANSSEXUALS: MIGRANTS OR TRAFFICKERS?
(By Cristina Pidello)
Within the ETTS project, a research has been developed on the migration phenomenon within Brazil and
towards Europe which involves the transgender and transsexual population in which – besides identifying
the main routings – attention has been paid also to the motivations which force the Trans population to
migrate and what are the “social networks” which activate so that this occurs. The information on the
phenomenon in exam have been collected through bibliographic research and the development of
interviews to privileged witnesses introduced in working contexts relevant to the theme of trafficking or to
the safeguard of the rights of the LGBTQ population. The vocations of the interviewed persons stretched to
lawyers, social assistants, personnel of health assistance centers, officers of the Municipalities of Sao Paulo
and Guarulhos. Furthermore, three interviews have been made to members of Italia movements and
associations for the rights of the transgender and transsexual population. The research activity was
developed by Cristina Pidello, newly-graduated at the University of Turin and Rejane Alexander da Costa,
coordinator of the “Posto Avançado de Atendimento aos Migrantes” of the Guarullhos airport, a reception
service of the migrants managed by the Social Assistance of Guarullhos Municipality. The interviews have
been analyzed through the use of a quality method: identification of keywords compared to the replies
obtained by the different privileged witnesses taking into consideration the working context they were
introduced to. The results of the interviews have been supported by the contribution of the bibliographic
research.
2.1. The Internal migration in Brazil.
In Brazil, but also in Italy, the TT persons leave mainly the rural areas and the small urban centers where
the culture is more male-oriented and the traditions of a patriarchal family system are well rooted in the
population. There is greater influence of the mail role in the society which triggers mechanisms of refusal,
which are often also violent, towards people who adopt behaviors different from the virile figure of
mankind. The boy or man who – instead of expressing its virility and masculinity – wears woman’s outfit
and behaves as a woman. In the more traditional societies, the roles are well defined and develop
expectations towards people which derive from the very role they are expected to cover. Discrimination
and violence are two factors which play a significant role in a TT person’s choice of migrating. The decision
is to migrate to large urban centers where individualism is prevailing and there is no longer a link to a
reference collectivity which has a given morality or allocation of specific roles.
The migration flow of people who move from the most rural areas within the country, where a network of
public services is not well developed – to urban centers which was recorded in Brazil in the last few years
has been denominated a “depopulation of the inland” phenomenon.
In particular, such migration is being witnessed in the State of Amazon, i.e. the most extended region of
Brazil whose capital is the town of Manaus.
Such phenomenon of abandoning the most internal area of Brazil to move to more populated centers was
also acknowledged in a research run in 2013 by the Brazilian Ministeiro da Justiça in cooperation with
UNODC (United Office on Drugs and Crime) and ICMPD (International Centre For Migration Policy
Development). Migrations of specific groups of the population have been detected, amongst which the
migration of the transgender and transsexual population. The main migration flows of TT which have been
detected:
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•
In the State of Acre, there are mainly people of feminine gender who move from small towns such
as Tarauacà, Brasileia and Cruzeiro do Sul towards capital Rio Branco. Once arrived to the large town, many
of these women start to prostitute in order to earn the money they need to then move to other States of
Brazil, in particular to the towns of Belo Horizonte, Cuiabà, Curitiba and Foz de Iguaçu (Secretaria Nacional
de Justiça Governo do Brasil, 2009);
•
Another State which shows a same trend to move from less populated areas towards the capital is
Mato Grosso do Sul, where the migration flows to the town of Campo Grande to then leave the State in the
directions of other large towns of Brazil, such as Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Campinas, Sao Carlos and Cuiabà.
Most of the victims of the TT traffic originate in Brazil, mainly in the poorest areas in the North of the
Country, namely: Amazon, Parà, Cearà and Amapà.
The French philosopher Henri Lefebvre identifies the urban space as a place where diversities meet: a
territory where conditions of oppression can be claimed by minority groups which are seeking for their
acknowledgement in the reference society (Rossi, Vanolo, 2010). The urban experience strengthens the
identity of belonging and – at the same time – questions the “belonging of a group which alleges to hold
truths such as the religious, ethnical gender or sexual preference orientations” (Rossi, Vanolo, 2010). The
city becomes the urban space to meet people who claim the same rights and the same use of the public
spaces and represents a safer, protected place, as it is not the case of the figure and role of the State or the
International community, which are often the protagonists of injustice, discrimination and lack of
acknowledgement of the gender minorities.
The demographic features of the migrating population change according to the place of origin. The sex
structure of the migration flow is one of the first analyses performed in the studies on migration. There is
often a sharp unbalance between the men and women who compose the wave of migrants in arrival to a
given country. We can therefore identify a gender migration which – though – takes into consideration the
male and female components, perhaps also because of the lower dimension of the migration flow of the
transsexual and transgender people who – as previously stated – is often difficult to be identified.
The gender issue is a crucial point in the analysis of human trafficking. The majority of the trafficked
persons are of feminine gender and are sexually exploited on the either national or international market, a
gender unbalance which is also partially due to the different meanings and roles which create around the
female and male figures and of their influence in the economic and social relationships of the societies in
the different countries (Secretaria National de Justiça, 2013). What occurs is a “de-humanization” of the
feminine gender, which is deprived of its dignity and considered as a mere object of the sexual desire of
men and can be transported from a place to another one. The vulnerability of this specific group is also
caused by the fact that – still today – the highest rates of illiteracy are detected within the feminine
population (women, transgender and transsexuals). The criminal networks involved in the phenomenon of
human trafficking take advantage of the vulnerability condition of the people and of their ability to hope
and dream to obtain more, to change their life: on the contrary, once one becomes the victim of a traffic,
one is in a condition where all the dreams are denied (Secretaria National de Justiça, 2013).
According to the findings of the aforementioned research, the migration of transgender and transsexual
persons occurs mainly in those contexts where the economic poverty faces a society where there is no
social protection towards those people who are put under pressure because of their gender identity
(Secretaria National de Justiça, 2013). The criminal phenomenon such as the exploitation of prostitution
and human trafficking branch out in the very contexts of social unease and takes advantage not only of the
economic vulnerability of the people but also of the fact that they are in a condition where they are
excluded from the social relationships of the reference context, a factor which heavily affects the
subsequent difficulty of applying for any kind of jobs. It often happens that the companies shut the door of
the world of labor to the transgender and transsexual population, for which prostitution thus becomes one
of the few ways of earning money.
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2.1.1. Migrating to prostitute.
The stereotype according to which almost all the transgender and transsexual persons are prostitutes and
do this job out of their own personal choice is still widely spread, as if they did not want anything different
in their life and it were normal to see them on the streets at night to prostitute. It is thought that the
transsexuals choose this job because the exhibition of their body and the offer of a sexual performance to
the customers is part of the transsexual phenomenon. An activist for the safeguard of the rights of the
LGBTQ people in Brazil, during interview 3C has declared:
As related to the LGBTQ population, with particular reference to the case of the TT’s,
everybody believe they prostitute because they want it, that all the homosexuals and the
TT persons are prostitutes; but they do not investigate on their stories or because they do
and are doing it; they have never offered a different job to these people [Interview 3C –
activist for the rights of the LGBTQ population in Brazil]
According to Adriana Piscitelli, scholar at the University of Campinas, a distinction is to be made between
voluntary and forced prostitution (A.Piscitelli, 2011). In the case of transgender and transsexuals, the
autonomous decision of prostituting is part of the partway towards the definition of their own identity,
where they can feel to be looked for and appreciated and it is not only linked to the issue of having to earn
money Many of the transsexuals who abandon their families, once they are far from home, they
nevertheless send remittances, often – with the money they manage to save – they buy a house or a new
car for their parents. Sustaining their families becomes a way to manage to be accepted or to obtain a
hierarchical social position within the very world of the trans (Ministerio da Justiça, 2011). Leaving home
becomes an opportunity to affirm themselves, to change their own social and economic status.
In Brazil there is a significant migration phenomenon of transgender and transsexual persons who decide to
go and work in the large urban settlements and abroad to earn more and then afford the different surgery
operations they need to transform their bodies.
2.2. Brazilian criminal code: mention is no longer about women, but “people”.
As related to the definition of human trafficking, the legislative reference in Brazil is the Codigo Penal in
articles 206, 207, 231 and 231 which are reported hereinunder:
Art. 206 –Art. 206 - He who recruits by fraud workers to transfer them to a foreign state shall be sentenced
to imprisonment from one to three years or to a fine (L. nº 8.683/ 1993)
He who ropes workers to transfer to a place to another one within in their national territory shall be
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submitted to imprisonment from one to three years or to a fine
Art. 207 – He who ropes workers to transfer them to a place to another one within in their national
territory shall be submitted to imprisonment from one to three years or to a fine of five hundred thousand
Reis, . Sanction: imprisonment from one to three years or to a fine. (L. nº 9.777/ 29.12.1998)
§ 1º Furthermore, the same sanction shall be applied to those who recruit workers outside the territory
where they exert their own working activity, within the national borders or requests payment of interest to
any worker or does not ensure the travel conditions for the coming back of the person to his/her place of
destination/origin. (L. nº 9.777/ 29.12.1998)
§ 2º The sanction can be increased by one sixth to one third if the victim is minor or unfit to plead. (L. nº
9.777/ 29.12.1998)
Art. 231-A. He who promotes, brokers or facilitate – within the national borders – the recruitment, the
transport (or transports), offers lodging to people who come to exert prostitution: shall be sentenced
imprisonment for 3 months or to a fine (L. nº 11.106, de 2005) (L. nº 11.106/ 2005) Amalgamated section
which applies to the crimes mentioned in this article and as provided for by commas 1st and 2nd of art. 231
of the Law Decree (Lei nº 11.106/ 2005)
Internal human trafficking (L. no. 12.015/ 2009)
Art. 231-A. He who promotes the displacement of people within the national borders for exploitation of the
prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation shall be sentenced to imprisonment from 2 months to six
years. (Lei nº 12.015/ 2009)5
The Brazilian Criminal Code considers human trafficking the mere fact of receiving in your house a person
who can then prostitute. Furthermore, helping or facilitating the movement of people who are moving
within the national territory to exert the activity of prostitute or to be sexually exploited is considered as
crime of human trafficking.
In 2008, a research was published by Flavia do Bonsuccesso Teixeira, who was then a PhD pupil in Social
Sciences and today a teacher at the Federal University of Uberlandia (Minas Gerais-Br). The research was
presented at a Workshop on the gender issue as related to human trafficking developed by the Nucleo de
Estudos de Genero – Pagu/Unicamp and by project Combate ao Trafico de Pessoas do Escritorio da
Organizaçao Internacional do Trabalho no Brasil.
The text deals with issue of trafficking transsexuals as related to their social condition and to their dream to
go to Europe and find better life conditions on the economic and social points of view. This ever present
dream is related to the modifications which have been made to the Brazilian Codigo Penal in 2005, which
criminalize and consider as a form of human trafficking also those behaviors aimed at helping or facilitating
the travel abroad of a person. There is the risk of not distinguishing the transgender person who decide to
prostitute and have regular documents and those who are trafficked and have no documents. An
innovative change which has been made in the Codigo Penal is the replacement of the world “mulheres”
(women) by “pessoas” (persons) within the debate on human trafficking, which thus include also the
transgender and transsexual population as victims of this phenomenon.
The Brazilian Codigo Penal does not take into consideration that a person may voluntarily decide to migrate
to prostitute abroad or to another Brazilian location. As related to the case of the transgender and
transsexual population, it criminalizes any form of help in order to facilitate prostitution; the issue is that it
does not acknowledge in any form the networks of social assistance which generate informally. The
5
http://www.jusbrasil.com.br/topicos/10609197/artigo-231-do-decreto-lei-n-2848-de-07-de-dezembro-de-1940
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research run by FlaviaTexeira focuses on the fact that both the Protocol of Palermo and the Codigo Penal
provide definitions of human trafficking which do not adapt to the specificity of the single cases and to the
understanding of the different reasons which urge a transgender and transsexual person.
The interview to a British lawyer who has now been living in Brazil for many years, and chairman of NGO
“SOS dignity” reiterates the significance of analyzing the cases of migration/human trafficking of
transgender and transsexual persons taking into consideration the social context they come from and their
life story, separating case by case:
How does the internal traffic of transsexuals work in Brazil?
You need to have a vision of the phenomenon also on their point of view: they do not
consider themselves as victims. Mainly in the area of Belem, Parà. Many adolescents come
from there, where the people have indigenous origin and the physiognomy of their visage
is rounder and it is far easier for a man to become a woman. In the North-East of Brazil,
men have sex with goats, chicken and hens; many trans children have already had sexual
intercourse with cousins, father and uncles; they have no emotional issues, only than
when the person starts feeling a woman and wants to become a woman, the family chases
him from home, because it is a very chauvinist culture, leaves home, prostitutes and lives
on the street at 13 to 14 years of age. In his mind, there is no desire to have any training
or education, but he only thinks at how to manage to come to Sao Paulo, grow a breast
and go to Europe to make more money; this is the only dream they have. Therefore, they
look for opportunities which are offered them by other people. They are certainly victims,
they are adolescent children, yet, you need to have taken into consideration also their
point of view, before categorizing them. You need to have – first of all – the point of view
of the person and then put it into categories; do not believe too much to what some
people tell you. It is true they are victims, but they do not think as victims, they do not
consider themselves victims. For them, it is an opportunity if somebody pays them the bus
to go to Sao Paulo [Interview 5C – chairman of a Sao Paulo NGO which provides legal
assistance to the transgender and transsexual population]
What the national and international legislation often consider human trafficking, is considered by many
transgender and transsexuals as a help, an opportunity offered to them. How to create an appropriate
system to receive the victims when the same victims do not consider themselves as such?
The issue of the migration/inner trafficking in Brazil as related to the transgender and transsexual
population is underlined also in the interview made by Rejane Alexander da Costa to the coordinator of the
Nucleolus for the Fight to human trafficking in the State of São Paulo:
J: In reality, in most cases, the people do not want to go abroad, they want to remain
here. All the girls we have recovered, be them young or adult, some of them wanted to go
abroad, but what is interesting is that they used to say "If I remain here, I know I will not
have to borrow, I will have no debts to pay, I will just have to work hard, make my money
here and then go abroad ",the largest part of the adult women used to say so; while the
adolescents have no intention to go abroad, except in one case. This does not mean that
there are no adolescent who come to Brazil with the intention of then going abroad, but I
believe that there is a misunderstanding in thinking about the issue of the immigration of
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the TT adolescents or of the TT persons from the North and North East of Brazil who come
to São Paulo, and imagining that they desire to migrate to Europe, because – instead – we
have to deal with the problem inside Brazil, because they are migrating to Brazil, because
they do not go directly to Europe. This is the question everybody should ask, but then
everybody likes Americanizing the phenomenon. I joke saying the want to glamourize the
phenomenon rather than simplify it. If only the victim saw what is happening here in
Brazil, before going abroad, they would never stop in São Paulo, Cumbica, but they would
directly go to Italy. Instead, they do not: they stop in São Paulo, because of several
reasons: first of all, they need money, they need to structure themselves to then go to
Europe; they need to make contacts, and in São Paulo they have this opportunity, they
come here because where they from they are discriminated, they cannot find a job, they
have no education, they live in a culture where prejudice is very strong, they face the
difficulty of family conflict conditions…. Finally, when you hear the stories of these
adolescents, you will see that they suffer as much as any other adolescent in a poor
family, and this poverty is not famine, no! It is poverty because the father beats the
mother up, or because he is never there, or the brother aggresse the mother, or the
mother has many children and the father works a lot, so thay have not y latter shows a
better, more stractured situation to be able to tell the children to follow their example.
There is also a cultural factor, i.e. I have no support at home, so I engage myself outside to
find other reference figures, and it is there that I enter the world of the transgender: their
world consists of people who arrive from conditions of violence, so the trend in a violent,
intolerant world, where exploitation is natural. Really, it is natural that ten transgender
live in my house and make them pay for the stay, I set a value, if the prostitute I do not
care, but they will need to take drugs or go around selling drugs for me, and – if they do
not do it – they will be beaten up. Therefore, the violence of this universe is the result of
the violence witnessed as individual I do the others what has been done to me, this is the
way I see it .[Interview 1R – Coordinator of the nucleus for the fight against human
trafficking in the Region of Sao Paulo (Brazil)]
2.3. Abandoning one’s own social context of reference.
We report hereinunder an abstract of the interview to a TT person who prostitutes close to the town Sao
Paulo (BRA), [interview 2C]:
I was thirteen or fourteen when I started to discover my identity and – meanwhile – my
parents would not accept me and threw me out of home, so I started to rebel and to fall
into depression. The psychologist told me I was crazy, so I decided to leave.[…] When I say
us the transsexuals I refer to those who fell into the world of prostitution and who are
obliged; I am a TT person who was obliged to fall into the world of the night, life obliged
me, because my mother threw me out of home when I was 15, I come from the Northeast of Brazil and I have come here because I had no way to make a living, eat or have a
place to sleep; the people of the place I come from did not accept me, so I arrived to Sao
Paulo like a small animal.
[…] I will explain to you how I arrived to Sao Paulo. I was 15 and I manage to take my
documents covertly from my mother, because she would never let me have it. Even
though I was minor, my mother threw me out of home but without addressing me
anywhere, such as “go and live with so and so, or do this or that”, nothing. Starting from
that moment, I knew that in my town I would have no opportunity; I was born here, the
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town was small and poor and therefore I would not manage to find anything. So, what did
I do? I went to look for something.
Did you prostitute in your time?
No, I did not prostitute in my town. So, I hitch-hiked from a town to another one […], you
know that men, in front of a gay boy, they took advantage and asked me to give them my
ass, in exchange for the lift, and I had to hitch-hick several times from my town up to here,
I even hid myself inside a ham truck. [Interview 2C – Male to Female transgender who
prostitutes in the towns of Guarullhos and Sao Paulo (Brazil)]
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Brazil (article5) states the freedom of freely moving within the
national borders:
Art. 5º: XV. The circulation within the national territory in a time of peace is free; everybody is allowed – in
compliance with the law – to enter, stay and exit with his/her own goods.
The chairwoman of an NGO in Guarullhos (Brazil), during interview 6C, states this thought as related to the
right of moving freely in Brazil, such right is extended to the youth from 12 to 18 years of age:
The adolescents from 12 to 18 can travel alone in Brazil, but the protocol of Palermo
considers as “crianças” the people from 0 to 18 years of age, […] leaving Brazil is very easy,
the internal traffic victimizes more the adolescents – be them transsexuals or not –
because in Brazil the adolescents can travel alone. It is not a case that Dilma held an
interview a few months ago where she expressed the need to manage to create a
mechanism which can safeguard the adolescents who travel alone without having the
right to “ir e vir” freely in the country. The airport of Guarulhos should record the
adolescents who travel alone with the information on their place of origin and destination
as well as of the family they belong to. There is no information and – in case of
disappearing adolescents –nothing can be done because their partway cannot be known.
[Interview 6C – Chairwoman of a NGO in Guarullhos which deals with the reception of
victims of violence and human trafficking]
The interviewed, who has been dealing with the assistance of victims of human trafficking for decades,
reports that such lack of protection and control on the movements of minors on the Brazilian territory
facilitates the criminal networks in the enticement and handling of their victims. The land width of the
Brazilian state makes it difficult to implement a strict control of the different movements which occur
within the Country and on the bordering areas; interview 6C exposes the easiness through which the
border areas can be crossed, with particular reference to the bordering line of Frontiera Seca:
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As related to foreign countries, today we are witnessing a stage where the Brazilian towns
are a center of immigration for people who come from Haiti or Bolivia, but there are no
conditions to receive such people. For example, in Mato Grosso there is the 700 kilometer
Frontiera Seca ; entering and exiting is very easy, you just need to address a person to help
you, who has already come into or gone out of Brazil and who knows the least controlled
areas, many transsexuals cross Frontiera Seca to go to Suriname or French Guyana. We
are trying to go and work in Amapà. We are trying to create a partnership with the
University to manage to analyze such phenomenon in depth. [Interview 6C – Chairwoman
of ASBRAD, a NGO in Guarullhos]
Once one makes the decision to leave home, one must decide where to go, and this is where the social
networks activate. The attempt is to contact some local transgender or transsexual to ask for advice and
support. The trans who managed to complete the whole transformation process of their body, who –
perhaps – have been to Europe and managed to by a car and a new house, represent another reference
point for other transgender at the beginning of their pathway of discovering their gender identity, almost a
model to follow and take inspiration from. Through different acquaintances, one manages to organize the
trip or at least to decide where to migrate. In the case of Paula, she had her contact in Sao Paulo and – for
the travel – she managed on her own, offering sexual performances in exchange of lifts. In other cases,
there is a logistic and financial support for the transport of the person from the place where one lives to the
town where one intends to move.
2.3.1. The figure and role of the “Cafetinha”
In some cases, the “cafetinha” is already present in the transfer.
The term “cafetinha” refers to an either biologic or transgender woman who manages and disciplines the
prostitution of a girl or of a transgender requesting a percentage on her earnings. The world of transsexual
and transgender prostitution is differently structured and organized than women’s prostitution. The control
by structured criminal organizations is lower whilst the role of the cafetinha, often a transgender or
transsexual who was previously a prostitute, is essential. One of the main issues which facilitates the
discrimination and social exclusion of the TT person is exactly the lack of information and knowledge on
transsexualism and on the existence of specific social and sanitary services for these people. Once a TT
person discovers his/her self and gender identity and does not find any internal support within the social
context he/she lives in, he/she becomes vulnerable. In these conditions, the first person one meets and
who – unlike anybody else – shows he/she can understand and listen, easily becomes a reference point.
One looks for a place where he/she can be accepted, and this often leads to the urban centers. One ends
up working for a cafetinha thanks to the mouth-to-mouth and to the acquaintances, “...You know, I have a
friend who could help you with the operations you need and to find a job...”.
Interview 5C, describes haw the cafetinhas often fund and facilitate the travel of the transgender and
transsexual persons:
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Who are these people who pay for these trips? Are they part of the community? Who are
they?
They are cafetinhas from there [Europe] who have agreements with the cafetinhas here
[Brazil], sometimes it is the transgender from there who go and look for people to send
them to Sao Paulo. Many transsexuals come up to Sao Paulo on their own, with fake
documents which state that are 18 years old. They arrive here in Sao Paulo, look for a
place to stay and say they are18 because the cafetinha boa, who is not exploiting, does
not accept people under 18, and so they arrive with fake documents. Some are taken
there and some arrive on their own and live in the house of a cafetinha, and then go to
prostitute in the streets. According to the protocol of Palermo, the mere fact of
“receiving” may constitute a case of human trafficking, receiving and exploiting, in the
case of minors, receiving is sufficient to be considered a crime of human trafficking. So,
these adolescents come here and start working at the age of 15 to 17 and sometimes the
police catches the. When the police catches you, they want to help the victim and send
/her back to her family, but the trans does not feel a victim; she is fine, even though it is
clear she is not fine because she is poor, exploited and sometimes beaten up, but in her
mind she is fine, she does not want to go back to her family, which has already sent her
away once. [Interview 5C – Chairman of an NGO in Sao Paulo which provides legal
assistance to the transgender and transsexual population]
Once they arrive to the large town, the first thing to do is managing to find a place to stay. After funding the
travel, the same network of acquaintances offers abode, a bed to sleep in. Obviously, nothing is for free
and therefore a set of debts starts cumulating. The rents are high; money is made on the fact that very few
other people would offer a house to a transgender or transsexual person: either you accept or you end up
on the street. Besides the rent, you have to add all the expenses for clothes, food, injections of industrial
silicone and the hormones, so the debt increases and there nothing you can do but working. Usually, they
live with the cafetinha, sometimes instead in a different house A strange relationship develops: of power,
trust, respect and affection towards the cafetinha. She is a reference person, who may use the cane when
the rules and payments are not complied with, but who knows how to help you in the different stages of
making up your true identity. An interview to a social assistance who works at a center for the treatment
and prevention of sexually transmissible disease in Guarulhos (SP-BR) describes the dwelling conditions of
some transgender who utilize the sanitary assistance service:
We have two cases: Fabiola who lives with other eight people, and Sara, who has to live
with ten people. They live together because the family does not accept them and sends
them away and what do they do? They go knocking at the friend’s house door, one comes
and then another one, but I do not know what the life conditions are, because they do not
open the door, they are closed and they do not talk about this, even though I imagine they
are far more open with us and they tell us many things. It must be a form of defense, they
protect one another: the friend gave them a house and should they give here away?
[Interview 11C – social assistant of DIET, center for the treatment sexually transmissible
disease in the Municipality of Guarulhos]
There are not many alternatives, either you pay and accept the conditions of the cafetinha, thus managing
to find your role in the exploitation system, or you end up in the street. Explanatory evidence is provided by
a transgender who works in the municipality of Brasilia and that – in the past, during the first
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transformation stages of her body – was chased by the job she used to have before and had to prostitute,
since she could not manage to fine any other kind of employment (interview 12C):
There are houses of cafetinhas where even the underwear is sold within those walls; the
drugs which would cost 1 Real is a pharmacy are sold there for 10 Reals; they exploit the
vulnerability to extort and practice crime, and this does not call for many security means,
because the threat of the cafetinha is to throw you to the street, and so, what do you do?
Where would you go? Either you pay or you go to the street. [Interview 12C –Male to
Female Transgender who works in the Municipality of Brasilia]
The interview to a transgender who prostitutes in the town of Guarullhos (SP-Brazil) shows that some
people accompany the process of transformation as transgender, pushing them to have all the surgery
required to change their body:
Then, when I arrived [in Guarullhos], I met my transgender friend who was “complete”,
and had lived in the street. She told me: “I will take you and help you, but you have to
work for me: I would wash, clean and housekeep for her in exchange of board and lodging.
When my breast started to grow and she understood I was shaped enough to go and work
in the street, she pushed me to her own world: she opened me the door. I am not
crucifying her because she opened me the door. She would not ask me for any interest,
because we were living together. The problem is that some areas of prostitution decay, for
instance, when the new motorway was built, I had to change place and have to look for a
new place, where I had to pay and so I started to be “cafetinhada-exploited”, I was
exploited by both the cafetão and the cafetinha. Today it is no longer like that because I
have a fixed place to work and we protect each other amongst friends and we no longer
let this happen because we have already suffered in the past.
Talking about “cafetinha”: are the ones who “invite” to come to Sao Paulo the same who
“help” you to go abroad?
No, the cafetinha is like the coach of the football players: every team has one. Every town
has a cafetinha, every neighborhood has a cafetinha. What is a cafetinha? She is a
prostitute who has worked a lot in the street and no longer needs to go to the street and
sell her body. What does she do? The pupil becomes the teacher; from the college she
was learning at she becomes a teacher and teaches other pupil; it is the same thing. The
cafetinha suffered, was beaten up, sold her body and then managed to rise, she has risen
and today she can go her own way. So, a nice youth arrives and starts doing the hormone
treatment, starts to admire the house and car of the cafetinha and asks how she managed
to get to all this and they explain to her that she arrived there through prostitution, that it
has been very difficult without lying. Thus, in front of all the difficulties she has to face, the
girl understands she needs that person, and the cafetinha takes her to the place where
she has to prostitute. The girl, being young and pretty, starts earning well, but everything
is for a price. She is told she will be helped, that she will be given the perfume essence,
but she will have to pay because nothing is for free. This is how she starts, and this very
girl will involve another pretty girl with a beautiful wig. [Interview 2C –Male to Female
transgender that prostitutes in the towns of Guarullhos and Sao Paulo (Brazil)]
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It is as if it were a continuous cycle; you discover your own identity and trust somebody who can help – and
in some cases also exploit – in the process of “building” your own body and then, once you reach it, once
you finally become what you wanted to be, you adopt the same behavior of exploitation towards
somebody else.
2.3.2. Paying for the street
To prostitute in the street, you pay for security, to be sure that there is somebody ensuring that nobody will
aggress you, if you do not pay, there are threats and violence, so that than you are obliged to pay to work
safety.
In the town of Sao Paulo in the last decades it seems that – thanks to the intensive activity of the police, the
street control by the criminal networks, the control of the streets by criminal networks of prostitution has
diminished, in particular as related to transsexual prostitution.
One evening – thanks to a friend of mine, who works in the defense of the rights of the transgender and
transsexual persons, I could visit the streets of prostitution in Sao Paulo; I passed by a small bar in Frei
Bento, which remains open all night and is a point of restoration and passage for many trans prostitutes.
Entering the bar, Barry took me to the bottom of the place and made me seat at the last table of the room,
at the feet of a stairway which leads to the upper floor and besides a window which faces the street. Barry
told me that – up to 2007 – that neighborhood was controlled by a very famous cafetinha”, who was
supposed to be the most important one in the center of Sao Paolo ; she had replaced another very
important cafetinha who – in the nineteen eighties – was controlling the transgender and transsexual
prostitution of the town of Sao Paulo (Brazil). That cafetinha, who had managed the prostitution in the
center of Sao Paulo up to 2007, was a customer of such bar, which was her point of watch. For a few years
now, in this area – because of the continuous checks and blitz of the police, the street work of the largest
majority of the (trans) prostitutes has no longer under the control of the cafetinhas, who nevertheless
continue funding – at very high interest rates – the transformation surgery of the transgender and
transsexual persons, besides organizing and managing the travel to arrive to Sao Paulo in case they are not
local and the rent of the place they live in. This funding is subject to very high interest rates and the whole
figure constitutes the debt the transsexuals incur towards the cafetinhas. In the city of Sao Paulo, the direct
exploitation of prostitution is therefore lower, but there is nevertheless the question of “aliciamento”
(exploitation of the people’s vulnerability) and of release of the debts through the application of interest
rates which are far beyond those which are legally recognized. Interview 3C reports what was happening in
the nineteen eighties:
In the nineteen eighties, the transgender and transsexual prostitution was controlled by a
transgender, Keila [fictitious name]. In those years, a large use of industrial silicone was
started to be made. Keila was a big cafetinha in So Paulo, she had many interviews and
she had several boate, she was controlling the street: to become a transsexual, or to work
at the corner of the street in Sao Paulo, you had to ask Keila for permission. She would
grant it, but you had to pay a percentage of your own earnings. She would deal with the
overall transformation process of your body, from the operations to install the silicone
prosthesis to the industrial silicone injections and the surgery to transform your genitals;
she would send you to the right people to undertake such transformation process;
obviously, everything had a cost. It was mafia, and she would also provide protection to
the prostitutes allowing her to work in the street. She also had the support of the police: I
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saw all this. At that time, I was 17 when I met Keila, the police would pass by the boate of
Andrea and take the money to leave the transgender alone on the street; it was like that
at Keila’s times, but after she was murdered the control was no longer so strong.
During the interview, the officer in charge of the policies on “diversidade sexual” in Sao Paulo expresses
how, in reality, as related to the transgender and transsexual population in Sao Paulo is not – in most cases
– a phenomenon of “human trafficking”, but – rather – an actual phenomenon of “exploitation of
prostitution” [interview 8C]:
Here in the Secretaria da Justiça, where there is the Cordenaçao da Diversidade Sexual ,
there is a Nucleo de Enfrentamento ao Trafico de Pessoas and they specifically deal with
human trafficking. We support and join the activities of the NEPT when the victims are of
the LGBTQ population. When we talk about TT persons, usually it is not human trafficking
but exploitation of the prostitution, we have mainly had cases of minors, mainly coming
from Parà, who come here because they are discriminated from their family, from their
social environment they live in and they want to start taking hormones, to implant silicone
prosthesis and inject industrial silicone to transform their body and they end up here.
Many of them are persuaded and lured through internet, with the promise that they will
then go to San Paulo, where they could find a job and have all the surgery to transform
their body. The arrive here and end up in the houses of Cafetinhas- many of which are
transsexuals – and end up by being sexually exploited in exchange of board and lodging
and many of them have applications of silicone, there are called bombadeiras: they inject
the industrial silicone themselves. The end up by borrowing with the cafetinhas and they
cannot do anything else but prostituting. To give you an idea: an evening last week I was
herein the cordenadoria at 7.00 p.m. and two minor girls – one was fifteen and the other
one sixteen – arrived: they had escaped from the house of a transsexual cafetinha; they
had been in Sao Paulo for five months and had escaped because they did no longer want
to stay there: they had spent one week in the street before coming to us and look for help.
I contacted the coordinator of the “Nucleo de Enfrentamento ao Trafico de Pessoas”, who
– on her turn – contacted the Conselho Tutelar because it was a case of minor girls and
this is how we manage to find a place for them. Now, the two girls are deciding whether
or not they should go back to their country of origin, one was from the region of Parà and
the other one from Minas Gerais. We have discovered that, where the two girls were
hosted, there was already a trial in progress against the people who were sexually
exploiting them. They were free to leave the house where they were, but there was
exploitation of prostitutions: they needed to prostitute to pay the debt, and one of them
was already injecting silicone: I believe she was already having silicone applications to the
lower part of her body and it was the transsexual cafetinha to do her these industrial
silicone injections. As related to the trafficking of the transsexuals within Brazil, this is
more or less what happens: many minors come here with these intentions; they travel
without difficulties because every person is free to travel from a town to another one,
even though she is minor. [Interview 8C – Officer for the policies of “diversidade sexual” in
the town of Sao Paulo (Brazil)]
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Interview (8C) refers also the role of the “bombadeiras”6 in the process of building the body of a
transgender and/or of a transsexual.
2.3.3. The bombadeiras: the transformation of the body through informal illegal ways
The personal experience of interviewed 2C led her to use industrial silicone to round the line of her body
and make them more feminine [interview 2C]:
Have you made use of industrial silicone, or of hormones?
I took hormones between my seventeen and nineteen years of age and I also started to
inject industrial silicone in the tights, because there are no prosthesis for the hips, there is
not this kind of surgery, so you resort to industrial silicone, which is not legal. You must be
lucky; you need to meet a good “bombadeira” who helps you having nice hips, like the
ones I made. Some of them do not know these substances well and mix different things: it
is very dangerous. [Interview 2C – Male to Female transgender who prostitutes in the
towns of Guarullhos and Sao Paulo (Brazil)]
The use of industrial silicone and its administration by people who are not qualified or appropriately
trained for this kind of intervention is a very serious issue within the transgender and transsexual
population , which developed because of the lack of specific public or private services which offered the
opportunity of performing the body transformation surgery a transgender person needs.
The chairwoman of a NGO in Fortaleza which deal with the safeguard and promotion of the rights of the
transgender and transsexual population refers – during interview 9C – to the phenomenon of Bombadeiras:
In Brazil, there is also the phenomenon of the Bombadeiras, which is considered a crime;
the idea of resorting to silicone non through surgery, which is very often performed by
other people. To which extent the Bombadeiras are monsters, and to which extend are
their fairies? Because they manage to transform beautiful bodies, but there are also some
cases where the TT person must amputate her leg because of the industrial silicone.
Setting silicone prosthesis today in Cearà costs more or less 6000 reais; you can imagine
how many clients you have to go with to afford it; to have their nose made, how much
silicone they need to inject to have nice rounded legs. This search for femininity is
permanent in the life of a transsexual; it does not change because the building of the body
represents their affirmation, which is denied them every day. They undergo surgery and
6
Transgender and transsexuals who apply injections of industrial silicone and deal with the transformation of the
body of the transgender and transsexual persons, even though they have no medical license which authorizes
them to administer such substances, most of which are illegal.
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inject silicone into their body, but the society calls them with their masculine name; this is
why we do a job of guarantee of their rights, but we know that it will take much time
before they enjoy such rights. [Interview 9C – chairwoman of a NGO in Fortaleza which
deal with the safeguard and promotion of the rights of the transgender and transsexual
population]
“To which extent the Bombadeiras are monsters, and to which extend are they fairies”? The injections of
industrial silicone are made inside the same houses and by the transgender themselves. These operations
have obviously a lower cost than the procedure of official medicine offered through private services and
allow reducing the time you would need to wait before seeing your physical aspect the way you wish it.
Unfortunately, this would not only cost money; the collateral effects of the chemical injected into the body
are different: in some case you will even need to amputate the limb, and – in other cases – the lack of
information on the state of health of the people may even lead to death. Another collateral effect of the
use of industrial silicone is that – after a given time or as a result of severe chicks – this substance may
lower inside the body, thus disfiguring the physiognomy of the person: it looks as if there were a marked
inflating of the ankles. During interview 5C I was shown photographs of whose “industrial silicone has
fallen” and they explained to me why this sometimes happens:
Does silicone fall from the legs down to the feet?
Yes, and sometimes the policemen beat the trans prostitutes on the legs on purpose, to
let the silicone fall.
When the silicone falls, do the prostitutes usually go and look for public or private health
services to be treated?
Not much can be done, because it is an industrial silicone which is directly injected into
the muscle: managing to introduce it into the body is costly; you can imagine how it will
cost to have it removed. [Interview 5C – chairman of a NGO in Sao Paulo which provides
legal assistance to the transgender and transsexual population]
For a transsexual or transgender person, building her body is essential, because it allows her not to mirror
every day in a figure she does not recognize: the body is something you wear at any time and that any time
reminds you who you are or what you do not feel you are. The decision on what body one should take is
also derived from femininity models which are reiterated in the reference society. Interview 9C explains
that such models have slightly changes versus the past:
Can you tell me something about the phenomenon of the Bombadeiras?
The phenomenon of the bombadeiras today is not very strong, this culture and the idea of
the body for the transsexuals is no longer very strong. I believe today’s TT persons are
different from the ones of the nineteen nineties: today they are increasingly searching for
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the European style and aesthetics: more bony and thinner, unlike in the nineteen nineties,
where the fashion was the shapely woman, with a large bottom and a large breast. The
bombadeiras have taken their retirement. What happens today, though, is that the other
transsexual or biological women, in particular the transsexuals, have injections of
industrial silicone which costs 500 to 700 reais per liter, with risks of gangrene and
amputation. There is a girl I know who injected the silicone and she lost an arm and a leg.
Today, the girls often use prosthesis, this market has grown: for instance, I have already
used them twice.
Are they not services offered by the?
No, no. I have friends who work as hairdressers and they needed to set money aside for
three years to have this surgery; they would take the bus instead of having a car, and you
have seen how difficult it is to travel by bus in this town! To have genital surgery, you need
to put aside 20000 to 27000 Euros, or take the risk and go to either Thailand or Italy. You
go on your own: many of them go to Italy on their own; many girls live the rest of their
lives queuing to have the surgery made through SUS: the process lasts long because of the
waiting list and of all the pathway of the psychological and physical treatment to prepare
for surgery. The girls who lived and live in function of prostitution are afraid of undergoing
surgery because of some complications which may arise and issues with HIV and because
you know that surgery per se is not sufficient, but you know a preliminary and subsequent
preparation; as also for the nose, you cannot do it in one go, you need at least two
operations. [Interview 9C – chairwoman of a NGO in Fortaleza which deal with the
safeguard and promotion of the rights of the transgender and transsexual population]
Health is a very delicate question within the Brazilian trans population: if – on the one hand – the lack of
appropriate specific services is found, on the other hand, the system for the prevention of sexually
transmissible diseases is well developed and easily accessible in Brazil.
Interview 8C describe what is the offer level for services to the transgender and transsexual persons and
how such lack is due to the lack of appropriately specific medical personnel to assist the health issues of the
transgender and transsexual persons.
As related to the health conditions?
The health issue is very complex; we still have a high level of people attained by in the
transgender and transsexual population. Herein Sao Paulo there is the saude intergral day
hospital for TT which is state controlled. This day hospital offers a specific service for this
population, but – to date – the demand is very large and the day hospital is insufficient.
The day hospital is located close to the subway station of Santa Cruz, it was the first one in
Latin America and is a center which offers all kinds of medical services: there is a
neurologist, a gynecologist, an endocrinologist for when they start the harmonization
process, and a psychologist. They try to meet the health requirements of the TT persons.
Yet, there is a severe shortage of physicians specialized in the needs of the transsexuals;
this is an issue we are trying to tackle, here in the State of Sao Paulo. For instance, the
surgery aimed at the readjustment of the sex is made at the ’Hospital das Clinicas’, but the
overall process lasts at least two years, a total of ten operations per year is made, not
even once a month, because of the shortage of doctors specialized in this kind of surgery.
The issue of HIV is a severe concern, because the number of people infested is still very
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high, since they do not protect themselves as appropriate.
The treatment service of HIV is well organized here?
We do have a program for the prevention of HIV: an avant-garde, modern work is being
made. The prevention policy here within the State of Sao Paulo is very good. A research
was developed by the Santa Casa in the central region of Sao Paulo with youths between
15 and 24 years of age, and the percentage of HIV is very high, mainly amongst men who
have sex with other men . Such research brought to light very worrisome data of people
infected by HIV amongst the young transsexuals and transgender; alarming data.
[Interview 8C – Officer of the ”diversidade sexual” policies in the town of Sao Paulo
(Brazil)]
In some case, a lot of alcohol is consumed at home and outside: many transgender and transsexuals get
drunk to withstand the severe conditions they have to work in. As related to drugs, the most widely used in
cocaine, with and without the customer.
The streets of the city populate, generally the transsexual prostitution concentrates in some areas, which
may be either the center or the suburbs. Being a prostitute and working on the street involves several
hazards, mainly because you come into contact with the world of crime and drugs. Not all the prostitutes
use drugs: some of them decide not to do it, whilst other ones resort to the use of these substances to
withstand the life they do. Other times, it is the customer who wants to take drugs before and after the
sexual performance and sometimes the prostitute is invited to take drugs as well. The drug dealers resort
to the prostitutes to widen their market, often taking advantage of the fact that the transsexuals prostitute
in isolated dark. Interview 10c to an agent of the Road Police highlights the following:
There have already been several cases of TT persons who have been arrested because of
possession of drugs, which they were pushing to their customers. Besides giving sexual
performances, they were consuming and selling drugs to the clients, developing two
markets at the same time. Not all of them are involved in drug dealing, we must not
generalize; some of them only consume and other ones end up by being pushers, also
because they work in areas which facilitate the expansion of this illegal traffic, in hidden,
poorly lit places where few people go. [interview 10C – agent of the road police in Sao
Paulo (Brazil)]
Drugs consume the body and make people even more vulnerable, for the drug-addicted prostitutes,
consequently, the relationship with the customer becomes more violent with lower attention to the
protective measures against the sexually transmissible diseases. This leaves therefore room for diseases
amongst the transsexual prostitutes: HIV, syphilis and many other ones. The body debilitates and the
vulnerability increases. To respond to this phenomena, during the last decade there has been a consistent
activation in the services for the prevention and treatment of the sexually transmissible disease. If a
prostitute needs to run tests to ascertain whether or not she is HIV positive, she can access several
structures; what is important is to know where such structures are. It is worth pointing out that
transsexuality became part of the public debate also thanks to the issues linked to the treatment of HIV.
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2.4. Migrating abroad: Europe as the Eldorado of the transgender persons
Europe is the continent with the highest flow of immigration. In 2010 the balance between immigrants and
emigrants was positive for far more than 900,000 units. As an average, in the different European States,
foreigners amount to 6% of the national population and the main countries of destination for the
foreigners are France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain (Santis, 2010). During the last few years,
the people started to migrate not only with the perspective of living a better life on the economic point of
view, but there is an increasing number of migrants who arrive in Europe for different reasons; for instance,
there has been an increase of political refugees who decided to leave their country because of the conflict
situation affecting their state, people have been evicted from their counties for political reasons,
environmental refugees who have been obliged to abandon territories devastated by natural calamities, or
migrants who belong to the so-called phenomenon of “brain drain”, i.e. people who migrate to places
where they can develop and valorize their know-how and competences.
With the increase of the migration phenomenon, the most industrialized countries have started to
implemented modifications to the migration laws in order to regulate the high increase of migrants to their
countries. A still significant issue is the lack of a shared policy and regulatory body throughout the European
Union.
The migrant population who settles into a new State may constitute workforce and then be part of the
active population and become an economic resource for the country. Yet, the will and need to go and live
to another territory are not sufficient to the legally settle into the hosting State. In Italy, for instance, you
need to have all your identity documents in place or hold an entry visa (tourist visa) if the stay is planned
for 90 days : past such period of time, you need to request the stay permit within 8 working days as from
the entry to the State territory. The stay permit must be requested to the police commissioner of the
province where you intend to stay. The duration of the stay permit corresponds to the one which is
indicated in the entry visa and may vary: from 6 to 9 months in case of seasonal jobs; one year for reasons
of study; up to two years in case of self-employment or family conjunction. Upon the expiry of the stay
permit, the migrant can apply to obtain renewal. The release of the stay permit by the police headquarters
where you live is linked to a preliminary acknowledgment of personal identity and indicates not only the
data, but also the photograph of the visage and the fingerprints of the holder in order to ensure higher
security in the acknowledgment of the document holder and to fight any form of falsification of said
document.
The first migration flows of transgender and transsexual persons from Brazil were identified in the nineteen
seventies by scholar Don Kulick: France was the main country, of destination up to the nineteen eighties,
when Italy started to emerge as a preferential destination of the migrating TT persons: the main reasons for
of this change of destination are to be considered as due to the similarities of the Brazilian and Italian
languages and to the choice of the brands of Italian outfit as a symbol of femininity and glamour amongst
the transgender and transsexual person Teixeira, 2008). The chairwoman of an Italian association which
deals with the safeguard of the rights of the transgender and transsexual population confirms that the first
flows of migration of the Brazilian transgender were aimed at the French capital and provided interesting
details she knows thanks to her direct involvement in the trans world in the nineteen seventies [interview
14C]:
The flows from brazil towards Europe have existed since the trans experience started to
be talked about , because this is what we are dealing with. The flow was towards Paris not
only from Brazil but from all over the world, because Paris was somehow the city who
hosted everybody, where you were ensured spaces and – therefore – there has always
been a few, even though it was not perhaps what was it for: mention was to shows, and
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also to prostitution, but everything was rather random, because everything was just at the
beginning. Then , gradually, the trans prostitutions in the streets started to take shape,
with its places, its modalities and its features. Paris is certainly the destination and also a
symbol town on this point of view; Bois de Boulogne is the allocated area; therefore, the
points of arrival were Paris and – partially – also Marseille, which were then followed by
other cities such as Lyon. The flow was therefore from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, Spain
(Madrid or Barcelona) and from there they were moving to France. The flows were not
much controlled, there was no strict and the European Union was still at a settling stage,
so entering Spain, which was a country twinned Latin America was relatively easy. This
lasted more or less up to the early nineteen eighties, when – with the explosion of AIDS,
which seized almost everybody unprepared, including the Governments, there was a cry
for alarm. Also even at the Bois du Boulogne there were continuous raids and the clubs
were closed. Since misery is the mother of invention, the transsexuals started to probe
other areas as well, then, you know, rumors spread and it was known that in Italy there
was much work on the streets and Italy also matched their modes of exerting prostitution.
I believe there are different modes, for example the Mediterranean mode of staying in the
streets because climate allows you. It is obvious that in the North, in countries such as
Germany or the Netherlands, you cannot stay on the street. Therefore, because of this
reason or because in Italy there was no more work, I say – figuratively – that they started
“to press beyond the Alps”. The Italian prostitutes started to know that the “barbarians”
were pressing at the borders, it was really figurative, they were really the barbarians on
the other side who were pressing. At that time I was working in the streets and the other
ones were passing by saying “hey, the Brazilians are coming”. It was as if they were the
armies of the Huns on the other side of the Alps, pressing to enter. I had never seen a
Brazilian. The most absurd thing is that the one who triggered the alarm was a Brazilian,
the sole Brazilian in Rome for a long time who was saying “hey, they are coming”: she was
also making names and would say that when those pones arrive, they beat up, therefore
there were those patrols who were leaving every night to check the square, because if was
as if the Landsknecht were about to come. We started to see the first one, then the
second one, and we were beating them, because this is the hard law of the street, but this
fact that they were increasing, again and again, because then the Brazilians acted smartly
and adopted a strategy, because, instead of fighting back, have behaved somehow like the
Trojan Horse : they entered silently and contacted the bosses, since it is easy to identify
the bosses In Italy there were two clans: the Neapolitan and the Sicilian ones. The
Neapolitans shouted and were very lively, whilst the Sicilians were silent, but they
controlled several areas. So, what have they done? They contacted the Italian “bosses”
and also the most miserable ones, those who were affected by HIV, there were a lot of
them in those day and – paying –they introduced themselves into the parts of the territory
and also the other ones started to arrive and it became an acknowledged, accepted
presence, at the beginning in the large towns such as Milan and Turin, to then spread
where the job was more profitable. [Interview 14C – chairwoman of an Italian association
whose headquarters are in Bologna and which deals with the safeguard of the rights of the
transgender and transsexual persons]
Researcher Larissa Pelucio detected new destinations of the TT migration in Europe starting from 2000,
with particular reference to nations such as Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal, which have
started to become the migratory destinations selected with largest frequency by the Brazilian TT persons
(Larissa Pelucio, 2007).
Adriana Piscitelli, researcher at the University of Campinas (SP- Brazil) highlights the issue of the
relationship between human trafficking and voluntary migration of the sexual market operators (Piscitelli,
2011). The people who migrate to work in the international industry of sex are often reported in the
migration statistics as victims; therefore they are not considered as migrants who go abroad to find a job in
a specific sector (the sex industry market) because of the values advocated by modern society, which foster
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the movements for the abolition of the either forced or voluntary prostitution. In Brazil, the most
developed and spread “sectors” of the sex industry are sexual tourism and international migration and they
are both permeated by the phenomenon of human trafficking. Many feminist associations believe that the
sex industry reduces the woman – or whoever offers sexual performances – to a mere object of
“commodisation”, hence any kind of prostitution is considered as vilifying for the human being. There are
also other streams of thought which consider prostitution as any other job and – as such – it must be
developed in safety conditions, in the respect of the rights shared by all the workers. This issue of the
relationship between prostitution and human trafficking is dealt with also during the interview to the
chairwoman of a NGO in Guarullhos:
Therefore, it is a great misunderstanding to think that human trafficking for sexual
exploitation is strictly linked to prostitution?
D: Yes, it is a great misunderstanding; in reality it is the abolitionist countries which
consider it like this, i.e. that prostitution is the entry door for human trafficking : a
prostitute is doomed to be a victim of human trafficking and – therefore – ending
prostitution would mean attaining the largest objective, i.e. ending human trafficking. In
reality, we must respect the autonomy of the woman, I know that this is not given for
granted. in Brazil, it is very difficult to lead a debater on prostitution as a job. As
acknowledgement of the sex operators, because there is great prejudice, it is not an easy
discussion even in the feminist movements: there is a large segment which considers
prostitution as a severe violation of the human rights, whilst another segment considers
that the woman is autonomous as related to her body, therefore, I have seen, mot in
Brazil, but in some countries, autonomous prostitutes who were treated like traffickers,
like victims of the traffic, and they were bravely rejecting such condition, because, since
they were autonomous prostitutes, they had no right to go there, they were just making
their money, and not committing any crime, and they ended up there.
INT: In this sense, if we observed the dynamics of the network which involves the
transgender, is it a bit confused, is it not? Because this is a group that per se, is far more
vulnerable than the other ones
D: No, there is tremendous discrimination towards the transgender and transsexual
population; first of all, the society is really cruel. In all these years – working at the airport,
when we were receiving transsexuals, who were mainly coming from Italy, they were
more open in telling their stories, versus the women. Why? Because, on the point of view
of these human beings, no matter how bad their conditions are in Paris, Milan or Rome,
they are less discriminated than in Brazil, not only by the society, but there is large
pressure from the public institutions. So, there is also this matter, of public institutions
which discriminate and – sometimes – even chase the transsexuals since, in those
countries, in spite of their difficulties to survive, they have many more opportunities of
living a life with less prejudice and greater opportunities and it is not by chance that the
dream of the TT persons is to come to Europe. Therefore nobody can forbid anybody from
dreaming, but our duty is to take information to these people, so that such information
can make them resilient, so that they do not fall into the trap. [interview 2R - Chairwoman
of a NGO in Guarullhos which deals with the reception of victims of violence and human
trafficking]
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Yet, prostitution is not the only job to be searched for by the transsexuals and transgender; they often
choose to migrate to look for a new job as – for instance – hairdresser, aesthetician or also employment in
the performing arts. Unfortunately, nevertheless, there are still too few cases of Brazilian transgender and
transsexuals who manage to find a regular job abroad, because of the prejudice of the society towards
them and of the delicate issue of the documents, not only for the fact that they are foreigners, but also
because they have identity documents which report the information relevant to the biologic sex of the
person.
In Italy, the surgery for the reallocation of the genitals is disciplined by Law no. 164 of April 14th 1982,
denominated “regulations relevant to the rectification of sex attribution”. During the interview with the
deputy chairman of an LGBTQ association in Turin (Italy), it has been highlighted that this is the only law on
the rights of the LGBTQ population in Italy. In compliance with what is established by the law, the person
who intends to develop the process of transformation of his/her body must – first of all – request the
authorization by the court, presenting an instance in the area of residence. In case the transsexual people
were married, the children and spouse must be notified the act of authorization of the surgery and the
submittal of such request entails the dissolution of the marriage:
LAW 164/82- Art. 4
The judgment for the rectification of the sex allocation has no retroactive effect. It involves the dissolution
of the marriage or the cessation of the civil effects which ensue the transcription of the wedding celebrated
by a religious rite. The provisions of the civil code and of law no. 898 and subsequent amendments shall
apply.
One the authorization judgment is released by the Court, the person involved can address the specialized
hospital structure.
The procedure to change the population register data concerning the sex of a person states that this can
occur only after the surgery for the reallocation of the genitals, after which a request can be made to the
court for the amendment of the population register data. The transgender persons decide to come to Italy
to perform the surgery required the body they wish so much and in which they can recognize themselves,
but their conditions of clandestine prevents them from having access to the sanitary procedure for the
transformation of the body, since the sole emergency treatments are recognized a.
During the interview to a transgender who chairs an Italian association which deal with the safeguard of the
rights of the transgender persons , it has been highlighted that – in reality – the Brazilian transgender who
decide to go abroad to prostitute build and transform their bodies to become an object of the sexual desire
of their customers:
Going to work in the European continent for a limited period of time represents an opportunity to make
more money they could earn in Brazil doing the same job. Another motivation which pushes a trans person
to migrate to Europe is the wish to undergo surgery and – in particular – to the conversion of the genital
organs. Article LGBTQ Neighborhoods and ‘New Mobilities’: Towards Understanding Transformations in
Sexual and Gendered Urban Landscapes written by i C. J. Nash and A. Gorman-Murray (2014) deals with the
issue of “mobilities” of the LGBTQ population and interrogates what is the value which is allocated to the
displacement of the bodies. The article distinguishes between to mobility which occur through the physical
displacement from a territory to another one and the everyday mobility represented by the financial flows,
by the communication technology, by the circulation of the information on the traveling modes and by the
connections between a place and another one which modify the time-space distance between the different
geographic areas. The two authors consider mobility as an intrinsic component of the modern citizen, and
use the following expression: “modern citizen is a mobile citizen”. The mobility of the individuals allows
strengthening some power relationships, it can be noticed that the migrating transgender and transsexual
persons who return to their place of origin enjoy – in many cases – the respect of the people their own
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community and are recognized and respected by the society even when – before leaving their home – they
were victim of numerous discriminations and acts of violence towards them. The article reports also the
thinking of scholar Cresswell, who believe that it was actually the mobility of the gay population, which
started after World War II, which allowed strengthening the economic and political aspects of the
homosexual community, also thanks to the creation of the gay villages, i.e. complete neighborhoods almost
exclusively inhabited by homosexuals (C J. Nash, A. Gorman-Murray, 2014).
The international migration is strictly linked to the internal migration because – in most cases – the transfer
of the transgender and transsexual person from more rural areas to metropolitan areas in Brazil is aimed at
managing to make the money required to then transfer abroad. One of the causes identified during the
research on human trafficking is the one which was detected in region Parà, in the North-east of Brazil: the
TT persons would leave from Belem in the direction of Sao Paulo to then go and work in Europe (Ministeiro
da Justiça 2013).
2.4.1. Phantom migration flows
Also in the case of international migration – irrespectively if forced or voluntary – the issue remains on
managing to quantify the migration flow of the TT persons who emigrate from the Brazilian State. Such lack
of data is due to the fact that – at the moment they leave Brazil – very few transgender or transsexual
persons have already managed to have their social name acknowledged, and this is why – when checking
the documents at the border – they shall be recorded by their birth name, i.e. with the gender identity of
the biologic sex. Again interview 5C describes how this issue affects also the passage to the border checks:
When travelling to Europe, the transgender persons must travel with masculine
appearance for the checking of the documents when they arrive in Europe. The document
often reports the civil name and not the social one of the trans person. What do you think?
The always have a document reporting a man’s name ; very few of them managed to have
the civil acknowledgment of the social name. With my NGO, we do this type of Job, they
are now starting to officialise the social name. When they travel, they must do it with a
man’s appearance because, if you arrive at the airport and you cannot speak the language
and you are transsexual, you do not manage to enter the country; they send you back
home because you are obviously going there to prostitute, so, the first time, the usually
travel “unmasked”.
The same is confirmed during the interview to a Brazilian activist for the rights of the LGBQT population,
which focuses the attention on how such control procedure, which obliges persons whose gender identity
is different from the biological one is just a formality which affects the dignity of the person [interview 3C]:
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After the victims are identified and recruited, how do they procure the travel documents
and how is the travel organized?
It is like the normal travel of a tourist, with the only difference that the mafia pays for
everything: airfare, taxes, clothes, everything. They pay and the victims travel normally.
The transgender and the transsexuals, mainly the transgender, many of those who go
abroad, in order to pass the document check where there is the physical acknowledgment
of the person are to travel without disguise; some of them use man’s wigs and clothes, in
order not to arise any suspicion of being a transsexual, because the problem is in the
document where the person appears with a masculine gender identity; so the person
must travel as a man to then reach the country and work as a woman. This issue of
identification exists in Italy and in Spain, but the agents recognize these people in any
case, all Europe knows well this phenomenon, because when the transsexuals go to those
countries, in 80% of the cases it is to prostitute; such procedure is just a way to try to
inhibit, not to stop, also because there is actual prejudice towards those people : some of
them go there actually to work. I have a friend who works there as a model, two other
ones are shopkeepers. In Europe there is prejudice towards these people, but a bit less
strong than here in Brazil.
The shortage of data concerns also the return to Brazil for the people who have lived abroad, and also the
registration of the people who died in Europe. The transgender or transsexual persons who die abroad and
have not yet obtained the legal acknowledgement of the social name are buried with the identity of the
person, since his/her real population register data cannot be recovered. This implies that no news are
available on the death of some transgender and transsexual person who live abroad, mainly if clandestine
and without any regular stay permit (Teixeira, 2008).
2.4.2. Trafficants or social networks?
According to a research run in 2013 by the Brazilian Ministeiro de Justiça on human trafficking as related to
the transgender and transsexual population, the travel would occur through formal legal channels. The air
fare is usually paid by a person who funds the cost of the trip to then apply interests to the sum which shall
then have to be refunded once in Europe. The transsexual and transgender persons would arrive to Europe
requesting a tourist visa, which would allow them a legal stay for a max. period of 90 days. The brokerage
of an external person would not occur only to offer support in organizing the travel, but also to create the
contact with the people who work already in the place the person would like to go to, indicating where and
with whom they can go and stay and in which area to work.
The sociologist who is the chairwoman of the Italian association for the safeguard of the rights of the
transgender and transsexual population, reports – in interview 14C – a similarity between the social
structure the Neapolitan transgender community is based on and the one of the Brazilian transgender, in
particular as related to the networks which create to organize the travel from Brazil to Italy:
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I have always notices similarities between the Brazilian and Neapolitan trans, I say this
without many comments. Why am I saying this? Because I lived long time amongst the
Neapolitan, I prostituted for many years and I was with them. In the trans world of the
nineteen eighties, nineties and mid-nineties; then the phenomenon changed completely,
and the level of exploitation, no matter how you call it, was not clear: the boundaries
were not precise in defining if it was exploitation or tradition, ways of doing and the like,
because the Neapolitans were clearly from Naples but they would transfer where there
were profitable areas: in the North it was Turin, Milan, Bologna, Florence, and other towns
where there was money to make , but to prostitute – then and still now – to live there you
need to be resident, otherwise you get a warning, you are evicted. What was happening?
The trans at that time were very visible, a trans could not be unobserved during the day
and the same in the night ; in the night – tough – they were in the areas allocated to them
and then – let us say – everything was framed within a world. But, if you were caught by
the police during the day, while you were strolling around in Bologna and you were not
resident in Bologna, they would take you to the station and give you a “foglio di via”, i.e.
you had to go back to your country of origin in two days and sign the warning. If you did
not do that, this was already a crime because you had not validated the warning. If you
came back and they caught you again, there was breach of the “ foglio di via”: you would
be arrested and jailed for one month, or forty days. I could make you a very long list of
friends of mine who faced this kind of issue. This is somehow the same thing which occurs
today with the migrated Brazilian trans who arrive in Italy.
You see, you needed the residence, and who could give you the residence? Only a friend
who was already resident here. But, because of a distorted reading of the Merlin law, a
friend could be charged of exploiting prostitution, of connivance, why? Because she was
hosting you to her place and so, I host you and let you have residence, but I take a risk.
This risk, this favor, this gift, must be paid back with another gift. Hence, this gift was
perceived as part of a pathway. Nobody could see exploitation in it: I am taking a risk and
offering you residence, which nobody else would offer you. For the Brazilians, it is more or
less the same thing. Instead, when does the awareness of being exploited trigger? When
this is no longer an isolated event which concerns only one or two individuals but
becomes systematic, as it became with the Brazilians. The Brazilians made this modality of
hospitality and remuneration for hospitality become systematic. It started like that and
then it became an actual structure which was acting partially in Brazil and partially in Italy,
50-50: they prepared you the ticket, the trip, the flight and the reception in Europe,
specifically in Italy, where you were guaranteed the house and the place to work, with a
set of things, with some sort of loansharking where at the departure there is a fixed
amount and at the return it was postponed and – like in the actual laws of loansharking –
it was progressively increasing. [Interview 14C – chairwoman of an Italian association
whose headquarters are in Bologna and which deals with the safeguard of the rights of the
transgender and transsexual persons]
Unlike what occurs for the largest part of the women of biological sex involved in trafficking, in the
case of the transgender and transsexual persons the awareness of being bound to prostitute once
they arrive to their migration destination is more spread: also because the majority of this persons
already prostitute on the Brazilian territory. No coercive method is applied to oblige the
transgender or transsexual person to go and work abroad; this is suggested in some cases, but you
are rarely cheated or forced to go abroad. Interview 9C reports an example of the reasoning which
is made to convince a person to go to Europe:
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[...]The way it works is that those who live there indicates some friends who live here:
“you know, you could go and make money in Europe: let us leave this world which does
not allow making money” “OK, but how can I travel?” - “Never mind, we pay you the oneway air fare and you will then give us the money back”
Leaving a world of discrimination to go and live in a country where you are recognized for what you are,
finding recognition and respect is one of the main expectations of the TT persons who migrate from Brazil.
An interview with an agent of the Road Police of Sao Paulo confirms that the travel would occur by air with
regular passport, but once you arrive at destination you would fall into a system of “imprisonment” starting
from the seizing of the passport:
And how do they travel?
They usually travel with a passport and by plane, with all the documentation because
otherwise they would not manage to enter the country. These organizations pay the cost
to have the documents and the air fare to then ask for the money back at very high
interest rates. When they arrive there their passport is withdrawn and they end up by
remain in a private jailing system and as sexual slaves and – in some cases – they do not
manage to go back to Brazil; others even commit suicide because they do not manage to
withstand psychologically such conditions and they turn to drugs […] [interview 10C –
agent of the road police in Sao Paulo (Brazil)]
The passport is withdrawn as a guarantee for the payment of the debt: without travel documents, the
migrant cannot easily go back to Brazil and can be arrested by the Police in case he/she were found without
identity documents; therefore, the seizing of the travel documents becomes an expedient to prevent the
transgender and transsexual persons from addressing the competent authorities.
The vulnerability of the TT persons who migrate abroad is therefore not only due to the fact that they have
a monetary debt to which high interest rates are applied. The condition of clandestine is such that the TT
persons are easily subject to extortion or threats, which add to the discriminations they are often victims of
because of the trans-phobia and of the spread prejudice of the society. Furthermore, the fact of going
abroad to prostitute exposes these people to further difficulties, increasing their condition of vulnerability
(“see” Teixeira, 2008).
In some cases, as related to the migration flow towards Italy, the trip is not direct but includes some
intermediate stops to avoid the sever checks and crossing the board by land rather than by air: sometimes
the trip is direct towards Romania or Switzerland, where the migrants find people who are waiting for them
to “ferry” them to Italy, i.e. towards their final destination.
During the ETTS research in Guarulhos on the phenomenon of transgender and transsexual person
trafficking, the interview to the chairwoman of a NGO of Fortaleza who works to guarantee the civil and
political rights of the trans persons highlighted that there are cases where the transgender person does not
ask for any help to reach Europe:
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I have a friend who went to several small towns in Spain and France; she went there
autonomously without depending on anybody for the trip and finding support from her
own friends to live in Europe. She told me she managed to find a strategy to work 21 days
in every town: initially, you are the novelty and make a lot of money. In Europe, people
rent the rooms in a different way than herein Brazil, where we do not have this culture of
renting space in our own houses. She made up a network through internet and rented a
space in every town to receive the customers and – after 21 days – she would move to
another place. She stayed in Europe for approx. one year and a half, there she would
spend everything and also send part of her earning to her family, because they always
send money to the family. [Interview 9C – chairwoman of a NGO in Fortaleza which deal
with the safeguard and promotion of the rights of the transgender and transsexual
population]
Managing to organize on your own the trip to go abroad calls for a good level of education and knowledge
as related to the documents required to travel and to legally enter the European state one wishes to
migrate to.
2.4.3. The arrival in the “Beautiful Country”: Italy
“A strong Italy in terms of contrast and help, would more supportive, but also more legal,
it would be an Italy which would turn the screw on illegal work and also the criminal traffic
linked to sexual exploitation, where dirty money has always been laundered …it would be
the Italy of the first years of application of article 18, which had become a country of little
appeal for the traffickers, because it was too supportive with the victims and too
determined against the traffickers. That Italy, though, is nowadays a far memory …the
criminal organizations are thankful”. (Mirta da Pra Pocchiesa,2007, p. 18)
Interview 5C highlights that the TT persons are initially afraid and disoriented when they arrive in Italy, but
the interview also shows that – once they have understood some essential aspects (expected codes of
behavior, people who act as reference points, etc.), they manage to live a better, more dignified live than
the one they had in Brazil:
[…] When they arrive there, somebody from the group goes and picks them up at the
airport and takes them to what will then be their house. At the beginning, they are very
scared, because they are not used to the cold climate of Europe. Here, the cafetinha also
plays the role of a mother: besides exploiting, she also somehow takes care of the girls.
The Italian and Sicilian mafia is characterized by the issue of honor and respect, but at the
same time there is a form of terror, of generating fear. The cafetinha is the same thing:
she takes a “mother” role but still remains their exploiter. At the beginning, they are very
afraid, until they start to get used, to understand what their situation is and how it works.
If they are intelligent, they start to have friends and to understand that life there is far
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better than in Brazil: here they live in rooms with bunk beds and with several people,
there, they live in clean cozy apartments, it is different, and they start to become used to a
better quality of life.
Do they earn much more, there?
IN Europe, they earn much more; they manage to send money to their family and pay for
the debt after more or less one year. The main reason to go abroad is that they can earn
more. They know where it is good and where not; the cafetinhas request lower prices;
7,000, 12,000, 20,000 Euros, and the information network is very fast. In any
neighborhood the information pass very fast. Last Tuesday I received a Facebook message
from a friend of mine in France, where she was writing me that another friend of mine, a
TT person had died in London. The whole world receives instant information: there was
Orkut before and now there is Facebook. The intelligent network is very fast.
The circulation of information is important, and the stories which arrive in Brazil build an image of the
European world and of the opportunities it may offer to improve the life conditions and the social
“position” of the migrants. In the hairdresser’s shops, in the beauty salons and in the spaces of socialization
of the transgender and transsexual persons in Brazil, the stories and witnessing of the trans who have lived
an experience in Italy and manage to go back to Brazil – saving money which allowed them buying a house
or economically support their families – feed the dream of going abroad. Going to Europe and coming back
to Brazil showing you have been successful and have managed to improve your own life conditions almost
represents a form of emancipation for the TT persons.
An interview to a TT person made by an officer of the Posto Avançado de atendimento aos Migrantes di
Guarullhos within the frame of the research for the ETTS project, some interesting information appears on
what is happening once they arrive in Italy:
INT: We will talk to Cristina (fictitious name), a transgender who has just arrived in Italy
and is assisted by the 'Avamposto Umanizzato. Cristina, why have you decided to go to
Italy?
C: Because I knew a Brazilian friend of mine who had been living in Italy for more than
5years, and she invited me to go there
INT: Had you already been doing sexual performances in Brazil?
C: Never. Never made any sexual performance in Brazil, I started in Italy
INT: How old were you when you left Brazil?
C: I was 20
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INT: And this friend of yours, who invited you, was she already doing sexual performances
in Brazil and in Italy?
C: Yes, she was
INT: How has this invitation arrived, what has she guaranteed you for the trip, what has
she promised you?
C: She guaranteed me everything: from the trip to the workplace, the house, the
"sidewalk"; in short, she guaranteed me everything, and she kept all her promises, but –
after a few days- or, better, after some time, she changed, she became another person.
INT: Tell me something: how long have you worked for her?
C: One year and a half
INT: And in this year and a half, were you to give her all you had earned?
C: Yes, everything
INT: Did not you have money with you?
C: Just enough to by myself cigarettes, that’s it
INT: Tell me something; what days a week were you working, and what time?
C: From Sunday to Sunday, from 4.00 p.m. up to 6.00 a.m.
INT: No rest?
C: No, there is no day off in this job
INT: As an average, how many sexual performances were you doing in one night?
C: let us say, five, six, perhaps eight
INT: And how much were you taking home, as an average, in Euros?
C: Four hundred to Five hundred Euros. [Interview 3R – Transgender victim of human
traffic assisted by the reception service of the migrants at the airport of Cumbica
(Guarullhos-SP-Brazil)]
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An interview held within a center for the prevention of the sexually transmissible diseases in the town of
Guarulhos highlights the significance of sending money to your own family for the transgender and
transsexual persons who go to work abroad:
I hear talking a lot about Italy: some have been to Spain, but we hear talking about Italy a
lot. They go there and the first thing they do when they come back home is to buy a
house. This was the first thing Valeria did and Soule restructured her mother’s house,
Cheril managed to buy a mall apartment and open a beauty salon and started to work,
also because now she is an age which no longer allows her to work much on the street. In
our job, we know that the most important thing is to manage to find a job for those who
want stop prostituting, but, how to do it? Most of them have no qualifications because
they left school soon. The other day I manages to introduce a transgender into the “bolso
do desempregado” (Unemployment allowances), a program where you receive 200 Reais a
month and you are offered a vocational course for one year to be then introduced to the
world of labor. This is an opportunity, but, how will it be at the moment of the job
interviews? How will she be introduced into the work environment? [Interview 11C –
social assistant of DIET, center for the treatment sexually transmissible disease in the
Municipality of Guarulhos]
Researcher Adriana Piscitelli underlines the significance of the money earned in Europa and sent to Brazil;
money which is spent on the Brazilian territory and represents a source of wealth for the economy of the
country (A.Piscitelli, 2011). The remittances of the transgender who work in Italy represent also a useful
premise to strengthen and empower the image of the transgender in her own family, who perhaps – a few
years before – had thrown her out of the house because they had not accepted her gender identity. This
money is easily sent home thanks to the global financial system or through a support of social networks
which settle amongst trans. The money earned in Europe therefore takes a symbolic meaning, as it
strengthens the social relationships in the country of origin. Scholar Beth Fernandez reports the episode of
a transgender who was being beaten up hard by her father before she went to Europe whilst then – thanks
to all the money she had sent to her family – the father started to “kiss her feet” (Ministeiro de Jestiça,
Brasil, 2011).
The image and social status taken through the money earned in Europe is such that the trans who go and
work abroad rarely consider themselves as victims of traffic:
The transgender and transsexuals who go to Europe to prostitute do not feel they are
trafficked, because managing to go to Europe and work is a status. My transgender and
transsexual community still considers it a status because they go to a civilized world and
these persons who manage to come back from Europe sell the image that Europa is
everything. They sell this to the younger girls, they say Europe is a place where they are
respected as girls, as women, and that male body which has been turned in female is
widely appreciated in Europe. For many young transsexuals there is this myth and,
considering that the North-east of Brazil is chauvinist and sexist and when you were born
in a body which is not yours and you manage to have the opportunity to transform your
body into what you are, this for us is very important for us; it is something essential in the
transformation of our body. If you have the opportunity to go and live in a civilized place
where you can also transform your body, many of us do not consider this as human
trafficking. The transsexuals see Europe like this, but they do not manage to take into
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account all those factors which are related to such opportunity of going to Europe. They
arrive there already with a three-year debt because of the cost of the trip which is
advanced to them, but which needs to be then paid back for a value which is two or three
times as much as the original one, they need to pay very high daily taxes and they must
also pay for the street, because the street has one or more masters and they are the ones
who create Idyllic scenarios of Europe. [Interview 9C]
The chairwoman of the NGO of a Fortaleza which deals with the safeguard of the rights of the transgender
and transsexual population points out that often the Brazilian transgender and transsexuals do not feel
trafficked, even though they are set within an exploitation circuit which applies high illegal interest rates to
advanced funding. The international agreements and protocols highlight all the elements which
characterize conditions of human trafficking but – as previously stated. in case of the TT population there is
no presence of networks of organized crime and it rather is the activation of informal social network which
– on the one hand – help and offer the opportunity to migrate and – on the other hand – also adopt
behaviors of exploitation and control.
Interview 9C focuses on the fact that it is exactly the market requirements and some models of femininity
dictated by the capitalist societies to operate the vicious cycle of the “exploitation” of the transgender and
transsexual persons:
The transgender and transsexual persons who go to Europe know that they go there to
prostitute, Nobody is sued because they do not consider themselves as sexually exploited
or feel a victim of the traffic. I am part of those who believe that this market takes
advantage of the fragility of such subjects. the idea of building the body and social
exclusion as an easy way to create a market. The subject is so vulnerable that he/she has
no choice; he/she is stigmatized and made live exclusively as a function of his/her body.
The capitalist idea which sustains or body is that they are for sale, that they can be
purchased. This is very interesting, because, up to which extent are they for sale? Starting
from the concept of building the feminine body, of their feminine body, on the masculine
one starting from the concept of construction of the subject and his/her identity they are
for sale. They are for sale only up to a given moment. This is how all the elements of
vulnerability in this process come at stake, because it is known that in Europe, when it is
winter the girls must work and cannot stay at home the whole day; they need to work to
pay for their daily rent and for the food. They go to work in the street in winter, and you
know that the TT person must show her body because she can be sold only by showing
herself; certainly they do not go to work all covered, our body is our shop window and so
they dress to be as sellable as possible. What comes a stake are all the matters of drugs,
the fact that they are ready to have sex with the client without a condom if they are paid
more. If you consider all these elements, you can better understand all the difficulties of
these people and the vicious circle which creates. If you go to Europe and spend two years
earning 50 Euros for every sexual service, should you then go back to Brazil to be paid 30
Reais for each service? Making a complete service for 30 Reais and going back to live in
Cearà, within this instrument of exploitation? This is a whole set of things which turn
around this condition; you are aware of human trafficking, it is known that slavery work
exists and these matters are very widely discussed today [Interview 9C – chairwoman of a
NGO in Fortaleza which deal with the safeguard and promotion of the rights of the
transgender and transsexual population]
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The chairwoman of the ONG in Fortaleza (Cearà) identifies the migration phenomenon of the transgender
and transsexual persons as human trafficking, but she maintains that the situation of exploitation the
transgender and transsexual persons can experience once they decide to migrate represents the almost
compulsory alternative, because going abroad becomes almost a preferable condition veers the one which
is witnessed in Brazil, because you earn much more: again money justifies a condition of exploitation.
2.4.4. Housing conditions of the Brazilian transgender and transsexual persons in Italy
Interview 5C confirms that money is one of the main reasons which push the TT persons to migrate to
Europe:
[…] yet, when they want to go to Europe, and they know that the only way to make more
money is going to Europe because in Brazil they earn very little, they know well they
cannot simply buy a ticket and arrive in Europe, because you may be in trouble with those
who already work there, you do not know well where to go to work, therefore you need
somebody who helps you. They go to the cafetinhas involved in the traffic, who tell them
they can help them to go to Europe, but they want to be paid 10,000 Euros or 20,000
Euro. Each has her price. Sometimes, the cafetinha puts pressure on those who live with
her in the house for them to go and work in Europe. The difference because the
exploitation of men and women versus the transsexuals is that when the latter manage to
refund their debt they are free. This debt consists of the money spent to travel, work and
live, but there are always expenses which add up and accumulate, such as the ones for
protection and security in the street. Sometimes, if entering Italy is difficult, the cafetinha
who sends a group of trans to Europe sends them to Romania and somebody goes to pick
them up to the airport in Romania and takes them to Milan, to France or Switzerland.
Once the debt is paid, they are free.
The debt is paid much faster than in case of the traffic of women of biological sex, for which – in some
cases – the debt never extinguishes and they remain imprisoned in the hands of their exploiters. In the case
of the transgender and transsexual persons, in most case the debt is paid within one year.
Once the debt is paid, the transgender persons may continue to depend on a cafetinha as related to the
rent or the street they work on or – on the contrary – they may decide to become fully autonomous, even
though such condition involves some difficulties because of the irregularity of the stay documents and of
the conditions of clandestine they are in. The interest rates which area applied to pay for the trip and all
the other expenses for the stay are often accepted and justified by the transgender and transsexual
persons who live abroad (Piscitelli, 2006). If you are a clandestine, even the renting of an apartment or a
room must be made through a broker whose citizenship and documents are regular.
In some cases, the conditions the migrant TT persons live in are better than the ones which are experienced
in Brazil. The trend is not to live with too many others in the same apartment. Usually, the apartments
these people live with are close to one another, often complete apartment blocks are rented only by
foreign transgender and transsexuals (mainly if clandestine), if they are managed by a broker who acts as
front man or makes illegal contracts. Interview 3C describes how the TT persons live in Italy:
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How are the life conditions abroad? Where do they live? What are the sanitary conditions?
They live together, in rooms in the same building; a max number of 4 transgender or
transsexuals live together, in rooms of the same building, some of them live in
“villaregios”(similar to row houses). The ones who live alone is because they are
independent on any crime organization and manage to have a normal life, which are
inhabited by families as well, unlike what happens with the “mafia”, which must have
control over the situation. They must know where they live and who with , and they even
have a group that controls such aspect. Furthermore, amongst the transsexuals there is a
lot of jealousy and there are problems between them : they quarrel quite often and
therefore not many of them can live together because otherwise there would be
continuous trouble. I was in two “cativeiros” and a mx. Number of four people were living
together. These apartments do not look like “cativeiros”, but like normal apartments; by
seeing them nobody could imagine what they are . [Interview 3C – activist for the rights of
the LGBTQ population in Brazil]
An anthropological research by Flavia Texeira published in 2008 and run through interviews to Brazilian
transgender who spent time in Italy to prostitute describes that the life conditions are perceived as better
than in Brazil and – in case they are the same- they in any case do not feel exploited or in poor precarious
life conditions (Teixeira, 2008).
Flavia Texeira believes it is necessary to define what the poverty threshold is according to the country
where you are, because this would change the perception and the identification of people who live in
degrading conditions.
There are also some situations where Brazilian transgender live sharing the apartment with the mistress of
the house, which makes them pay a daily fee for board and lodging, whose amount is in most cases far
higher than the market prices.
These of public spaces for the Brazilian transgender and transsexuals is related to the their being
clandestine or not. A transgender person walking in the streets does not often pass unobserved, it is
therefore dangerous to go out publicly during the day, mainly in summer, when the cities depopulate,
because there is greater risk of being arrested by the police. The trend is therefore to remain within closed
spaces and far from the control of the security force. Interview 14Chighlights that trans prostitution is
increasingly moving to closed places:
[…]transgender and transsexual prostitution is clearly and obviously moving to closes
places; it is therefore no longer this visible street phenomenon. Today, everything has
moved more to apartments and public places and therefore becomes invisible. The signals
are not only the ads on the papers, and even more on the websites. If you have a look at
those and at those sites, you realize what the consistence of the phenomenon is: it is
obvious that behind a number there is not only one person, but more: three or four. It
becomes more complex and complicated to observe and map the phenomenon and trace
borders and characteristics. Both prostitution and all the rest. I repeat: there are areas
which are actually inhabited by trans, many of them are operational in summertime and
empty in winter. [Interview 14C – chairwoman of an Italian association whose
headquarters are in Bologna and which deals with the safeguard of the rights of the
transgender and transsexual persons]
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The more hidden the transsexual community remains the more difficult it becomes to be detected and
observed in order to manage to develop strategies to implement services meeting their requirements.
2.4.5.Eviction order
As it was previously stated, the most spread trend amongst the migrant TT person is to travel with regular
documents , requesting the tourist visa once in Italy to be allowed staying on the territory of the Italian
State up to 90 days. Once the period of the tourist visa expires, they become clandestine and obtaining a
stay permit becomes really very difficult. In some cases, it is granted if you can prove that you have been
persecuted in your country of origin. The Brazilian transgender and transsexuals who work in the sex
market cannot obtain a stay permit for work reasons, because prostitution is not recognized as legal
employment which allows paying the contributions to the Italian State.
The research run by Flavia Texeira (Texeira, 2008) reports that – in the last decade – the migrant
transgender and transsexual population has perceived severer repression of the migrating flows in Italy,
and reference is often made to the “folha de via” i.e. the eviction order which is given to those people who
have no stay permit. In most cases of clandestine migrants, the eviction order is issued for three different
reasons, namely:
- entry in irregular conditions;
- stay in irregular conditions;
- violation of an Order of the Commissioner which was imposed on a foreign person rejected
or evicted to leave the national territory for administrative reasons and it is disciplined by
art.13 of the Amalgamated Law on Immigration.
In compliance with the provisions of Directive 2008/115/CE on the repatriation of the foreigners in irregular
stay conditions, the States – after an order of eviction – should privilege the voluntary repatriation of the
migrant within 30 days as from the communication of the eviction measure. In spite of this, the Italian State
continues to privilege the coercive accompanying of the foreigner to the border a (Savio, Bonetti, 2012).
The situation becomes more complicated for those people who are deported to brazil before they have
finished paying the debt they made to migrate and find a place to stay and work in the hosting country.
If they are seized by the Police, is the debt cancelled?
No. For instance, in Italy and Spain, even if they have been caught by the police after little
time, because not much time passes before they are deported to the country of origin, in
the moment they are deported the mafia tries to keep in touch with them and remind
them they have to pay the debt. When they arrive in Brazil, the Olheros look for them and
tell them: “you are in debt with us and we have not forgotten it” and she goes back to the
country she was evicted from.
Do they have to go back again?
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They have to go back again because, what happens? Many of them set the money aside,
what they manage to keep for themselves. The hide it at home, they have different tricks,
such as – for instance –they unsew the lining of their coat, set the money in and sew it
again so that – if anything happens and they are taken and sent back to Brazil, they are
certain they carry their savings with [Interview 3C – activist for the rights of the LGBTQ
population in Brazil]
Therefore, the debt is not extinguished even if they go back to Brazil as a result of eviction from the hosting
country. The cafetinha who has funded the trip and who sometimes also deals with the control of the
prostitution activity and to rent a place where she can live, knows very well where the family of the
transgender or transsexual person she has funded the trip to lives In this case, threats are made to the TT
person and to her family, so that she will do everything she can to refund the debt. Going back to Italy
becomes even more complicated because now the population register data are recorded and once you
have received the order of eviction you cannot go back to the country of destination for three to five years.
One of the questions raised during the interview is the way the transgender and transsexual persons who
receive the eviction order are deported. During interview 3C, the activist for the LGBTQ rights comments
the modalities of deportation
I do not agree with the way they are deported and they are treated: they travel shackled
and the treatment by the air company is not respectful: it is a humiliating behavior, a very
severe humiliation. It is difficult to understand whether she really is the victim of traffic or
if she has gone abroad on her own will. You should differentiate the behavior because
they are victims, after all they have passed this treatment risks to psychologically damage
these people. with [Interview 3C – activist for the rights of the LGBTQ population in Brazil]
Yet, you are not always evicted from the country. In the case of Italy, the English lawyer explains in
interview 5C what may happen to the trans arrested by the police:
When the police catch you, two things may occur: either you are evicted and sent
back to Brazil or you can remain in Italy if you sue the crime organization you can remain
in Italy. Only, what happens? The trafficker threats these people that if they open their
mouth thy will be killed, or their relatives will. The police allow you to remain in Italy only
if you sue. The transsexual finds herself in a terrible situation, because, if she sued, she is
not certain she can trust the police because sometimes – more often in Brazil than in Italy
– policemen are not honest: there are many cases where the police is corrupted by the
traffickers. [Interview 5C – chairman of a NGO in Sao Paulo which provides legal assistance
to the transgender and transsexual population]
In Italy, thanks to art.18 of the Amalgamated Law on Migration, a victim of the traffic that sues her
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traffickers has the right to enjoy a protection system if she is in danger of life as a result of the threats of
crime networks.
Unfortunately, dew victims of the transgender and transsexual traffic who sue to the police their condition
of exploitation. This does not occur for two main reasons: not all the victims of the traffic are aware of the
rights and services of social assistance they can enjoy; they do not even what the bureaucratic procedures
are to regularize their documents, also because of their linguistic difficulties. The largest part of the
immigrated TT persons are only aware of their condition of clandestine and – for this very reason – they are
always afraid of being exposed by acquaintances, people they live with or even neighbors. A second reason
why the conditions of exploitation are not exposed is that few transgender and transsexual persons
recognize themselves as victims: many of them think that going to work abroad is an opportunity and that
the price requested is balanced by what they are offered and by the opportunities for earning which open
to the new country. In the months of March and April 2005 an investigation was made at the international
airport of Guarulhos on the cases of Brazilian people deported or rejected from the European countries and
it appeared that only a very small art of the people who were introduced into the sex industry declared
they had been cheated, victims of violence, deprived by their freedom or victim of coercive acts. In
particular, the largest part of the people who would not recognize themselves as victims of violence or
traffic were transgender or transsexuals.
2.4.6. Assistance to the transgender and transsexual victims of traffic
In case a transgender or transsexual person were a victim of human trafficking and recognized herself as
such, In Italy – thanks to art. 18 of the Amalgamated Law on Migration would have the right to benefit from
a system of reception and support for the victims of the traffic, if she decided to sue the conditions of
exploitation she is affected by to the competent authorities. It was previously stated that – in Italy, in
compliance with art.18 of the Amalgamated Law on immigration – the foreigner who exposes the criminal
networks involved in actions related to exploitation or human trafficking would benefit to have a legal stay
permit for a given period of time. By suing, you declare yourself as a victim of the trafficking, but it is not
always possible to offer appropriate support to the persons who – because of a violation of the human
rights they have suffered from – are in a state of severe physical, psychological, social and economic
vulnerability
The victim falls into situations where he/she is discriminated or “victimized again” because of the lack of
appropriate services to receive the victims of the traffic or of personnel who was appropriately qualified to
receive specific groups of people.
Italy is one of the European countries which feature the most advanced legislative systems in terms of fight
against human trafficking, but – unfortunately – this instrument is not utilized to its whole potential. In
particular, the innovative article 18 of the Amalgamated law on Immigration has been an example for the
formulation of European directives and is a subject of study in the United States. In spite of this, since 1998
there have been cuts to the funding in support of the assistance actions for the victims of the traffic, this
article is applied in few cases and the time to release the stay permits is too long, also because of the time
taken by the judicature, which is often slowed down because of the shortage of funds and personnel to
carry1998he investigations forward. All these factors contribute to the fact that the people have little trust
in the victim assistance services and are skeptical that the competent authorities can counteract the crime
organizations involved in human trafficking.
Journalist Mirta da Pra Pocchiesa, in charge of the Prostitution and Human Trafficking Project of Gruppo
Abele in Turin, exposes a progressive loss of interest of the Italian politics towards such theme andreminds
that most of the assistance service to the victims of human trafficking is provided by laic and Christian
institutions which – since they have to face the basic needs of these people in conditions of need – they
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have no means to develop services which assure a more complete assistance to the victim by also
managing to organize a service for the reintroduction into society of the person who sues and trying
somehow to fight the actions of organized crime. Even, between 2010 and 2011, the service of the “AntiHuman Trafficking Toll Free Number” (800 290 290) was closed, and the absence of this essential service to
facilitate the contact between the victims and assistance services had adverse effects on the reception
system of the human traffic victims. The lack of a well-structured, determined plan of fighting human
trafficking opens the doors to the criminal organizations, which decide to operate right where the control
and “punishment” system is weaker.
If the victim of the traffic is sent back to Brazil, the question is complex to the same extent.
The chairwoman of the Guarulhos NGO highlights – in interview 6C – that there is lack of appropriate
reception networks for the victims of traffic:
What are the modalities of reception and support to the TT persons?
They are not really received because there is no appropriate space to receive them; they
are generally sent back home, unfortunately because it is not what they want and need.
Normally these victims arrive at their state of origin and organize to leave two days after
they have arrived.
When one is recognized as a victim, what does she need?
All those victims are sent back to the Nucleo de Enfrentamento ao Trafico de Pessoas, so
that the cases of traffic can be recognized, but the issue is that the Nucleo has no space of
way to receive and route these victims to the reception centers [Interview 6C –
Chairwoman of a NGO in Guarullhos which deals with the reception of victims of violence
and human trafficking]
An inappropriate, insufficient registration system of the cases of victims and of the relevant information on
the different cases of human traffic is one of the reasons why an appropriate reception system for the
victims of the transgender and transsexual traffic has not developed in Brazil, and since also the institutions
are facing the lack of spaces to host the victims of human traffic, one cannot estimate precisely how many
TT persons need reception services for the victims of human trafficking.
What is the dimension of the TT traffic phenomenon here in Brazil?
It is not known, data are missing for many reasons: these people are discriminated by the
same public agents. I worked in Santos, and the baixada santista is composed by nine
municipalities. Many people who have been trafficked and exploited arrive there, but
there is no support and reception network and it is therefore impossible to run an actual
recording of the victims; no distinction is made between exploited and autonomous
prostitutes. In the case of adolescents and children from 0 to 18, any action is considered
human trafficking and this makes further confusion.
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When a judgment is issued, which is rare, reference is made to the special legislation: for
instance, as related to the traffic of adolescents, reference is made to article 244A of the
Statuo de Criança e Adolescente, because traffic is a form of sexual exploitation, and
therefore you need to specify 224A and 231 if it is internal traffic; but mainly the latter is
not pointed out. 231 A is internal traffic by Codigo Penal and 244A is the special law of the
Statuto de Crianças e Adolescentes. The documentation with the whole historic of the
victims mentions “human traffic”, but the part which specifies the crime the person is
victim of no longer mentions human traffic but rape, sexual exploitation and incarceration.
Human trafficking is not mentioned and this creates problems in identifying the victim of
traffic and does not allow having an idea of the dimensions of the phenomenon.
[Interview 6C – Chairwoman of a NGO in Guarullhos which deals with the reception of
victims of violence and human trafficking]
The III Programa Nacional de Direitos Humano (PNDH 3), approved in Brazil introduces – by decree 7.037 of
December 21st 2009 – the fight against human trafficking as a strategic objective and recommends creating
a national system for the reception of the persons who are victims of the traffic, in particular if they are
children, women, transgender or transsexuals. In spite of this, a lot of work still needs to be done in Brazil
by the institutions in order to have available the appropriate resources to allow for the development and
maintenance of ad hoc services for the victims of the traffic and which can respond also to the different
case or at least of the different specific groups. For instance, in case of the transgender and transsexual
population, interview 5C exposes the difficulties in ensuring the right for assistance to a trans person who is
the victim of human trafficking:
[…] when the police arrests a victim, they want to help her and send her back to her
family. Yet, the trans does not feel a victim, she says she is fine, even though it is clear she
is not fine because she is poor, she is exploited and beaten up several times . In her head –
though – she is fine, she does not want to go back to her family, who has already sent her
away once. The, what happens? She cannot go to a reception center for boys, because she
would be raped, she cannot go to a refuge for girls, because she is not recognized as a girl;
she can only go to centers of the Evangelic Church, where she is considered sick and is
cured for this disease, because they believe it is a spiritual disease. A solution and an
appropriate reception service for these people is missing.
The Posto Avanzado de Atendimento aos Migrantes of Guarulhos airport formulated a scheme of the
procedure to be adopted in the cases of assistant to migrant transgender or transsexual person, which is
reported in Figure 2:
135
Figure 1 Scheme of reception and performance of services to a transsexual victim of human traffic which arrives to the Posto
Humanizado de Atendimento aos Migrantes of the Cumbica International Airport of Guarulhos (BRA).
In case a TT migrant in difficulty shows up at the assistance service managed by the social services of the
Guarulhos Municipality, you need first of all to listen to what the TT person has to say and – at the same
time – verify whether or not there was a violation of the human rights and whether or not there is any hint
of human trafficking. The will of the person to sue if she is in conditions of exploitation affects the actions
which are then to be undertaken and the choice of what services need to be activated. In case of human
traffic, resort can be made to the Nucleo de Enfrentamento ao Trafico de Pessoas, to then manage to find a
safe place for the victim where no other human rights are violated. In many cases, if the resources allow to,
it can be decided to accompany her to hotel structures with which a convention is made to make for the
lack of appropriate spaces to receive the TT persons. Furthermore, you must ascertain the health
conditions of the assisted person and verify whether or not she holds regular identity documents.
The fact of having set up a specific procedure scheme for the migrant transgender and transsexual persons
is in any case a step forward in trying to ensure appropriate assistance to these persons. Unfortunately,
though, the theory must face reality, i.e. the lack of financial resources, structures, political will and
qualified personnel.
What surfaces on the interviews which have been held is that no actual crime organization reveals to be
behind the migration transgender and transsexual phenomenon, but – rather – some ambiguity between
136
exploitation and opportunities which develops within the trans world itself. A vicious circle appears where
the transgender who was exploited in her youth and had to resort to the support of informal networks to
manage to survive and earn a living, once she is affirmed in the society, also thanks to the money she has
made, applies the same behavior which is typical of the cafetinha. It is astonishing that – if on the one hand
the Brazilian trans population managed to organize to try to claim for their own rights and have access to a
whole setoff services (even though they are illegal in many cases) required for the building of their body
and of the transgender and transsexual identity – on the other hand, this same community has built within
itself a system of “exploitation” to the detriment of the members of the same community, where the
“instinct of survival” of the individual seems to prevail. Another crucial aspect for the solution of the
severest cases of exploitations is that acknowledging whether or not there is a condition of traffic or
exploitation is not sufficient, but you also need to ensure that such victims can enjoy appropriate
psychological, social and economic accompaniment if they expose themselves to sue their own
“traffickers”.
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3. Masculinities on stage. Clients and representations in the Italian sex market (By
Sebastiano Benasso)
3.1. Introduction.
This part of the report gives a feedback on the material gathered through different research methods,
considerations and focuses, mainly from the point of view of commercial sex's clients. The purpose of this
close examination is therefore to consider a new complementary perspective to the traditional one
proposed by the scientific literature of reference, and so the analysis of the point of view of the people
selling sex in exchange of money. The information gathered aimed in particular to reconstruct specifically
the imageries that, leaving aside the fact of being clients or not, led by common sense would reinforce (or
create) beliefs on gender matters and power relations among genders.
In collective imagery, in facts, prostitution is “the world's eldest profession”, and the iconographic image of
the client is concealed by the car's window. A client is everybody and none. A client is the protagonist and
main engine for sex market's existence, still remaining constantly on the background in public opinion's
speeches so as in scientific production. The client keeps as the notably absent (Abbatecola, 2006). Besides,
in a symbolic domain characterized by the masculine domination [Bourdieu 1998], the tendency is not to
reflect upon masculinity. All that dominates is not in need of an explanation [Jacose 1996], for this reason
the tendency is to underestimate the very narrow link between stories on prostitution and representations
of male sexuality [Bellassai 2006; Ciccone 2009]. Prostitution tends to be spoken of as a necessary disease
[Danna 2004], by virtue of male sexuality by nature explosive, instinctive, uncontrollable, active. Against
the background of a man whose needs prescind rational control, male sexuality would respond to impulses
that could degenerate in absence of an adequate outlet.
In history it can be considered extraordinarily frequent the auto-representation of male identity as a
stratified reality between lights and shadows, morally double: composed, on one side, by an intrusive body,
nonetheless vulgar, dirty and brutal, whose violent potential is more or less hidden and whose sexual desire
would be the immediate voice; on the other side, by some superior rationality and or spirituality capable to
empower, in a manly way, the “beast” hiding in the most obscure parts of a man (impossible not to
mention the victorian drama of Jekyll and Hyde?). The perception of the body, and therefore of desire, as
an ignoble dimension of personal identity is a long period stretch in the history of gender imagery of a male
[Bellassai 2006].
In this sense, prostitution would represents a warranty safeguarding respectable women and the
respectability of the whole society. This way of thinking, apparently so strictly attached to a logical
structure, “blocks” its same put into discussion, and so rarely we think over the fact that (Abbatecola,
2012):
•
confrontation with prostitution puts us in a position to question an imagery of male sexuality
very poor and restricted to a physiological “outlet” disconnected to the emotional and relational
spheres, offered both by young rapists in their defences, than by promoters of the idea that
prostitution is unavoidable with almost a social function to “bound” male sexuality [Ciccone:
2009: 40];
•
few is known about the client, beside the fact that he can be anybody [Chetwynd, Plumridge
1994; Benson, Matthews 1995; Mckeganey, Barnard 1996; Leonini 1999; O’ Connell Davidson
2001), but in the end this is enough. We are interested in the prostitute [Abbatecola 2011]; she
is the catalyser of discontent, protestations and repressive strategies. She is the evil, especially if
migrant or clandestine.
138
3.2. Brief methodological note.
The conduction of this part of ETTS Project required the use of different instruments of social investigation
with the objective to collect information for an analysis:
•
10 in depth interviews to clients of the sex market; all the people interviewed were biological males
aged from 34 to 65 and only one of them declared to be homosexually oriented;
•
15 semi-structured interviews to boys (8) and girls (7) attending the last years of high school;
•
a radiophonic experience listening the clients' experiences;
•
6 interviews to sex workers; only one of the people interviewed was a biological woman whereas
the other were transsexuals;
•
a critical review of the conversations on the website “Gnocca7 forum” for clients of the sex market.
As far as the radiophonic experience is concerned, the choice made was to follow a similar interview
conduced in Milan towards the end of the '90 (Leonini, 1999). The University of Genoa decided therefore to
get in touch with a local radio (Radio Babboleo), proposing them to dedicate a space and a public reflection
on the theme of sex market and sex consumption. The direction of the radio showed immediately to be
available and a broadcast with the evocative title “”Hello who's buying?” comes into being.
The broadcast took place, weekly , for the entire month of november 2012, every thursday from 9 to 10.
The broadcast was hosted by a professional conducer, introducing the representative of the Graziose
Committee (Committee for Prostitutes' Rights), collaborating with the University of Genoa on ETTS Project
(please see attachment 1).
During the 4 episodes the choice was to avoid to nominate the investigation, not to influence the radiolisteners.
The objective was to launch themes for reflection and listen the point of view of the people. On this
objective, the University of Genoa made available different instruments. More specifically, the radio listeners could put in contact with the Graziose Committee in different ways:
•
sending messages on the cell-phone of the radio;
•
calling on air;
•
using a Facebook page expressively created titled “Hello who is buying? Voices on commercial sex”;
•
writing an e-mail ([email protected]);
•
calling after the broadcast a number, initially available from 10 to 11, then all day long during the
month of november.
•
•
An information sheet was set up for each phone call, with the following scheme:
Sex/age
•
Cultural level/profession
•
Marital status
7
Colloquial expression meaning “vagina”.
139
•
Client/non client/usual/occasional
•
(if client) preferences: women, T, men
•
Protected relations or unprotected
•
Themes of the call
•
Observations
The radio broadcast was promoted through different channels such as internet, Facebook and local
newspapers.
The information collected is “condensed” in the analysis presented in the following pages but, in reference
with literal quotes, the choice was to refer only to in-depth interviews and to the “Gnocca forum” website
to grant and maintain central the point of view of the client.
3.3. The magic mirror. Reflecting on clients' words and analysis of imageries beneath.
When the men interviewed told their experiences concerning the purchase and fruition of sexual
performances, the scenario was strongly centred on protagonists-clients. In a metaphorical sense, clients
appear at once as directors, scenarists and protagonists of “almost-monologues” in which the role of the
“stooges” is minimal and, for the majority of the cases, it appears subaltern to the power defining the
outline and the scenes. In the stories the encounters with the sex worker8 is often removed and the
presence of the other person can be assimilated to the one of a “magic mirror” necessary for a successful
staging of the clients' desires.
…but I don't know how to explain it.. I tell you something stupid.. like to play at the
games.. you pay you play! [Manuel; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
It is like a bitter beverage, I don't know.. it is like those participating consciously to a farce
in which he is the actor of a farce right? And therefore takes the staging for real, being
conscious that it is not so, right? This is a bit more refined thinking.. but I think this can
happen as well. [Adriano; 42 y.o.; heterosexual]
Maybe you do it to have less problems, to let off, to outlet without any compromise.. of
any kind. You do it because at least you don't have any sort of problems.. if by chance
you're married, or you are with someone that you don't want to leave.. to do something
different you go with someone you know is not going to create any problem, as far as I'm
concerned it has always been a form of masturbation, to me it is the same importance you
give her, as far as I'm concerned.. I don't know how it is for other people […] A lot of
people do it because at least don't have to give any explanation, don't have to put
anything into discussion, I think.. don't have to sit down and talk and cannot, I know men,
with a woman only they get paranoiac..maybe they are insecure. Whereas with them, you
don't have to no nothing nothing: if you have some money on the side, you go, half an
hour later you solved your problem. . [Luigi; 39 y.o.; heterosexual]
8
Considering that the client interviewed declared to pay for homosexual relations, in the text the references
to sex workers and synonyms will be referred to females.
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Summing up, it is, banally, an hormone outlet.. summing up if it's about having relations
[for money].. generally I prefer whacking off at home.. with my friends' wives, I let them
9
talk right with their voice, as Gaber would say.. [laughs].. I think there is.. that solipsistic
element is back, that need is back that, actually, is a need we all have in our relations.
[Leonardo; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
It is not strange that in different passages of the interviews the sexual relation with a sex worker was
assimilated to a solitary form of masturbation, stating how the presence of the other person is merely
functional to personal excitement. In this scenario there is no space for negotiation neither for quality nor
for the possibility of the sex worker to state her desires. There are obviously some initial pacts for which sex
professionals can define a range of allowed performances, excluding parenthesis or transgressions to the
rule – creating, in the meantime – a context for further potential negotiation that seems to attract clients,
illustrative in this sense is the matter of condoms – but the economical nature of the exchange and the
constant reaffirmation of the inequality between powers of the parts sanctions continuously the clients'
“superiority”.
The only thing I was asking was to touch her tits, and there were some of them that
wanted me to pay more, it's so funny! I even asked them to give me a blow job without
condom.. one of them did it, I liked it and intrigued me a lot, and so I went back some
times.. she was one of the street, funny, I really liked it, I mean I liked a blow job like that,
done by someone that wasn't my girlfriend, it seemed, I don't know.. exceptional, exciting.
[Marco; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
[…] then it happens also that they run away, sometimes, because when you've been going
with a person for ten, twelve years, you ask her “ Listen now I want to go to the bathroom
and have you piss into my throat” … ok, and this one doesn't want to do it, and he goes
away, he never comes back, I mean.. then probably you shouldn't have asked, but I know
that he known already what it is, because it's been twenty years that we've been going
together.. [during the time] I pushed you beyond, because I learnt, through the years, so I
learnt that some specific things I thought they would have been, even to me, disgusting, I
tried them instead and appreciated, some of them, some others I tried, didn't appreciate
them, I keep thinking they're not for me. Therefore, I propose.. I try to let them evolve the
old ones, even in this pseudo-couple.. I evolve, they don't if I don't make them do so.
[Enrico; 43 y.o.; homosexual]
In particular for heterosexual clients, relating to a sex professional means to prove themselves in an
exercise of representation (therefore a mirror is necessary) of their own masculinity, but it's a desirable
game only if the victory is granted in advance. As a consequence, in the majority of cases this exercise of
auto-representation is felt as fulfilling only if the woman involved takes part to the staging and adheres to
the prearranged script, using their “mirroring” function to give back an image carved on the desires of the
client (for this reason the mirror has to be magic, therefore ready to lie if necessary).
The moments in which I had more fun was when a human relation was present, because
they also have another way to be involved in. I'm speaking especially of the southamerican ethnic group.. because it is necessary to make a difference. Because in my life I
have had mainly relations with South-american prostitutes. Therefore the playful
dimension is absolutely there, obviously it is not at all comparable with a full intercourse
with the person you are in a relationship with. Anyway some of the things are not done by
you, but done to you, they hardly allow you to let you do them things. And it would also
9
Giorgio Gaber was a well known Italian singer who recently died.
141
be stupid from a man to think that there could be an involvement. In the end the
mechanical aspect is present. They do it repeatedly with other people. When a bit of a
relationship takes place to me it is even more fun, I felt they let go a bit. With one of them
especially [laughs].. [Giovanni; 40 y.o.; heterosexual]
Speaking about an implicit “staging pact” that is established at the negotiation of the sexual
performance, one of the interviewed added an interesting reading, distancing himself from the
point of view of other people involved in the investigation. Among the stories collected this is
one of the passages in which the “stooge” is also taken into consideration:
Many say.. “Either she is nymphomaniac, she like it herself, otherwise she doesn't feel
anything”.. but within the category “don't feel anything” it is funny because.. first of all it
is not true that the category of sensing.. I mean if you allude to orgasm for sure [laughs]..
but the category of sensing doesn't end there.. the category of sensing has also its
contrary you understand? I mean sensing bad.. because feeling one that is breathing on
you, it is not a nice thing and as much as you can get used to it.. this moreover.. I don't do
that job and don't know, but I can imagine that as much as you can get used to it.. if you
are a woman.. conscious.. so you are not.. if they took you away half of your brain all right,
but if your brain works you're not.. you are always there.. it's a type of answer like those
thinking that “the boxer doesn't feel the blows”.. no, no! The boxer feels the blows exactly
like you, but he is used to suffer them.. this means that the sensorial experience is still
there, the experience of the world.. it is the same: blow on the face equal a blow on the
face, the difference is that he's taken so many that he's capable of getting over it, ok? But
he won't erase the information, I don't know if it's clear.. I think to prostitutes it happens
the same thing.. I mean if someone smells.. you understand he undresses and smells.. and
I imagine that this can happen everyday.. it is not a nice thing.. and she feels the smell as
much as I do, you do, the difference is that instead of saying.. maybe sometimes they do..
“Go away, please”.. many take a breath in and get over it right? But not for this they are
willing to erase the information, therefore those that say “She doesn't feel anything”.. it is
a rude judgment, decisively self-centred, meaning that.. “Its business”.. I mean that he is
not a.. it is not well thought, as a judgment, because it doesn't correspond to reality, I
think. [Adriano; 42 y.o.; heterosexual]
In this domain the range of the representations turns around to the different aspects of what we call, in
general, a traditional “masculinity”: male as hunter, the sexually exuberant male capable to fully satisfy a
partner, the sexually hyper-active male, the economically powerful male and conscious to be able to buy
the desired services.
One night we were to 5 because we wanted to see the length of each… so we didn't have
an intercourse but oral sex. It was almost.. a game: who would last longer, right? The one
who lost would pay for everyone […] I find it like… I'm paying for something, I'm choosing
a sweatshirt.. bad comparison.. but I mean: if I go choose something I pick that sweatshirt
instead of the other one, whereas if you make it as a gift to me either I like it or not I
cannot say anything.. I'm not saying that what I think is correct.. but.. I'm buying
something, so in that moment I feel like something and I know that I can pay for it right?
And I don't have the time to court her or ask her to do things so.. [Gennaro; 38 y.o.;
heterosexual]
[In a dating house in Germany]I did it 5 times in an afternoon.. I thought I could not make
it, if I have to be honest, but they told it to me “For sure you won't make it” because after
the first one already.. sincerely I didn't think I could get to 5 in an afternoon for the simple
reason that.. I said it is “humanly” impossible.. [laughs] but all the times I came back and
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said “I'm tired” I would maybe get approached by one of the girls and said: “Ok give me 5
minutes I'm a little tired now I drink something”..“No, no, you can do it, come on…”
[laughs] .. something like that because.. obviously they know that changing girl you can.. I
mean the same one cannot keep your interest on for 5 times in a row. [Giuliano; 34 y.o.;
heterosexual]
The function of “stooge” played by sex workers is limited to a series of determined roles complementary to
the male protagonist, therefore according to the stories it's been appointed as a pray to conquer,
professionals that – according to the specific characteristics of the interviewed – are invaded by a sincere
pleasure “forgetting” to apply the detachment functional to the role of the sex worker, as nymphomaniacs
and, in frequent cases where the women aren't of Italian origin, about specific expressions concerning
ethnical characteristics.
Some would be whores even though you had not to pay them, so they are already
disposed to that sort of job, they are at ease and they suffer less than others maybe.. you
see it from the way they behave, you see if she likes it as well. Because some of them like
to do it, you can see it.. it's like when you do no matter what job, you see if a person puts
passion in it or if that person does it because he has to, you see?[…] Sure… I think anyways
that she fakes it.. but I don't mean by orgasms or stuff like that, you see it from the way
she does it, right? If a person does it in a more passionate way... then that person can be
better doing it professionally... but according to me she must be disposed to it, otherwise
you can't do it that well... on certain things you cannot fake.. that much.. [Luigi, 39 y.o.;
heterosexual]
[In a dating house in Germany] there are two categories of prostitutes, those that.. me
and my friend once we got into the place we find in front of us two beautiful, blond
[laughs] naked girls and imagine that we already saw that there were a lot of girls like
that... and I insisted with my friend saying “No, hold on a bit, let's go downstairs where the
sauna is and.. we take a shower and a sauna at calm we relax a bit, stuff like that […] so a
couple of them offered themselves for one of us [laughs] they showed themselves for
this... I mean they were hunting for the client.. and many girls hunt for the client, some
others instead show themselves off like in a shop window, there are some couches, others
in forms of spheres.. a bit more like in a brothel let's say [laughs] like you imagine the far
west... where they lay , they put in languid positions and wait for the client to go... it's like
the game of the hunter and the pray... you are courted a bit... because it is not a real
courting... or you are the one picking, then you stop by the girl, you start talking to her and
then you tell her “Come on let's go upstairs”... I preferred the aspect “ I'm the one
picking”, maybe probably because actually.. at least I'm convinced that actually they are
the one picking [laughs]... I mean as males we are mere puppets [laughs] I mean it is
probably a bit because of... feeling like Brad Pitt as he enters a café saying [snapping his
fingers] “You, you and you come with me” [laughs] immediately a boss.. [Giuliano; 34 y.o.;
heterosexual]
A stereotype on an ethnical basis is in fact a recurring characteristic in the interviewed clients' stories and,
in a larger sense, it represents a determining aspect in the necessary objectification of sex workers in
clients' visions, this objectification appears essential to safeguard the good result of the representations
staged during the encounter as a mechanism for removal of the unknown reasons for sex workers to be on
the market.
The categorization is quite rigid: South-American women are happier and more oriented to a ludic
approach to sex, women and men coming from Subsaharan Africa keep a bond with heart corresponding to
animal behaviours, Chinese women and Eastern-European women result more detached and cold during
the sexual intercourse. In this sense Italian sex workers (whose offer has according to the interviewed
143
drastically lowered during the past years) seem to be more inclined to show the difficulties of their
profession, ending to be judged too often as less desirable or in any case hardly “manageable” by the client.
The sensation is that the Italian woman is always angrier to do what she is doing. The
Chinese is more autonomous... that's why I haven't gone with them much, just with a
person that was amused by the situation to the point that she was amusing to me as well.
South-American women instead are really positive people. Really positive, in the
approach, talking to you, asking you if you want a tea afterwards, Italians instead I've
always found them very angry. [Giovanni.; 40 y.o.; heterosexual]
The black is more shy, African black is more shy, less sexual, although very.. I use a bad
term, he is a bit free-range, I mean he comes from a territory.. they are more.. wilder, they
could be wilder.. for instance the Latin-black instead, there's the one living in Africa,
there's Mozambique, Capo Verde is closer to Brazil, closer to Cuba, closer to Domingo,
closer to that way of having sex, ours, Latin, more caliente, less controlled, more joyful
and with no limits. If I don't want to be passive, because I don't like it, I jerk off and do you
whatever you want, we play, it's funny to pass the night, we chat.. The African you have to
bring him there, he's good.. he's good jerking you off, he's good in bed, the best fuckers in
the world I think are Arabs. [Enrico; 43 y.o.; homosexual]
[Referring to the first sex worker he went to] I think she was from the East.. I think.. Yeas,
almost sure.. I mean I don't know, because practically beyond the linguistic barrier I don't
know how to say.. she was cold, doe eyes, Barbie eyes a bit as well.. like to say “Now we
start it out..” [Giuliano; 34 y.o.; heterosexual]
Who knows now...let's say that lately they are all from South-America so.. but in general I
prefer South-Americans like.. once they were more Italians, there were no strangers..
[laughs] at my age.. I'm almost fifty, when I was twenty you would not find any stranger..
no Romanian nor.. only Italians on the street or at least in apartments […] Maybe SouthAmericans have that attitude.. I don't know.. more joyful I don't know how to tell you.. I
don't mean sexually, but the first approach.. they might be kinder, I don't know how to tell
you, maybe more naïve.. I don't even know if naïve is the right adjective, they are.. it
almost seems that their problems.. that problems to them are like water on a duck's back
comparing to others […] in average I think that Italians are more problematic, in any case
they carry more problems than South-Americans.. that happens independently from the
prostitute, I think women in general. [[Manuel; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
Even the stories concerning experiences judged negative from the interviewees seem to confirm clients'
expectations concerning the “neutrality” of the roles acted by sex workers; almost in all the unsatisfying or
frustrating stories told it is in fact the non-coincidence of the professionals to the outline expected to
determine an unattended result. As much inappropriate are judged all the – voluntary or accidental –
occasions for the rise of backstage aspects of the sex workers' life. In a certain way, it seems like,
subtracting to the profiles imposed by the script, the individuality of sex professionals would steal in these
occasions part of the scene dominated by the protagonists-clients, creating short circuits not tolerated
from the buyers – also because the only fact of buying should represent the right to fully direct the scene.
Quintessential in this sense are the passages of the interviews in which sex workers is reported as
excessively detached and uninvolved, to underline the “betrayal” that these women have made to the
client's initial expectations.
You see it from the behaviours… some really aren't capable.. some you see they don't feel
like.. it happened that some seemed under drugs.. I'm not one of those that uses drugs or
alcohol but sometimes it happened to remark that some either they drank or they were
fully under coke.. it happened to see them.. clearly from the behaviours.. I got that
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thought, it happened that I payed for it and went aways without doing anything.. If I have
to tell you the truth.. I don't know how to explain it.. if it starts badly already.. maybe I
leave without doing anything, I leave immediately, you don't have to pay.. but sometimes
it happened that.. right in the middle of the performance you saw things that.. you didn't
like so.. lazy behaviours, I mean.. a vegetable.. a minimum of participation has to be there,
right? Anyway when a person goes with a prostitutes he buys, right? Buys sex [he quotes]..
if you go with a wooden table or you see a person under drugs or smelling the whiskey…
[Manuel; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
Many years ago I was alone for a journey in Switzerland and.. I was about twenty five
years old.. at that time I was still living with my parents and I had practically all my salary
for me, then I would really pick an hotel randomly.. it was a 5 starts hotel... when I get into
the room I look around and I don't find a menu [laughs], but a series of cards publishing
[prostitutes cards] […] so I call the reception and I have them send me one of these girls
[…] after a while she arrives, I payed the girl directly and it was such a disappointing
experience.. like a doctor's appointment... the woman was very, very, very beautiful, let's
say a magazine-girl.. but.. how can I say... very cold as an experience and.. in fact I didn't
even do it again, I mean there was a sexual intercourse, but I lived it quite.. frustratingly..
because a person you don't know.. without having had a conversation during the night, or
having met her in a disco both drunk, or something like that, I mean the usual dynamic of
a paying relation, where there's let's say... if not really intimacy, in any case confidence..
and besides changing the condom for each position.. it seemed something a bit too
settled.. mechanically so to say.. a doctor's appointment.. that's the best way to define it
[laughs] almost.. to give you the idea of the tone.. practically she dressed me.. I mean she
undressed me and dressed me.. it was something like if.. as if I were a sort of male doll.
[Giuliano; 34 y.o.; heterosexual]
Arrived to this point of the reflections it might be opportune to step back and consider the point of view of
some sex workers involved in the investigation. As much as also in this domain they cannot be considered
representative of the complexity of the different points of view of the sex professionals, their stories give
some useful perspective of the “capsizing” beliefs given by clients. First of all, as it seems obvious, the
pretension of a neutral and non-judging behaviour from the sex workers is denied from them first that, tell
us, they share anecdotes, nicknames and opinions concerning the clients, reserving the right to refuse
those who don't respect specific behavioural, aesthetic and/or hygienic standards. Concerning the
mirroring function expected from sex workers, moreover, some transsexual professionals told different
stories in which, once they participated to the intercourse in a passive role, the client would express anger
and disgust towards the sex worker. As if, once the intercourse concluded, the mirror would loose its magic
and becomes necessary “convince” it to give back the desired image, therefore probably not the “realistic”
one of the moment. Many clients find the need to affirm, in an aggressive way, “Look I'm not gay” to the
people from whom they've just been penetrated, trying in this way to push away the evidences that, in that
context, could mine their own perception as male exclusively attracted from traditional heterosexual
practices and intercourses.
Getting back to the “scenario” of paying encounters, it seems clear that the references to their own private
lives should be managed by sex workers in the most discrete way, as if it handled about general stories
regarding other people in (possibly) other places.
I don't know… I've been going with some of them for a while.. often let's say.. going with
them more often to chat.. I mean you're always limited to know where they live, how
many children they have.. I mean not more than.. I've never had relationships beyond sex,
going out together that sort of things no.. chat only at a level of.. their family, where
they're from, their life in general.. but it's just chatting, the time of a coffee so to say..
when you get dressed afterwards.. [Manuel; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
145
It happened to talk with some girls that lie to you.. but like it happens in our daily life if
you have problems.. anyways.. professionally speaking, right? There's the problem of the
loan you can't pay, then we judge which problem is the worse, but to me the problem that
I can't pay my loan is the same to her having been beaten for months. What I mean is
that.. if I tell you that I can't pay my loan you're sorry, but once you get out of here you
won't say “Oh wait a sec let me give him 200 Euros to help him out”.. I see it this way..
[Gennaro; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
Something particularly censored are all the possible connections to exploitation: the tendency prevailing is
to (re)built the profiles of the people they're buying sex from seeking for “proofs” confirming their
entrepreneurial choices; almost all sex workers mentioned from the interviewed – according to clients'
opinion – are on the market for an individual choice made in full freedom and consciousness. The levelling
of the relation based on the rigid scripts described in the earlier pages, so as for the removal, encountering
private details concerning the lived-experience of sex worker, doesn't allow us to establish if the people are
actually free from constraints and what is the intensity of it (from physical coercion to economical or
affective blackmailing).
If you take Chinese girls out, because think about how a Chinese is structured it is clear
that they're in the racket's hands – for this reason I haven't gone much with Chinese – the
South-American, I can confirm this , because I became friend with some of them, is always
independent. Catholic culture, another approach to the dynamic of prostitution. But at
least you got with a person that decides to gain her life in that way, assertive, she choose
to live so. And also faced – at least from what I have been told – to the possibility of doing
other jobs these women, these people often answer “No, I'm well organized so. I'm
independent, I gan “X” each month, and I would not go back.” [Giovanni.; 40 y.o.;
heterosexual]
Starting by this limited possibility – and probably will as well – to deepen the reasons why a sex worker
decides to sell herself, the interviewed people seem to be brought to give an aesthetic representation of
the life conditions of the people from whom they buy sexual performances, stressing on some
characteristics of the sex workers' behaviours: in different passages they have been described as women
particularly joyful and amused (with a further reference to their personality based on their ethnical
”origin“) reference has been also made to contexts and places for which building a frame of luxury and
relax would work itself, as a warrant of a high level of living for the people working in it. The most evident
references, in this sense, were for dating houses in Switzerland or Germany, contexts in which the activity
of sex workers are described through edulcorated lenses, with frequent reference to their free choice (both
in terms of selection of the clients) and to the sanitary praxis (than for this theme for which they are
perceived as a warrant for a full respect of the rights of a worker). As for the contexts of the street and
luxury dating houses negotiations and dynamics are substantially similar between clients and sex workers,
the different frame in which the situation is located a sort of “spa” seems to legitimate to share
experiences in a free way, as underlined in the following interview.
I was to supposed to spend my vacations in Berlin and among all the things I search for
there.. for touristic reasons.. I found myself reading comments on a place which is
practically a Spa, sauna, massage, hydromassage, Turkish bath.. the name is Artemis.. very
well known in Berlin I found myself having a lot of into on it, because when I told to
colleagues or friends on their fifties that I was to go to Berlin they would say “Go to the
Artemis” they say it's fantastic.. it's like being in Paris and going to Disneyland.. I mean the
majority of people has not been there.. if you're not a child ninety-nine out of onehundred it's not going to be so fun for you.. but we all know that it is there. Let's say that
146
probably it had a greater visibility during the Cup in Germany, but prostitution is legal
there form at least twenty years.. Before leaving I read quite a bit of things on the net.. I
saw how it worked: every monday the girls get a medical check up, for this on monday
they are closed.. for the principal diseases sexually transmissible, all the weeks so that
they can have their working permit renewed then I also had other information when I
talked to the girls on the mechanisms of the structure. For the girl it works so: she pays
one-hundred Euros, she has the right to all the beverages and all this sort of things..
moreover she has the right to take a room, because she manages all this sort of things […]
Let's say that the first experience [with a prostitute] I just told it to my closest friends,
because probably it is a traumatic experience fundamentally , whereas for the second one
I don't feel.. no regrets.. so I'm not ashamed to talk about it freely, I even talked about it
with female friends, with male friends, with people I know without being in a close
relationship.. but it's something that I don't know how to say.. it's like having gone to
Disneyland.. because fundamentally it's something beyond reality.. it's like living in a film, I
don't know ho to say.. with many girls I've talked to, especially one in particular, they said
that it shouldn't even be considered a betrayal if a married man did it, because
fundamentally it's something beyond sex, but it's beyond what it can be.. I don't know..
for instance the one that is married with three children and at night goes with a trans.
[Giuliano; 34 y.o.; heterosexual]
I also know other friends that went to Switzerland I don't know if you've ever heard of
them.. those are places where you get in, you pay “X”.. I think one-hundred Euros.. there
are many girls there, hydro-massages.. you go around practically in your bathrobe I've
never been there.. I've been told so I would have liked it.. I wanted to go but.. I talk about
other people if I went there I would tell you, because it's almost been four years that I
[laughs] get unemployment insurance and I cannot afford it. [Manuel; 44 y.o.;
heterosexual]
Starting from the words of the people interviewed it is possible to reconstruct two essential
profiles for sex workers: on one side are all those obliged to prostitute themselves mostly on
the streets, on the other side are those described as professionals managing their job
autonomously or use (buy) the services offered by the dating houses. Independently from the
“status” assigned to sex workers, the general tendency is to depersonalize the women from
whom they've just bought sex, levelling their description on merely aesthetic aspects or
behaviours relating the encounter. Also the interviewed that declared themselves more
opened and “laic” in relation to the will of not judging morally the prostitutes seem somehow
to fear the judgment that “the rest of the society” could have on them in case the relationship
with the prostitute would get deeper. In this sense, therefore, also in case the women are
represented as “free” and almost “amused” doing their job, their presence in public contexts
seem to be accepted only if it doesn't violate the borders of their role as sex workers.
With one of them in particular, we've become sort of friends, as client, I would go upstairs
with a pizza and a beer, I would stay there and chat for an hour and she would show me
the pictures of Cuba […] Then obviously beyond the human matter, if a girl has a nice ass
or two nice tits, objectively she has a nice ass or two nice tits! It's obvious! Far be it from
me the hypocrite idea of doing charity.. Obviously there was also a ludic aspect.
[Giovanni.; 40 y.o.; heterosexual]
…anyways these are activities that I think you can do for a certain period and finalize to
put some money aside.. to be able then to have a real life.. because I think you cannot
have a life until.. I mean you cannot do.. I mean you can for sure be a doctor, a
railwayman, the mailman and in the meantime have a living.. if you're a male or female
prostitute you cannot have a family in my opinion.. nor a porn-star.. if you talk to a pornstar they're married and have children.. to me is crazy.. I mean if you're a porn-star you
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cannot have a family I'm sorry.. it breaks that.. it's also true that it concerns the sexual
sphere and not the personal intimate one.. but anyways I don't know.. I might be
moralistic in this sense.. it doesn't sound good.. I mean I can easily imagine a person that
in the morning operates, or drives the train or delivers the mail and gets back home at
night.. but a person that in the morning goes for an orgies with 4-5 people and then comes
back home at night, I mean, he kisses his children I don't know.. because when you have
to tell your child that you're a postman it's quite easy.. when you have to tell him that you
do gang bang the whole day.. it's a mess.. I mean you can explain it to an adult something
like this.. [Giuliano; 34 y.o.; heterosexual]
3.4. The first experiences and the categorization of “other” clients.
The first experiences buying sexual performances are, in the majority of cases, reported as something
somehow unavoidable and strictly linked to contextual conditions. The stories of the first approaches to the
world of prostitution are one of the aspects of major homogeneity between the stories collected: for
almost all the interviewed people it's a lived-experience at about 18 years old and reported, years later, as
moments characterized by a ludic-explorative intent in which the Bohemian dimension of sharing in a
group of friends is often indicated as one of the major motivations to measure with the dimension of sexual
relations – that for the majority of the people interviewed resulted almost completely unknown at the
moment of the first approach with a sex worker – through the “facilitated” channel of paying relations.
10
How can I say… you know…the period of the kerb crawling … one goes around, goes
there let's say for.. at the beginning to really have fun maybe you negotiate, but you
don't.. maybe you don't go, the night when you're at 4 in the car. The night you go out
instead.. maybe you're at two, the night maybe you say.. you drank a little more that had
a bit of an effect so.. then.. maybe.. you go and conclude the thing. For sure when we
were kids maybe.. I repeat you do it more to play around than… sometimes you're bored
as well, right? Therefore you did something different, instead of drinking.. maybe instead
of going in bars drinking.. you would go there.. sometimes because you missed that.. the
girlfriend.. maybe and anyhow.. so you would go there and let out, sometimes you would
go [Gennaro; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
The first time as I was a little kid… I've never been a great.. I've never really liked that thing
that much, but we've done it maybe to group... you see? The first time you know.. to 2 or
3 we went off.. we were about 18 years old or a bit older.. but very few times.. we would
go together for kerb-crawling, and other stuff like that.. then afterwards.. few times it
happened like that, then afterwards as I was a bit older maybe. [Luigi; 39 y.o.;
heterosexual]
I was a little kid at that time it was a way.. how can I say.. an initiation, you see? going with
a whore it was something.. “Oh come on”.. at about 18 years old I was clumsy, then it
started that.. then it turned out to be something quite impersonal.. like that.. cold..
uninteresting, then a teenager with few or none sexual experiences, it was something
embarrassing and confusing.. so.. then mostly what happened.. you leave your house with
your friend, you had some liras, at that time, to do it so you would go for it, you would
come in the historic centre and it was a .. it was a challenge for the shier one, right? Like..
“You are a nerd, I'm better...” this fact of chasing masculinity that would find its stamp, its
seal in the first act.. it was during the 80ies and they were Southern-Italian women. In my
10
The “kerb-crawlin” is something quite common especially among young adults that, usually in group, they sto
by with the car in the streets where the sex workers stand working trying the first trials of negotiation that,
generally, do not end up with an effective purchase of an intercourse.
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case it was a woman quite aged.. I wonder how old she was.. but the context was the one
11
of “Bocca di Rosa” .. she would stay on the door, she was a friend of a friend, so he would
bring you.. one of the two would wait outside and the other got in.. and.. “How did it go?
Yes, go”.. I mean it was a woman that realized she was dealing with kids so she would be
quite rude.. but really not much attention.. probably she had no fear or embarrassed by
two kids that would come there. [Adriano; 42 y.o.; heterosexual]
The red thread linking these stories can be identified through the echo deriving from the traditional “visit to
a brothel” has in the representations of the interviewed. For these people the meaning of the first
experience with a prostitute seems to correspond, at least partially, to the value of the initiative rite to the
adult age, although the idea that this rite confirms a “healthy” masculinity seems to be less and less
entrenched. Considering that the average age of the people interviewed is around thirty-five years old, it
can be hypothesized that this generation of man lived personally the change of meanings culturally
assigned to the experience of mercenary sex fruition: to the generations before the dichotomies opposing
wife and lover, mother and prostitute, holy and profane love was a cultural premise pervasive to the point
that a brothel was a necessary place to experience the first experimentations of sexuality, whereas for
generations after the progressive legitimation of female sexual desire – although, as we will see later, there
are still different cultural oppositions blocking its full acceptation both on the public opinion as in the
private one – implicated a wider range of occasions and equal encounters for the two genders, therefore
not regulated by economical mindsets on a rate-performance basis.
The first time paying… well let's say that in my case there was a loneliness leading.
Because at that time I wasn’t in a relationship..I’ve always had difficulty entering a
relationship, but not that many in comparison to others of my generation, which is a
sexually much more free generation.. but I don’t have.. I’ve always had troubles creating
longer relationships.. I’ve never felt that much that need in my life, but let’s say limited,
you can count them on a hand.. and in any case it’s about sex..we like sex..and in the end
it has taken few, I was alone.. [Giuliano; 34 y.o.; heterosexual]
I’ve never been that lucky with girls, especially as a kid. I wasn’t good looking, I was timid,
embarrassed.. Then in my neighbourhood we use o speak about prostitutes, who knows
where I had already heard speak of it, also in the family to laugh, or among friends as a
12
way to have sex for the first time.. Going around the vicoli you would see them.. I
remember the first times, or maybe the just the first time, before going with her I though
it over, and I would go around and around the vicoli to see them. One day, I was about
sixteen or seventeen years old, I found the money, I decided and went for it. It was a day
of feast, I remember, an afternoon, and as I walked I remember.. my emotion, my legs
were trembling a bit, I didn't want to be seen by anyone, and these vicoli on the shade,
with few people around.. on a side street I saw a young girl, she even seemed shy as I was,
and I went with her. [Marco; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
In this sense particularly suggestive are the words of one of the interviewed saying how for a generation of
North-Africans arrived in Genoa during the ’90, the fact of not being accepted as client by the prostitutes of
the historic centre (although the offer of girls is usually very wide in that area) would cause them a disease,
11
“Bocca di Rosa” is the title of one of the most known songs of Genovese singer Fabrizio de Andrè. The songs
tells the story of the “impossible” love between a client and a prostitute, and in the meantime, it has become
one of the most efficient and used symbolic representations of a traditional prostitute (characterized by an offer
of girls almost totally of Italian origin). Often the term “Bocca di Rosa” is used as a nostalgic reference to a world,
the one of Genovese historic city centre prostitution, thai rapidly changed during the past fifty years (both in
terms of offer than demand).
12
Vicoli : narrow streets characterizing the city centre of Genoa.
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as if they wanted to reserve as well their right to be initiated to a passage so important as “becoming adult”
and, in a certain way, “becoming adult and included” in the receiving society. In its story the interviewed
describes in a very efficient way how on such a dense theme as the discovery of sexuality in an adolescent,
there are physiological factors but also, and mainly, cultural ones illustrating how to some practices is is
assigned the symbolic value of the initiation rite.
So at the beginning of the 90 when they arrived.. the first migratory fluxes from Morocco,
the historic centre filled with Moroccan .single males.. I remember that I stayed at M.
[area of the historic centre of Genoa in which prostitution is present in a wide variety
during the day] at that time… especially those let's say from adolescent and over, they had
a big problem because they didn't... much they lived in a condition of total isolation here, I
mean that their social possibilities were very limited, they were obliged to go sell flowers,
they lived in apartments, decaying hovels where they would even share their bed, they
alternated.. the younger ones were also obliged to do stuff at home, cook etc.. a wretched
life and no possibilities to have relationships with Italian girls none.. at that time.. then it
changed a bit through the years, but at the beginning.. Because they seemed real looser
you see.. and they came from the hinterland, they were farmers so.. culturally.. they had
few tools, the would be astonished in front of occidental shopping windows, they had nice
trousers, shoes.. hygienically devastating, I can tell from the conditions they lived in here,
but probably also in the countries of origin.. a bit like here, my dad was a farmer and he
washed himself once in a blue moon, farmer culture […] well not even prostitutes would
go with them, this was the point.. and there was an atmosphere of hate.. to them, when
they talked of prostitutes.. they felt excluded.. by those already excluded, you see? Once
in awhile they would send some socks, stupid things, lighters, stuff.. they would make
forty thousand liras.. they hoped to.. and these would turn them off: “Me with you, I don't
go with Moroccans”, you understand? And this would pissed them off.. they would
become disdainful, aggressive and you could not mention the subject, they would piss off
badly.. I understand that […] I don't reflect with you on this just for the sake of it.. there's a
meaning behind it.. as if it was materialistic.. functionally .. as if the body of the man had
to ejaculate, right? Which is abstractly true, but as much as the feminine one, I mean..
from the point of view of pleasure.. but it's everything turning around it to make the
difference.. I mean these guys were feeling so angry not because they could not have an
orgasm with a woman.. maybe also but.. but for everything else turning around it.. for the
refusal, for the bad luck in the unlucky situation they felt to be in, you see? [Adriano; 42
y.o.; heterosexual]
Following the first experiences in contact with sex market some of the interviewed tell that they
maintained a certain regularity in the purchase, whereas others tend to underline their profile as
“occasional” clients. Beside the frequency that the interviewed had buying commercial sex, a common
tendency was the one to report their own experiences purchasing sexual performances as if it dealt about
episodes “far away” from themselves, at least in terms of familiarity to the practice of it.
For occasional clients there's always a “before” in which they put their experiences setting them away from
the present or a “not anymore” to set the choice of not buying commercial sex anymore.
Well at that time.. now it's been awhile that I don't pay anymore because since I work by
myself.. the expenses are measured out. [Gennaro; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
Anyway I haven't [bought sex] many times, it's something I don't like, that I like a lot .. I
don't like it because what I like doing with women.. first of all I like being liked by a
woman, as a consequence I know already that.. moreover thing I like to do with a woman
when other men are there with them [sex workers] you cannot do them.. I'm picky at
times so if I go at a woman's place I get disgusted.. to go on her bed.. where other men
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have been.. [Luigi; 39 y.o.; heterosexual]
At a moment I “I gave up”, as you would say with drugs, besides we will see that there are
also aspects concerning habituation, I wasn't bothered, in that case, because I had a good
looking girlfriend, she was nice, I was making love often, so I did not care about it
whatsoever. [Giovanni; 40 y.o.; heterosexual]
I told it only to the closest friends, and not even to all of them, only to those that I shared
some things with, but I can say that I went with prostitutes for many years, but few!.. not
that much, not always, every once in a while. [Marco; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
The distance is not only temporal, considering how the interviewee distinguish their auto-representation as
clients from the stereotype (in the majority of cases negative) they share with “other” clients”.
The construction of the “other” is functional to the distinction of their own profile and in particular there
are some details functioning as a distinctive criteria. “Other” clients are therefore stigmatised due to the
frequency they have buying the performances, the habitude to meet people working in the street instead
of referring only to the market of “apartments” (which in a hierarchy of shared values from the
interviewees locates on a higher level compared to the street market), the tendency to negotiate with sex
workers victims of exploitation or the naiveness which makes them mix paying performances to affective
relationships.
There are people who really are fanatics, there are people that I don't think they get it
stiff… they go get drunk at night in bars, every week end they go for whores around.. I
don't even know how they do it in those conditions, drunk as shit, I don't think they do
shit. Maybe they even arrive to bring her home, who knows, or not. Horrible degrading
situations, it's something I would never do and I never did it, to take a slut home, but
there are people that let them in their home I could.. my god! That's terrifying! But there's
people that do it frequently.. beside the fact that there's no other way they can go with
women I think, and then I think it gets to be addictive when he gets the lust he has.. it's
something mixed to alcohol, they drink, as they're a bit out of control they get the lust to..
do also that. [Luigi; 39 y.o.; heterosexual]
As for girls in the street, I didn't feel like going with them because they were often sad.
Then you immediately think to the fact that fucking is something bad, and they come to
your mind, you know the movie with the pimp, the girl obliged to be a slut, or otherwise
because she's poor, like in the movies, you know.. every now and then I would go aroung
and would catch girls that seemed easy, and so I would be easier as well, although that
though would never leave me.. No, black ones seemed even more sad, poor girls, at a
moment I got to know that they were so exploited, you know black girls traffic.. I don't
remember, I must have read it on the newspapers. Every now and then they write that
they're practically kidnapped, or blackmailed. Then it turned out that it was like that for
Albanian girls as well, Albanian mafia etcetera, which are those staying on the street right?
So I understood the sadness, and I really stopped to go. [Marco; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
Sometimes farmers from Piedmont come up to my mind, they used to come down to the
city centre of Genoa to go for prostitutes and they used to put up this false jealousy show
when these guys arrived, right? With the goofy manners of farmers.. they would say “You
haven't been back anymore.. so.. you went to another one.” and those would gloat.. I
mean, right? Obviously they believed them. [Adriano; 42 y.o.; heterosexual]
In sums, speaking about individual choices the habit of buying sex is not considered by the interviewees as
a fully legitimate custom and, determining fact, acceptable only if occasional alternative to “real” life
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relations, where the limit of the involved subjects' masculinity is wider. This aspect marks probably a
generational change for the population of clients: the fact to fall back upon commercial sex swift from
almost normal condition to “waste” custom to be ashamed of, mostly in cases where this results to be the
only option for sexual encounters. It's as if masculinity became less and less of an a priori given category
and its elective domain of confirmation became the one of the sexual conquer and, differently from what
happened for the earlier generations, this conquer had to be obtained through a relation and a more or less
equal negotiation with partners.
You know… I was short and a bit fat. Shy. I wasn't doing any sport, I was studying at a
professional institute and every once in awhile I would work at black helping out a friend
of my dad. I had some friends, but just a few, we were the boring one that would go for a
beer at the pub. My friends didn't know that every now and then I went for a slut, I was
ashamed of it, it was a loosers thing, right? I didn't have a girlfriend already, it was like
certifying that if I didn't pay I could not fuck, as people would say “no now would come
with you”.. At least, during the first years […] Whereas now, among colleagues, married or
in couple at work with one or two, with the eldest, maybe you come up to the topic, and
there you're not a looser anymore. Not that the subject is among those I talk the most,
very few instead, but the subject can come up. [Marco; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
According to me but let's say that if one is not married, or doesn't have strange problems
for which he cannot show he is going.. as far as I'm concerned because I've never had
problems.. with women let's say that if I had had problems with women I would have not
gone to prostitutes. [Luigi; 39 y.o.; heterosexual]
…if my son went to prostitutes I would tell exactly in which way.. if you go whoring on the
street with a miserable kidnapped from her village.. you're a disgusting man.. I mean that,
if you go with that one in Switzerland, in Austria, in Germany, things like that, where they
get a lot of money, they do it by choice, because objectively what they earn it's earned.. so
I say “Fine.. but try not to consider it your only sexual sphere”, I mean the only thing I
would tell him is not to be a substitute, I mean it has to be something different. [Giuliano;
34 y.o.; heterosexual]
When opinions are expressed in a more and general abstract manner, the interviewees are ok
declaring themselves favourable to the legalization of prostitution, often reproducing a
nostalgic reflection attributing the application of the Merlin Law13 the “original sins” of
progressive degeneration of italian sex market. Through the following passages it comes back
to evidence how some narrative formulas – and the stereotypes connected – are particularly
spread - “..it's the eldest job on earth”, “.. when houses of pleasure were there, control,
respect and cleanliness were also there” - and applied to build an aesthetical representation –
and as a consequence morally accepted - of prostitution.
I'm favourable for the re-opening of brothels. I think it would be the rightest thing. In any
case you won't defeat the problem. You can take them away from the streets, but there
are some apartments.. So, I repeat, it's the eldest job on earth, right? I don't think it will
eve die. The only way, according to me, is to do the same as with gambling games.. earlier
it was illegal like Totonero14, so to say, now you can play at a Tobacconist. Totonero is
always there, it's not disappeared.. I see it this way. At that point you should exploit the
13
The “Law Merlin” ratified, in february 1958, the closure of the houses of pleasure, the abolishment of the regulation
on prostitution in Italy and the introduction of some penal punishment increases linked to the exploitation of
prostitution.
14
Totonero is a system of illegal betting, concerning the sportive domain (soccer in particular).
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occasion: you control the girls who are regular, they are clean they don't have any
problem behind like for sure the one staying in the street do. [Gennaro; 38 y.o.;
heterosexual]
I could tell you banally that it's the eldest job on earth. It's licit to make distinctions. When
you're twenty you don't ask yourself what's behind a prostitute. Because you're twenty
and you're an idiot. You're not mature enough to pose yourself questions beyond. You go,
you pay for a service, apparently it gives you a lot of pleasure, but it actually gives you
quite few. As you grow up you pose yourself more question and I did so. If behind a
prostitute there's an exploitation net, it's an ethical obligation for myself not to fuel this
net, you understand? If I have to go with a prostitute who is exploited – but this is a
reflection I make today as I'm forty years old – then it's immoral to go. It's the prove that
the person is focused on herself and she doesn't asks herself what's hidden behind things.
Whereas if – because it exists – prostitution is an independent act, I don't see anything
bad. It's an equal exchange, where you actually negotiate a performance and where and a
man – clean, respectful, honest – is is need of consuming a sexual relation and he turns to
a person that, not being linked to anyone, in a clean, respectful, honest manner offers a
service.. seen things this way I don't think there's anything bad going with a prostitute.
[Giovanni.; 40 y.o.; heterosexual]
The points of view of the interviewees are decisively homogenous in terms of tendency to stigmatize
people practicing sexual tourism. The construction of the sexual tourist ideal-type incorporates (turning
them to extreme) all the characteristics that clients' stories include to describe the behaviours of the
“others”. In particular, the fact of shifting the frame of the encounters with sex workers from familiar
places and night clubs to contexts defined with the generic label of “third world” implicates the uncovering
(and therefore the inefficiency) of some of the symbolic disposals that clients use to legitimate their
actions.
Well I saw sexual tourism.. I even saw it on air.. I remember years ago when I was in
vacation in Cuba, I left with my mother and sister.. I was going through hard times let's
say.. so I left […] and I remember the first night that I arrived to the hotel I was a bit jet
legged for the flight and everything.. I said “ I'll go out and drink something” And I'm a
drinker an alcoholic almost [laughs] and so I said “I'll go out, there are.. this Rhum.. I'll
drink something, and relax for a sec” so I got into this pub, they call them “Cultural
Centres” but they are fundamentally bars and all owned by the government so not real
Cultural Centres.. to be short.. after the first 5 minutes there's.. I was about twenty seven
years old.. there's a girl that comes up she must have been sixteen or seventeen.. I cannot
say if she was fifeen or eighteen.. I mean they all seem so young.. you get the doubt […]
I've there for five minutes and she offers herself to me for 5 dollars.. I move.. and a boy
offers me his girl-friend for 5 dollars again.. I move again.. I start talking to a girl she must
have been on her twenties.. 10 words after she tells me “You're more important than my
brother and my father”.. so I say “Have a good night you all” and got back to the hotel.. I
get there and spend the night crying and sending sms to a girl-friend telling myself “Where
the fuck they brought me [laughs] I mean where am I? In horror land”.. because I imagined
horrible things.. then objectively speaking after 8 days and speaking to these retired-sixtyyears-old that spend 8 months there I understood that it's a cultural problem in a sense
that they are underdeveloped, so practically women have cannot do anything, if you are a
man it means that you can be a farmer, if you are a woman you are.. you're not a resource
for the family, so let's say that there is low esteem for the woman because she isn't a
productive entity according to them.. therefore.. secondly they don't starve at all.. most of
all they are missing everything that our society has, so make up, stupid stuff, and
practically they sell themselves for 5 dollars and then I think they buy themselves a
lipstick, a purse, this kind of stuff.. it's sad.. so they need a policy.. I don't know […]
[Directly] they aren't exploited by anyone but.. I mean there's a difference from a woman
153
that says “I'd rather work 8 hours a day and raise one-thousand and four-hundred euros in
a day and do it for fifteen years.. because I think that they cannot even do this.. but you
raise sums that justify your choice.. then fundamentally it's sex the majority of people has
sexual relationships with people they don't care at all about, often you have sexual
relationships.. I have friends telling me, even with men they don't like.. because this
happens as well.. because that night maybe they're sad.. [Giuliano; 34 y.o.: heterosexual]
Well… let's say parallel worlds: middle-class, Genoese, from a good family, married, with
children, going for sexual tourism. He goes for sexual tourism, he locks himself in a bubble
in which he can outlet a whole sort of things, he goes back. Is it possible that this bubble
has no consequences or repercussions on the other one? I mean, a dissociating process..
then maybe, he has video-cams all around the house, because he is afraid of someone
raping his daughter.. [Leonardo; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
The fact of finding yourself in countries in which inequalities from upper classes and subaltern ones are
high to the point that they result auto-evident makes, according to the interviewees' opinion , the
behaviour of the sexual tourist highly unscrupulous and substantially unacceptable, to be superimposed –
at least potentially – to the one of a pedophile sexual tourist.
To me it's not even thinkable… it's something stupid to go to a place expressively for that
reason.. maybe because I've never had this sort of problems.. to me we're here already.. a
place is the same from another, it's not the place that makes the difference.. unless you
do sexual tourism because you want to go with young girls, youth going to Thailand, these
people are sick, insecure, crazy.. because maybe they have problems going with women of
their country and it's their only solution to go with desperate women, young even more
desperate that do it for desperation.. It's something I would never do! I could never do it..
not because of the fact that they're young, but because you exploit desperate people.. you
see? It's something I consider disgusting! [Luigi; 39 y.o.; heterosexual]
Us as Italians we have a huge primate for sexual tourism. And it's seen.. it's interesting
how the perception from part of the population is.. I met a Cambodian girl some years ago
and I told her that my uncle stopped by there in the fifties and the first thing she told me
was “Did he like young girls? [Leonardo; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
On this theme, even adhesion to stereotypes built on ethnic belonging of sex workers seems to be less
intriguing, as if the “game” of attributing special characteristics such as joviality, erotical power or
condescension functions fully only if put into contexts in which the sex worker primarily represented as
migrant.
On one hand I would be intrigued by this [sexual tourism].. I would like to go around.. also
to Brazil in South America.. I'd love to see places and everyhting.. and do something useful
along with something fun, I mean.. just to try I would not displease it [..] In those places it
would be different.. as to what I've been told.. first of all the price then.. the cordiality..
the cordiality in a sense that.. the approach that these girls have.. them [friends doing
sexual tourism] they say that it's like having a girlfriend.. but in quotes.. but you know..
they stay with you because you feed them [Manuel; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
As far as I know they go… well now they go often to Ukraine, in such places.. they've
always gone to Thailand.. you would have friends going twice a year.. they would go
express for it.. they were two singles.. two customs officers that went off [..] then there
are places such as Cuba.. such poor countries, where there's people that were together in
154
the distance and they would keep being together.. idiots that would pay their expenses
[laughs], cell phone charges, sending money, god.. and those girls.. then anyone would go
with anybody.. these are desperate people, if they don't do it this way they won't find a
woman, you see? But if you look at them you don't think they have any problem, but
apparently psychologically they do [..] Moreover I know a guy.. physically normal that its
whole life he broke his balls with this woman that turned him crazy, she asked him money
for passports and stuff to come here and then she wouldn't.. he ended up giving her a
load of money, she was even a ugly toad [laughs] moreover.. only she was from Cuba
younger than him, but really ugly [..] One that goes with prostitutes is something more
normal.. because one that goes there and wants to play the role of the boyfriend.. these
guys play the boyfriend only until they're there you see? They don't just go there and pay,
they're even able to go there to stay with a girl.. because these girls saddle to you once
they see you have the money.. then some don't even pay them, they pay in the sense that
they take them out for dinner, they stay at the hotel, but they do because they're
desperate.. it's miserable, I would never have any satisfaction from it [Luigi; 39 y.o.;
heterosexual]
3.5. The repression of female desire and the “de-legitimation” of the hegemonic masculinity.
The considerations presented in the earlier pages have directly something to do with experiences and
visions built over sex market. But, as it makes sense thinking in terms of continuity (of imageries, of status,
practices etc..) between clients and non-clients, in the same way it is important to explore the different
reflections of the interviewees on the female world because the purchase of sex has a signification for the
buyers also in relation to these representations.
For the most part of the stories collected, it appears clear first of all the belief that the distance between
male and female sexualities would determine expectations different from sex, both in terms of desire than
in terms of choice of the partner. According to these visions male sexuality would be mainly characterized
by hormones and would determine an attitude oriented to the research of partners and encounters,
whereas female sexuality would first of all have an inferior “urgency” in physiological terms and, as for the
choice of the partner, would be pushed by values not depending from physical attraction.
I conceive two different sexualities.. mentally.. I mean that a male is more oriented to
multiple experiences by his instinctive needs, although he has been given by nature the
possibility to defend from these relationships.. psychologically, from that point of view..
whereas a female objectively can discern because she needs a companion.. fundamentally
because she has to raise a child.. and so the bond.. it's not like the male that can have a
quickie and then leave as quick [..] I'm really a chauvinist [laughs].. so let's start from the
idea that I've never understood women, because they say something and then do the
contrary, I mean that you cannot obtain a.. sometimes they accept situations so calmly
that you're amazed, you think “I would have already flipped out”.. some other times
instead they suffer for very normal situations, I mean daily life things [..] and then every
one is completely different from the other so.. whereas we are more or less pushed by 4-5
incitements which make us more or less simple, also because we are more oriented to live
in group, whereas for females the group is the family I mean.. males generally hang in
company, we have more of a.. dependent instinct probably due to the fact that we were
supposed to hunt in the past and you had to do it in group otherwise you were weak and
lacking in offence instruments necessary for the survival.. we are more simple, there you
go, I see them more complicated.. [Giuliano; 34 y.o.; heterosexual]
It's like… if I see a woman drunk. If I think about it, it's normal: the same as I can get drunk
it can happen also to a woman. But if I think over the nights spent with drunk women,
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feeling sick afterwards, and messing up things.. it bothers me it's like if they lost their
femininity, when it gets too much it bothers me. But if I think to a man as well, even a
friend, when he is too drunk, not tipsy, so maybe it also depends on how much a person is
drunk. Dude, if I think how much it bothered me when one of us got drunk and messed up
or maybe was in charge to drive, even if he was a friend, a male.. in that case it doesn't
matter if you're a male or a female, but for sex it's harder right?!? [Marco; 44 y.o.;
heterosexual]
Maybe it was a necessity, a physiological one, a weakness [to look for prostitutes]. Maybe
I mentioned weakness because it's a bit part of the deal, I added it now, but at that time I
didn't think of it as a weakness. What pushed me was the need, maybe girlfriends would
come and go, but the fact to have already done it and to know how good it is, how much
fun it is to ejaculate, leads you to want more of these needs. After having had sex the first
times it gets, depending on the subjects, to be a need. [Giovanni; 40 y.o.; heterosexual]
Particularly significant, in this sense, is the story of an interviewee concerning an occasional encounter of
his with an unknown woman: the fact that the woman “took possession” of the script of the “male
predator” – using therefore the occasion of the encounter to satisfy his sexual desire and reducing the
relational components at the lowest – implicates the explicit disapproval of the interviewee. As much as the
interviewee tells the episode using a certain degree of irony concerning the consequences, it is quite
evident the will to underline his distance from the woman encountered whom, in this story, transgresses
many expectations on her role, living birth to a reflection on his own categories on the part of the
interviewee.
Look, when I decided to talk to the psychologist and face some themes of a life that at that
time didn’t fit me, it was because of an episode that really affected me. It happened
nearby Rome, I got into a bar, I glanced with good eye in search of the nymphomaniac of
the place.. I call her so as a joke, although a bit chauvinist.. you recognize her from the
laces coming out under the skirt, she stays on the left of the counter.. she is the one that
will tell you “Hi” bringing you over the fifty percent of the job. I ended up banging her so
violently that it completely disappointed my vision of the womenkind. I don't look at a
woman with that otherness like Dante for Beatrice, but I totally respect her: the women's
world is something that I really appreciate.. but I perceived a violent and revanchist
attitude.. that really scared me. Well, the problem isn't to understand how she
experienced it, but rather how I experienced it. Sorry if I take my defence [laugh]. The
morning after waking up, I asked myself “Damn, is it possible to reach this brutishness?”.
He encounter wasn't even that pleasant .. I've always been a person that really enjoys
occasional encounters. But this thing worried me to the point that I came back to Lazio
and I gave myself up to the psychologist [laughs]. [Leonardo; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
According to all the aforesaid, the fact of imagining a woman in the role of a client of commercial sex as
been experienced by the interviewees as a funny provocation although, de facto, completely detached
from reality.
So browsing the net I found out that in Las Vegas there was a huge brothel [addressed to
female clients] and it said practically that last year or maybe this year they wanted to
relaunch this offer, obviously with female timing.. so.. a couple of hours of conversation..
according to what the journalist said, [..] but it never worked out.. I mean the woman
doesn't experience sex as we do. [Giuliano; 34 y.o.; heterosexual]
It seems strange to me [that a woman buys sex] because in any case to a woman sex is
much easier with a man beside her beauty or ugliness.. she finds a man.. maybe not a
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model but anyways.. to a man is more difficult finding a woman. Either he is very good
looking.. or you're so famous that you can bypass beauty.. obviously a famous man is rich
.. but if you're a normal type.. [Manuel; 44 y.o.; heterosexual]
Anyway I'm convinced that women are a bit different from that point of view.. because
them at least.. not all of them because there are women that are worse that men.. but
broadly.. for instance if it were my ex wife that did something like this, I would have
thought that she were psychologically compromised with the guy [Luigi; 39 y.o.;
heterosexual]
Also in this domain, so, the school of thought laying on an hegemonic vision of masculinity exerting its
power through a contradiction allowing to census and eventually censor the female expressions disliked.
On one hand in fact, the opposite dichotomy “romantic” female desire vs “hydraulic” male desire
determines the conditions through which the male need to seek for different partners in order to satisfy his
physiological needs are justified, on the other the expression of a female eroticism “out of control” open
the way to negative “sexual reputations”.
Therefore, also passing the borders of a merely erotic reflection and referring to the dimension of common
sense, the matter of female “citizenship” is constantly in a precarious balance; different passages of the
interviews remark (partially at least) an invalidation and de-legitimation of the role of the man in “official”
couples. According to this idea, in fact, the domain of stable couples would consist, in the majority of cases,
of a system of expectations that doesn't leave space for moments of “disengagement” and an erotic and
playful sharing. This aspect, seems to be even more meaningful if one considers the fact that the majority
of the interviewees declared not to be in search - through the commercialized intercourse – of an occasion
to experiment special sexual practices, because the same practices had already been tried with their own
partners. It's not therefore a confrontation between repressive and uninhibited sexual habits typically
guided by the dichotomy “holy love vs profane love”, but rather a search for evasion from a married life in
which the conflict is always behind the corner. Typically the quality perceived in these relations increases as
the level of engagement and the commitment involved in the encounter diminish, for this reason a
confrontation (negative) with non-paying extramarital flings occurs.
If a person is in need of a different outlet than his wife I think he is doing the good thing,
because otherwise, if whores were not there, maybe he would look around for someone
normal around and then.. they become fond of you, a problematic situation occurs and
you get discovered, and compromised, because I think that men are all the same. There
are men that going with sluts they feel as if they betrayed their wife, other don't you see?
It's not worth as a betrayal with your wife, whereas instead from the point of view of a
woman it is a betrayal for sure. [Luigi; 39 y.o.; heterosexual]
Going back to married ones, I mean not married ones, maybe those married that don't
have to demonstrate anything.. I mean he doesn't have to demonstrate to be able to find
a girl, on the contrary, at this point if you say that once in a while you go for prostitutes is
as symptom of.. that you are one that fucks, or that anyways, how they say to fool around,
“keeps on liking the pussy”.. you're married and you cannot mess up, with a lover
etcetera.. It takes time, money, investments, to go out lying.. whereas if you go for whores
every once in a while you eliminate all this, and you put your lust away. [Giovanni; 40 y.o.;
heterosexual]
Some of the interviewees stress particularly on the fact representing a “risky” female world full of
mermaids ready to attract the most naifs to satisfy their desires (which most of the times have to do with
economical matters rather than erotic ones). Functional to this theme is a further reversal building
stereotypes on prostitutes: with this logic the sex workers set back again to an idealized image of purity,
honesty and transparency expressly to contrast with the “others” therefore women hiding their actual
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intentions with whom it is necessary to negotiate their own manly authority.
After what I experienced with my wife [that betrayed him] and the separation.. I consider
more.. more honest a girl that does it [the job of the sex worker]. Many because they have
to, many that are at home do it because they do it. Right? Because it's a remarkable
source of money, and after all let's be clear, once the economical is there, you do it
independently from the income, you put yourself in it you don't ask anything in return.. I
think they are much more respectable than wives that comes back home and pretends
that nothing happened, and a lot of these things happen right? The same way we do it
they do it as well, as a consequence I respect more a person that does it as a job, because
it happens in life that.. I found myself in situations that.. people do it .. it's better than
having a wife at home that comes back and prepared you something when in the
afternoon she slept with others so.. [Gennaro; 38 y.o.; heterosexual]
In this frame the offer of commercial sex assumes the characteristics of “social subsidiary service”,
functioning as a decompression valve considered necessary for the maintenance of “official” relationships.
If I can make an example, my cousin just messed up his family because he started
betraying his wife with a much lower morality than the one a prostitute can have. I mean a
prostitute is a hard worker. It happened once that I heard her saying “If I meet someone
like you clean, decent, with whom I can also have a chat, my job becomes a bit less ugly”.
When my cousin was in a huge crisis with his wife, and it all turned around the lack of a
sexual relationship, and he said “I know that if I betray her we mess our whole family up”
and I ironically answered all the times “on this purpose they offer a huge service”, because
physically you say you have a strong and unexpressed sexual power, on this purpose they
are a good social alternative.. whereas he messed up his family instead with a person that
has always betrayed his men, she always messed up, then after all.. [Giovanni; 40 y.o.;
heterosexual]
3.6. Conversations on “Gnocca15 forum” as stage of hegemonic masculinity.
The material of analysis used for this part of the report are the registered conversations of the website
“Gnocca forum”, which is the online forum on prostitution most used on a national Italian level. The forum
is composed by different sections divided by theme and geographic area and can be considered overall as
an aggregator for opinions concerning performances and services offered by sex workers.
From the methodological perspective, the material coming from the forum can be assimilated to the
secondary information context, not therefore directly produced in the domain of the present research; this
aspect implicates the fact of not being in control or able to verify the process of construction of these
information which, however, can be considered significant for the reflections proposed on this work.
Different factors contribute to make the online conversations “representative” towards some feelings that
in some more or less explicit way pervade common sense. Specifically said, the fact of being able to express
themselves using avatars16 - therefore eventually hiding some aspects of their own off-line identity – and
the strong sense of community sharing that (how we will see later) links members of the forum, create the
conditions for the users to be able to build an “ad hoc” profile as commercial sex user, overplaying some of
their characteristics and censoring, if necessary, the information that could “damage” the forms through
which they chose to represent themselves with. If the main objective of this work is to reflect on the
15
16
“Gnocca” : colloquial expression meaning vagina and good looking girl at the same time.
Avatars are images picked out to symbolize the profile of the person-user in an online community.
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representations of masculinities and their staging on the “scenes” of paying sexual relations, then the
material presented on “Gnocca forum” is significant as a spontaneous narrative exercise coherent to some
particular cultural influences. In effects, reading the posts of the forum some analogies can be remarked
concerning the themes of the people's interviewed opinions, but the register through which these themes
are presented is often loaded of explicit references, and spectacular characteristics or exasperations.
The forum has a constant and dense activity, new posts come in daily and, in march 2014, the registered
users were over eighty-three thousands for a total of about nine-hundred thousand posts. The enormous
amount of conversations gives immediately a sensation of the importance of the themes dealt, beside the
fact that the users could be inventing the stories they share. In fact, the stories where the imaginative
component is more present can be considered even more relevant, because they represent “perfect”
attempts of evasion to the stereotypes that the users of the forum perceive as relevant. In this sense,
therefore, the forum represents an “amplifier”, which still twisting the “ground noises” circulating in the
public and private discourse, allow further reflexions on the cultural climate in which the continuity among
regular, sporadic, occasional and potential clients takes place.
One of the most evident aspects approaching the forum is the abundant recurrence of posts concerning
regulatory aspects, both because of an etiquette “internal” to the community of the forum and for
behavioural and relational matters concerning the encounters with sex workers. The following two
examples show two different types of posts: one advice concerning the internal behavioural code and a
decalogue of good practices suggested to the clients (defined “punter” in the language of the forum).
Despite the repeated advices of the Admin and Supervisors we remark that part of the
“punterso” fake “punters” rages with rude and offensive interventions that in some cases
run into defamation against other associates to GF and defamations and private violence
against pay girls. By private violence art. 610 of the Penal Code is to be understood people
intimidating to discredit some girls on forums (not only GF) if they don't agree on
doing/facilitating/paying them, if they obtain “favours” they will leave sublime feedbacks
on their performances. From this moment on there will be a turn of the screw.. All those
that will be using adjectives, epithets, stigmatizations offensive, intimidating, violent
against pay girls and other people subscribed to GF will be suspended for 20 days and
their posts erased immediately (if the thread had been started by them the whole thread
shall be erased)! In case of recidivism the suspension will last 40 days and, obviously, the
posts erased as mentioned above. The third time will entail the definitive exclusion from
the forum. No one is entitled to write messages ridiculing or offending supervisors
otherwise there will be a 1 month suspension and in case of recidivism the immediate
exclusion from the forum. The forum lives thanks to the their job (absolutely for free) and
they do their tasks in an exemplary manner and I use this occasion to thank them all for all
they do with dedication. They put their energies, qualities, free time at disposal on for the
love of the forum. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. From today on posts shall be free
of personal considerations and invitation to go or not with a pay girl and the usual
encouraging sentences such as I'll go back/ I won't go back etc. The punters shall limit
themselves to tell their experience without any excessive involvement both in case of
good or bad performances from the pay girl which is and remains a human being with
feelings, needs and disappointments exactly like you punters all. If something will be
written concerning them, it will be immediately erased and punished the responsible (one
caution) all the people subscribed will be controlled and erased those that have more than
a nickname and those presumed to write on behalf of their personal advertiser of their
professional website, that nowadays are spread over different boards especially in the city
of Milan. Concerning the pay girls I confirm that it is absolutely forbidden to write on their
personal threads concerning modalities, quality, timing of their performance to avoid to
17
get immediately excluded from the forum. [post Gnocca forum ]
17
All the quotes coming from “Gnocca Forum” were gathered in an observation period from September 2013 to
January 2014.
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The 20 golden rules of the whoremonger – for the first time on Gnocca Forum (OTR): 1) If
you're not an expert ask advice to friends and acquaintances or get information on the
internet on the girls to go with and those to stay away from. 2) Keep away from the train
station and the prostitutes that hang around, you will only find the worse ones, in some
cities (Prato is one of these) there's a concrete risk to get fined 400 Euros for only stopping
by and talk (even by feet to ask the price for instance or to compliment) and also to catch
a cab to go home due to the seizure of the car (if you stop by with your car).3) Stay away
from trans, they're often drunk or under drugs. Often they make extortions, thefts or
robberies. 4) Be always kind, clean and gentle, polite. 5) Negotiate the price for the type of
performance and the time BEFORE, if something is not clear to you ask for it not to be
surprised. 6) If you're a new client, content yourself of the standard performance the first
time, when you will be a regular client, you will get a better treatment for the same price,
or a discount. 7) When you are in company of a young lady don't discuss with anyone nor
with her. Discussing in these situations can lead to unpredictable and dangerous scenarios
for your safety and privacy. 8 ) Bring always pieces by 10 and 20 they never have rest to
give you. Ge the money read before and hide the wallet in the dashboard. Hide as well
sunglasses, cell phone, keys, and other objects that could be stolen or just even took to
affront you. 9) Don't boast about your wealth, don't show money or valuable objects,
included cell phone. If you have an expensive car you always say you borrowed it or that
the owner is your boss. 10) Go rather for rainy nights than for good weather ones. Usually
during these nights there's less visibility and the police doesn't come down to look after
the whoremonger. They're awesome to have a free hand on the rest of the nights where
important soccer games are on, such as National soccer team matches. 11) Go rather for a
slut you see coming up and down of a car or those that have clients in the car parked
nearby waiting for them. 12) Don't go for sluts you always see free or without clients. If no
one is there there must be a reason and you don't want to find it out. 13) Don't get drunk
or take drugs when you go with a slut. You will confront with situations demanding your
attention, you will have to be lucid not to be outwitted and to react in case of danger. 14)
If you are willing to go with a new prostitute, consider that you could be wasting your
money or having fun, but in any case it will be unknown and a surprise. In case the
situation is not satisfying, keep money aside to go with a prostitute you trust, and remedy
your deception. 15) Don't become the personal driver of a slut, don't go pick her up or
take her to work or bring her back home, you could be suit for aiding and abetting
prostitution. No one forbids you to go out with her, but stay away from her job. 16) If you
are with you car park it so to be able to leave in case of problems, watch out for mud and
trenches on the sideway. If you don't know the area where she is taking you watch out not
to damage your tires or get stuck, check that no one is there to wait for you. 17) Don't
have the girl call from you cell phone, she could be calling previous offenders, dealers,
pimps or so with your number. You shall also hide your calling ID the phone calls always
stay on phone records. 18) Hide the calls register if you called, check your wallet and its
contents, the cell phone and minutely your car. Check under the car mat, the seat and the
side pockets of the doors. Clean the car mat from mud traces. The girl could have left in
your car unmistakable elements, such as condom wrapping, the condom itself, Kleenex or
something else. Check the seats and the headrest there could be hair attached. Clean the
dashboard from eventual oily traces of the condom. 19) If you become friend with a slut,
keep always your private life away from her job. Treat her like a good friend doing a
common job. Don't mix with her business, not even with good intentions. You will end up
playing into her hands and get in trouble. 20) Remember always that going with a
prostitute is like having a go on the carousel, once the money are finished, the fun is
finished. Therefore have fun and don't spend all your money for sluts, because no one will
give you credit, knowing where the money end up.[post Gnocca forum]
The regulatory intention seems to be the answer to different needs, some of these have a pragmatic
character like managing a large number of posts and users of the forum, the behavioural code contribute to
the construction of the profile of the ideal client. The emphasis on advising the use of “good manners”
relating with sex workers, as referring to the respect and consideration of the needs of the professionals
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function as a formula to protect from moral judgments filtering through such a cohesive network. In this
forum in fact there is a marked intention to keep a specific identity as a community to distinct from the
“rest of the world”. A first important demonstration of this aspect is the extensive use of a linguistic code
that, de facto, substitutes all the references to practices and sexual components, translating also the
aspects related to the economic dimension of the sex-money exchanges. The application of this language
has obviously a practical function of evasion of eventual filters and web indexing to explicit sexual
references but, most of all, it is a fundamental component of a community which, through a common an
exoteric language reinforces its internal bonds and shares the “narrative” objective of edulcorating and
make relations between clients and sex workers aesthetic.
Agency = The escort avails herself of the logistic support of an agency
Anal = Anal sex= A level = The escort makes her fantastic backside available
BJ = Blow job
BBJ = Bareback Blow job (without condom)
Bondage = Sadomasochistic games
CID = Cum In Deep (rare)
CIF = Cum In Face
CIM = Cum In Mouth
COB = Cum On Body
COF = Cum On Face
Couples
Covered = Covered blow job (with condom)
DATY = Dinner At The Y = lick the pussy
Deep throat = (put the cock in the mouth along its whole length)
Doggie (style) = Sex from behind
DP = Double Penetration= The girl is available to make it from both sides
Extra = Additional rate for optional performances
Facial = see COF
Fetish = hells and so on
Fisting = Put your entire hand in channel one ( RAI 1,SIDE A, or more commonly pussy)
French kiss (FK) = Kissing with tongue
Full-Service = The escort does everything and very well
GFE = Girl Friend Experience = Intimate fuck, like with own girlfriend
HJ = Hand job = jerk off, masturbation
Incall = the girl receives in her apartment
Independent = Independent = The escort works on her own, without agency
Lesbo show = Lesbian games among escorts
Missionary (style) = (canonical position)
O-Level = Oral sex
Outcall = The escort visits you
Overnight = Sleep with the escort
OWO = Oral Without = see BBJ
Petting
Pissing = Golden peeing (GETTING PEED ON)
PSE = Porn Star Experience
Punter = Escort amateur
Rai1 =Side A= pussy
Rai2= Side B= ass
Rate = Rate/Gift (€ £ $)
Rose = Rate
Rimming = Anilingus
Sado-Maso= Domination games, Bonding, Stepping-on, Giving or Receiving “pleasant”
pain
SBB = Sex Between Breasts
Services = Services given by the escort
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Sex toys = Vibrators, plastic dicks, Ben Wa balls, etc.
S/M = see Bondage
Squirting = Gushing= Female ejaculation
69 = The escort sucks while being licked
Straight sex =Intercourse ì
Strip-tease = The escort undresses while dancing for you
Swallows = She swallows the sperm
Touching = She touches, caresses herself
Tour = The escort goes to cities different than hers
Vibro show = Games with Sex toys
VU= urban speed = 50 km/h = 50 Euros [post Gnocca forum]
Once defined, although synthetically, the rules of the community of the forum, so the group of clients
decides to share posts and stories of their own paying encounters, passing to analyse them enables us to
think over some aspects particularly interesting for this work.
First of all, analysing the interviews gathered it appears quite marked the tendency to edulcorate the life
and work conditions of prostitutes. Sex workers are in fact generally called “pay girls” or “escorts”, with
clear reference to the dimension of their autonomy and free choice. Overall the exploitation matter is dealt
in a vague way, if one considers that pleas inviting to press charges in case of situations of exploitation
(also potential) remarked by the users recur in the forum and that, they agree on an evident underestimation of the phenomenon giving definitely a partial feedback.
Prostitution in italy is not a crime and for 97% of the cases is a free choice for a woman.
Only 20% (according to others even 10%) of people prostituting is a victim of racket
(generally foreigner, they are women conducted in Italy with the illusion of a respectable
job). [post Gnocca forum]
I'm happy that just a smaller part is obliged to prostitute. I wish that one day all the
women will be free to choose.. A flower to all our girl-friends. [post Gnocca forum]
Selling one's own body has some advantages on dependent work:
- They cannot fire you
- Although you pay the spot on the street or the apartment, the rest of the income are
yours and you manage them
- You don't pay any tax
- You accept cash and don't have to give credit to clients
- You can declare yourself propertyless to the financial authorities (and then get caught)
- You are in power of “having everything under control”, on a psychological level, the
clients
- You can extort money and blackmail people having success and immunity
- The field is it always on??? (Is it still growing? Uh..) [post Gnocca forum]
We complaint about unemployment, but caretakers are also missing for instance! Give it a
try offering to one OTR/Escort to take care about your handicapped grandfather/mother
and imagine the answers! [post Gnocca forum]
Also the aspects linked to the economical exchanges are often removed, the acronym VU (“Urban Speed”)
corresponds to a quantity of 50 euros and the metaphors linked to the gifts (“flowers”, “roses”, etc.) are
used to symbolically mask the purchase of performances. In this domain, the reasons why sex workers do
their job are often charged with significations complementary to the merely economical one: it's in
particular descriptions of an insatiable sexuality that connote the women written up. Some extracts of the
write-up on the forum exemplify this tendency:
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[…]I call her, I fix a date and get there. She keeps me waiting for a couple of minutes while
a colleague gets out of the location and at that point it's my turn. She opens the door to
me, I get in.. boom.. IT'S NOT HER, she's not the girl on the photo..I was ready for worse so
I get to plan 2, since it's not her it can be good anyways right?? I scrutinize her and say ok,
I stay. She is blonde, long hair, curvy about 165 cm of height. She has no heels and quite
an innocent dress, she's almost completely covered. You must be asking yourself, so what
made you decide to stay? Her piggy possessed nymphomaniac face and two eyes that she
could get me stiff in a 10 metres distance. I didn't even have the time to undress and wash
that she gives me this deep and juicy bbj, really well done. During the job, listening to one
of my requests, she starts spitting on my cock and licking it very well with her beautiful
little mouth (she even has her tongue pierced and a beauty mark, a perfect mix). Then
after she jerks me, we switch to RAI1 doggy, then missionary (very normal performance),
at that point I tell her I want to enter RAI2 but she tells me immediately that she won't be
able to put it in because it hurts her (she affirms that mine is a big one.. bah!) and that the
condom she put me could even break.. I almost start laughing, never heard this one.. we
give it a try and after the half of the cock is in, she tells me STOP, no RAI2. So we keep on
with the doggy and at that point she jerks me and keeps going with a nice job of
hand/mouth spitting included until destination in her fantastic little mouth, without
swallowing. [post Gnocca forum]
[…] I can assure she is a real randy if she takes you in sympathy… [post Gnocca forum]
[…] the real M. is not there anymore (she was a real randy one.. I think she's a bit
nymphomaniac). [post Gnocca forum]
The possibility of objectification of the sex worker is, within the domain of the forum, substantially
unlimited, which allows to exasperate, among other aspects, also the tendency of an “ethnical” labelling of
prostitutes.
Hi all you friends of the fabulous world made in China. For today I have I program the
following geisha […] Attitude: unlikely it's not a house favourite, she is quite cold.
Although between one hit and the other she moans a bit [..] The attitude is really lacking.
Little anecdote, once I just arrived I found a nasty smell of fried fish stuff, I didn't even the
courage to get in. But after all for the rate proposed, and the deep lust of laying with a
China, I was disposed to sacrifice. [post Gnocca forum]
Hello , you all. I renew the invitation, is anyone able to find me some caliente SouthAmerican instead of the usual professional whores, maybe one that does it occasionally to
supplement her salary! [post Gnocca forum]
Tall, slim, an African gazelle body, nice legs, B cup, little nice ass that could satisfy even the
most sophisticated ones, nice face with lips that seem made to fit our willies. She let be
touched and squeezed, she tells me to suck her tits, but I wouldn't have done it, African
girls are not the most hygienic people I know, bj well done with fine condom on, instead of
those tires China style, almost savage fucking, doggy and missionary. […] It would be about
time that also black girls start working well.. with those bodies they have, it's a shame to
be bad workers.. Maybe it's a matter of nationality: Nigerian are less educated than
Ghanaian.. I don't know.. I'm now an expert in African cultures.. Or maybe, most probably,
they understood they couldn't keep going like that.. Usually, if a black stops me and
insists, in the end I say “no, with African I don't go”; those that understand what I said ask
me why and I answer “because they work bad”.. maybe if they heard it saying two, three,
four, twenty times..maybe they would start get something.. [post Gnocca forum]
163
Taking advantage of a further mirroring to stage the favoured aspects of their masculinity, the write-up and
stories of the encounters with the sex workers becomes an occasion to underline their manly power,
putting up narrations in which the attention on their performance seems to be prevailing on the sex
worker's one. In this way stories with a high performative connotation take place, attempting to answer to
the hegemonic masculinity. In other words, faced to a changing world in which it is mainly the role of the
dominant male to be put into crisis, the forum community becomes a place in which to “protect” and
“maintain” the traditional representation of a masculinity that, probably, cannot find in the life off-line the
desired acknowledgment.
I tell you in particular one of my last experiences with L., after having tested her about ten
times. She's a vicious mounting cow, something inspiring huge obscenities. And so it has
been. I get into the apartment and she welcomes me with an FK that would have waken a
dead. Quick wash, then I have her go on her knees while she insalivates it abundantly. My
thing is big and she has a hard time keeping it into her mouth, but the most narrow
opening, still has to come. I keep on like that for ten minutes or so, then I decide it's about
time to have it covered and start fucking her. I take her first on missionary, kissing her,
then I turn her with strength and I drill her into RAI1. The topic moment has come: I go for
RAI2, particularly narrow, while she looks at me as if she was asking me not to, given that
dimension. You can imagine my huge excitation: slowly it gets in, and I start giving a
rhythm. She suffers a bit, but after a moment she relaxes and I can take her always harder,
more savagely. She's excited as well at this point, and to nail it, I decided to fully play the
porn-actor: I get back on my feet, take the cap off and having her down to her knees I fuck
her into the mouth. I'm about to get to the peak, and at this point she's convinced that I
decided to unload with a CIM. But in the end instead, I keep her little head with my left
hand, I take it out and I fill her beautiful face with an incredible quantity of milk. I enjoy
her whitened face, and while I'm still hard I stir it over her mouth and try to open it to see
if she cleans it as well. No, she decides not to do this, maximum given already for a
damage of .. VU. We go wash ourselves: she has to shower, and on the door she asks me:
“When will you be back?” “My God” I tell her “you're not sated already?”. She nods her
head saying no, she touches my pants and she licks her lips. The day after I went back to
her.. What a mounting guys!!!!!! [post Gnocca forum]
In this way the hyper-performing males put on some symbolic resistance strategies towards “attacks” that
they perceive to suffer from the external world; in particular, common enemies - antagonism is traditionally
used to strengthen community bonds – are set in the “bourgeois” world, among other non-clients men
(defined as “non-punter”) and mainly, in the female world unavailable for sex market.
I think that each one of us heard often this sentence coming out of the mouth of elusive
non-punters, supposed to be great fuckers declaring themselves as full of possibilities (but
no one remembers having ever seen them with a woman). Every time you face the theme
“mercenary encounters” they underline how to them the one that pays to have sex is a
looser.We know very well that things are not like that, that many punters (almost all of
them) are in couple or so, paying encounters are also for men that can have as many
women as they want (soccer players, actors, showmen) and so on. But if we had to limit to
the declarations of the majority of hominids, we shall conclude that “officially” no one
goes with a pay girl. Or maybe no one declares it, but if you take a tour around the city
you remark that OTRs are taken on board both by punters just as others. Nothing special
so far, obviously no one shows off such an hobby. But instead of sheltering behind certain
ideas and talk pseudo-male stuff (that coming out of some people's mouth are even
funny) wouldn't it be smarter to say: “I go with a pay-girl because I don't like/I don't feel
like/I'm not interested, but I respect those that have a vision different than mine? Utopia.
[post Gnocca forum]
164
I always say.. 90% of hot girls end up being sluts, 90% of the gross ones end up being
wives.. 90% of the husbands go for sluts, only because the resting 10% goes for trans.. ah
ah ah ah.. it's because we are in a “bourgeois” country and saying that “you pay for a
woman” makes you seem an outcast and diminishes your masculinity. [post Gnocca
forum]
The reconstruction of one's profile in terms of hyper-virilization represents almost a determining factor for
the way the users participate to the community; if, as we have remarked, the most narrated aspects
concern one's performance ability (in particular referred to the penis' dimensions) and one's sexual power,
then also the choice of the nicknames for the subscription and the related avatars seem to reproduce the
same logic. The choice in this domain is decisively wide – as an example can me mentioned: “TeoFicco”,
“Durello69”, “Spaccapatate”, “Goldman_Sex”, “Manzo” “Paolinotromba” – but the most interesting aspect
is the integrated use, by choosing avatars and nicknames, of explicit referrals and ironic representations,
almost naïf, as to put one's own representation in a symbolic context between auto-irony and autocelebration. In this way it remains possible to to express even quite violent positions and visions, recurring
eventually, to the justification or misunderstanding of one's playful intention. Some examples of avatars
show how their choice marks a passage from evocative pictures of a comrade-like and warring (round
table) masculinities , to harem and mating animals situations to get to images in which the male
domination is symbolized through explicit referrals on women.
Some examples of avatars on Gnocca Forum
Above all, probably the most subtle aspect emerging from the interviews already and resulted
evident on the forum is the one related to a sharing of the stereotypes on female world. The
Gnocca forum is a very prolific source in this sense: there are many referrals to supposed byends of the “non-pay girls” along with some avid and cynical ways to reach them, in a frame in
which the antagonist woman plays on different levels of objection of the dominant role of the
male. The dimensions of courting and seduction, in this logic, is read as the first occasion to
extort money, attentions and services to the most naif men, in a scale representing a stable
couple – and mostly the married one – as the maximum degree of “castration” and
debasement of the hyper-male.
Let me tell you so: a pay costs less than a girlfriend. [post Gnocca forum]
The woman you pay less is the one you pay first. [post Gnocca forum]
The woman you don't pay you don't know how much will cost you. [post Gnocca forum]
I started, when I was still married, and quite adult already because my ex wife didn't want
to have sex anymore! She was too busy spending money (mine!) and have her brain fried
with meditations and other bullshit. Then after the separation I agree with the colleague
that finding a stable “girlfriend” is a utopia unless one decides to transform in a credit card
without even a PIN!!!! [post Gnocca forum]
I go with pay girls because at the moment I cannot find a non-pay, because I fall into girls
not really attractive, so either I keep them as an outlet although they would never accept
to be considered stopgaps, or I content myself with them without ever being able to hold
to them. [post Gnocca forum]
165
The essential reason why I go with pay girls is due to my huge passionality.. I am very
passionate and this leads me to look for sex very often. If you add to this my biggest
default, as I wrote in another 3d, so the laziness, you have the equation solved.. This
laziness mixed to the fact that often lovers/girlfriends create you all sorts of problems,
brought me during these past years to compose always more often the phone number of
an escort rather than the one of a >”normal” girl.. But in the end what matters is that you
get a good fuck more than if you got it with money or other virtues.. [post Gnocca forum]
Women, all women, have a cost! They cost money, They cost time, They cost feeling.. they
cost! There's only a value to hold tight to, dignity.. that has to be hold tight, money come
and go, I do not speculate on sums that don't change your life.. money grant you a
detachment.. time doesn't come back, but for some games, if you want to play, you have
to put some of it. Feelings are the dangerous part, you put time to get satisfaction, but
kept under control to save dignity. It's a dangerous game, but you have to put into play.
[post Gnocca forum]
3.7. Conclusions.
This report was built trying to maintain a main orientation: to abandon the “truth matter” concerning
clients' practices and habits to focus on their representations. Making reference to the grammars used by
different clients to tell their stories – both in the form of a “direct” relation during the interviews than the
“anonymous” and “amplified” one on the forum – enables us to reflect on the those aspects, that more
than others, determine a certain type of masculinity, the one that in different passages of this work has
been defined as the “hegemonic” masculinity (Connell e Messerschmidt, 2005). Some cultural conditioning
seem in fact to involve, in a transversal way, types of people socially located at very different levels. The
group of men interviewed, for instance, was characterized by a certain lack of homogeneity in terms of
status: the people interviewed were of very different agings and levels of instruction (from secondary
school degrees to postgraduates), dissimilar professions (from the barman to the teacher) and different
sentimental situations. But most of all, the men involved gave different profiles of themselves as clients,
marking a shade going from regular to sporadic to get to cases for which the experience of purchase of
commercial sex is equal to a couple of episodes. Despite this lack of homogeneity, it has been possible to
determine connections between the visions reconstructed through the interviews and, probably, the
shared stereotypes would be the same interviewing some representatives of the “non-clients”. It's in
particular referring to the female “population” - and their desires – that cultural conditioning intervenes
levelling the visions transmitted through common sense, because an erotic imagery is part of everyone,
men and women, clients and non-clients and constitutes that humus in which individuals grow into men
and women and it's in this domain that ideas such as male sexuality as an outlet and female sexuality as
service sexuality strengthen. So if sex markets appear to be incorporated in the society and its cultural
models, in its processes of social construction of male and female identities and in standard erotic
imageries, then in order to fight trafficking and sexual tourism it seems appropriate to deconstruct these
models and reflect on the grammar of pleasure – declining male desire as an impulse – relieving the
“hegemonic male” of his responsibility and legitimating some of his practices.
166
Attachment 1
167
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