Brazilian prostitutes defend their right to enjoy profession
EFE News
Omar Lugo
-----------------------------
Rio de Janeiro, Apr 17 (EFE).- More than 20,000 Brazilian prostitutes have joined a campaign to vindicate their profession, legalize the pleasure market and gain access to workers` rights, including unionization, health care and pensions.
The Brazilian Network of Sex Professionals, an umbrella group for 23 associations scattered throughout the country, brings together activists who defend their right to earn a living and, at the same time, enjoy doing so without shame.
The pioneer of this struggle is 50-plus-year-old Gabriela Leite, a sociologist who describes herself as "a whore at heart." Leite is the network coordinator and head of both the non-governmental organization DaVida and the newspaper O Beijo da Rua (The Street Kiss), which she uses to promote passage of legislation to regulate the world`s oldest profession.
"Our main struggle is against the stigma, which is tremendous in this business," Leite told EFE, adding that the "politically correct" term "sexual worker" only serves to further sweep the stigma under the rug.
"What we like most is the name `whore,` and we`re going to see to it that it becomes acceptable so it`ll lose its negative connotation," said Leite, whose irreverence raises conflicting viewpoints both in Brazil and abroad.
According to Leite, her irreverent and iconoclastic tone has yielded positive results for her cause.
Leite, who says she will never stop being a prostitute although she hasn`t exercised the profession for more than 10 years, speaks at conferences in Europe and Brazil, and her NGO receives funding from the Health Ministry and prostitutes in Germany, Italy, Holland and the United States.
The NGO, DaVida, primarily works to obtain for prostitutes the same rights afforded all other workers.
Last year, Brazil`s Labor Ministry recognized prostitution as an occupation, an achievement which, Leite said, paves the road toward unionization and worker benefits.
At the heart of the issue is winning respect and recognition for the thousands of women who, either by choice or lack of alternatives, earn a living by offering pleasure and company, Leite added.
The proposed bill to regulate prostitution has garnered support from liberal lawmakers, but faces stiff opposition from a conservative group of legislators who have ties to the Catholic and Evangelical Churches.
The bill focuses on clients "paying for sexual services" as well as time spent with a prostitute, a reference to clients who refuse to pay because they do not engage in sexual acts, which Leite said happens all too frequently and almost exclusively with "married men, who love to vent with the whores." The proposed legislation would also "regulate working relationships" between the owners of sex establishments and prostitutes.
Prostitution is not illegal in Brazil, but operating a brothel is, thus making it difficult for the girls to claim their rights. DaVida`s greatest achievement to date has been its campaign against AIDS, which has earned the network official recognition.
Members insist that, contrary to social misconceptions, prostitutes are not the largest propagators of sexually transmitted diseases, such as AIDS.
"We work methodically on prevention and the use of condoms," Leite said.
A survey conducted by Brasilia University and the Health Ministry found that prostitutes demand that their clients use condoms 67 percent of the time, but, as with the rest of Brazilian women, only 20 percent use "camisinhas" with their steady partners.
Leite, who has three children and one granddaughter, says she has led "a perfectly normal" life after entering "through the side door" the world`s oldest profession to pay for her college education.
EFE News
EFE News
Omar Lugo
-----------------------------
Rio de Janeiro, Apr 17 (EFE).- More than 20,000 Brazilian prostitutes have joined a campaign to vindicate their profession, legalize the pleasure market and gain access to workers` rights, including unionization, health care and pensions.
The Brazilian Network of Sex Professionals, an umbrella group for 23 associations scattered throughout the country, brings together activists who defend their right to earn a living and, at the same time, enjoy doing so without shame.
The pioneer of this struggle is 50-plus-year-old Gabriela Leite, a sociologist who describes herself as "a whore at heart." Leite is the network coordinator and head of both the non-governmental organization DaVida and the newspaper O Beijo da Rua (The Street Kiss), which she uses to promote passage of legislation to regulate the world`s oldest profession.
"Our main struggle is against the stigma, which is tremendous in this business," Leite told EFE, adding that the "politically correct" term "sexual worker" only serves to further sweep the stigma under the rug.
"What we like most is the name `whore,` and we`re going to see to it that it becomes acceptable so it`ll lose its negative connotation," said Leite, whose irreverence raises conflicting viewpoints both in Brazil and abroad.
According to Leite, her irreverent and iconoclastic tone has yielded positive results for her cause.
Leite, who says she will never stop being a prostitute although she hasn`t exercised the profession for more than 10 years, speaks at conferences in Europe and Brazil, and her NGO receives funding from the Health Ministry and prostitutes in Germany, Italy, Holland and the United States.
The NGO, DaVida, primarily works to obtain for prostitutes the same rights afforded all other workers.
Last year, Brazil`s Labor Ministry recognized prostitution as an occupation, an achievement which, Leite said, paves the road toward unionization and worker benefits.
At the heart of the issue is winning respect and recognition for the thousands of women who, either by choice or lack of alternatives, earn a living by offering pleasure and company, Leite added.
The proposed bill to regulate prostitution has garnered support from liberal lawmakers, but faces stiff opposition from a conservative group of legislators who have ties to the Catholic and Evangelical Churches.
The bill focuses on clients "paying for sexual services" as well as time spent with a prostitute, a reference to clients who refuse to pay because they do not engage in sexual acts, which Leite said happens all too frequently and almost exclusively with "married men, who love to vent with the whores." The proposed legislation would also "regulate working relationships" between the owners of sex establishments and prostitutes.
Prostitution is not illegal in Brazil, but operating a brothel is, thus making it difficult for the girls to claim their rights. DaVida`s greatest achievement to date has been its campaign against AIDS, which has earned the network official recognition.
Members insist that, contrary to social misconceptions, prostitutes are not the largest propagators of sexually transmitted diseases, such as AIDS.
"We work methodically on prevention and the use of condoms," Leite said.
A survey conducted by Brasilia University and the Health Ministry found that prostitutes demand that their clients use condoms 67 percent of the time, but, as with the rest of Brazilian women, only 20 percent use "camisinhas" with their steady partners.
Leite, who has three children and one granddaughter, says she has led "a perfectly normal" life after entering "through the side door" the world`s oldest profession to pay for her college education.
EFE News
