The Government included prostitution in a job register and rekindled the controversy: abolish or regulate?

Juliet Roffo

06/08/2020 - 19:47

• Clarín.com
• Society

The web form became available on Friday. And on Sunday they dropped him. Both decisions were made by the Ministry of Social Development of the Nation. Those 48 hours in which a form created by the State allowed to join the National Registry of Workers of the Popular Economy (ReNaTEP) under the category of sex workers were enough to rekindle a historical debate within feminisms: whether to abolish or regulate what they call prostitution on one side and sex work on the other .

Strictly speaking, the portfolio headed by Daniel Arroyo had released that registry on Thursday to relieve workers in the informal economy of different sectors and have information about their income and their working and housing conditions, among other data. Sources of the ministry assured that "a debate was generated around some categories of work in the popular economy" and that this was the reason to stop the possibility of registering.

The ministry then decided to form a joint working table in which, according to those same sources, representatives of the ministries of Justice and Human Rights, Security, Labor, and Women, Genders and Diversity will participate.

To that same discussion they will call referents of social organizations "to analyze the different perspectives" , they explained, without specifying. The truth is that on Sunday the ministry removed from its website the form that pointed to the survey of workers. It will be available again "shortly" according to the sources, but without considering the category of sex workers until the discussion they convene is settled.

Recognized or clandestine.

With rights or with police persecution.

With monotax or with police bribes.

Registered or invisible to the state.

Expand rights or deny them. #SexualWorkIsWork

The inclusion of the category "sex workers" in the registry resonated on social networks: those who celebrated the measure used the hashtag #TrabajoSexualEsTrabajo , while those who supported the abolitionist stance replicated the idea that # LaProstituciónNoEsTrabajo . That is the historical debate that the Ministry of Development will put on that table before deciding again whether or not to include that category in the ReNaTEP.

"We should no longer hide or register with misleading categories," Georgina Orellano, head of the Association of Women Meretrices of Argentina (Ammar) and, as she defines herself, a sex worker, tweeted to celebrate. "I came to register: I asked about your income, if you rent, do you live in a hotel, a pension, who are you in charge of," Orellano tells Clarín , adding: "The ministry had let us know that it was working on our inclusion , and that this survey would serve to design specific policies for each sector of the informal economy. "

Look at you, the papichulos of the popular economy consolidating the privileges of the consumers of prostitution, under the aspect of protecting among the workers the people in prostitution and streapers.

On the other side of the discussion, after the form was removed from the Social Development website, Diana Maffía, director of the Observatory of Gender in Justice of the Buenos Aires Magistracy Council, published on Twitter: "Look at you, the papichulos of the popular economy consolidating the privileges of the consumers of prostitution , under the aspect of protecting among the workers the people in prostitution and streapers ". 

There are no publications on the Twitter profile of the Ministry of Development that allude to ReNaTEP. Regarding the stopped form, Gustavo Vera, director of the Executive Committee to combat Trafficking and Exploitation of Persons and for Assistance to Victims, published on the same network: "With Minister @LicDanielArroyo we agree according to our legislation and agreements international prostitution is not work . The form has already been downloaded. " A conversation between two men.

With Minister @LicDanielArroyo we agree according to our legislation and international agreements that prostitution is not work. The form has already been downloaded.

"The pandemic evidenced as never before the conditions of overcrowding, hunger and precariousness in which many sex workers live, and that there are no policies that cover those needs because it is a group that is not considered as such. If you want to do that work and register with the monotributo you have to do as a hairdresser or masseuse . This over time was going to allow us to bank, have a social work and retirement contributions , "explains Orellano.

As described in this newspaper, the last time it was surveyed nationwide, some 80,000 people were engaged in this activity, 20,000 in public space. The 86% of that universe were heads of household with no other adult responsible for children or seniors.

"We perceive ourselves as sex workers . Why do n't they recognize that we exist ? The State should be out of ideological debates . That they tell us that we did not decide on our own to do this work is a infantilization. Of course we are vulnerable. the most popular sectors are always more vulnerable, we always have fewer opportunities to decide what we are going to work on, we are always more exposed to abuse and they pay us less money for the same job. In that context, obviously your consent may be restricted " , describes Orellano.

Georgina Orellano spoke in favor of the registry of sex workers.

Sonia Sanchez, who describes himself as a survivor of trafficking and prostitution -a job he held for six years since the 16- and author of "No woman is born to a bitch" is emphatic. "Sex work does not exist if people in situation of prostitution, sexual exploitation . Prostitution implies physical, emotional, psychological and economic violence . The State, through this form, talks about a job and not about exploitation: it wants to legalize pimping , which right now is punished by law. He becomes a worker to the human trafficker, often behind women who claim to be working on their own. "

"I worked as a domestic worker. And there I suffered worse mistreatment and abuse: I was demeanor more than in any other job. It is morality that makes sex work seen as something different. But in my case, after approaching others colleagues and develop self-care tools such as working in private places and not on the street, doing it together with another colleague or approaching an organization, I got less abusive conditions than as a domestic worker. I can tell the client 'I don't do this' and that the service ends there. This is a way to get the same or more money than cleaning a house but in less hours: it lets you spend more time with your children, "Orellano reflects.

Diana Maffía, director of the Observatory of Gender in Justice of the Council of the Buenos Aires Magistracy.

"Whoever defends the idea of ​​autonomy I want to ask if when they grab their daughter or granddaughter they will think the same. They grab the girls, very young, they take them to the Ammar union, they give them the autonomy card and behind all that there is pimping . Ammar has three people prosecuted for pimping, "says Sánchez.

Ask about this, Orellano responds: "They are colleagues who were prosecuted because, as the trafficking law of 2012 does not contemplate consent, or even if the person realizes that, perhaps they are the owners of the rental contract of an apartment in which they work several women and takes them as pimps. "

"I have been in prostitution. To survive that concentration camp you have to fall asleep, anesthetize yourself . There are no hugs, there are no caresses: there are groping. Prostitution implies that you are mouth, vagina and anus . Language makes up that reality and then many women say 'I am going to work' to sustain the lie of society and survive, "says Sánchez.

Lawyer Sabrina Cartabia ruled in favor of the registry of sex workers.

Lawyer Sabrina Cartabia, defender of Thelma Fardin in her complaint of rape against Juan Darthés, among other causes, reflects: "We must set the stage in context: the OAS Inter-American Commission of Women determined that women are poorer than men They represent a large proportion of the informal economy. This makes them the sector most affected by compulsory isolation. This ministerial registry could be a first step in addressing the problem of sex workers, who are highly stigmatized. "

"Who am I to respond if someone does something with or without consent? That can only be answered by that person, because if he or she continues to be a subject of law and becomes an object of protection. We must pay attention to the levels of violence that is exerted every time you speak in the name of that group and deny its existence as such, something authoritarian, "adds the lawyer.

What is not recorded is invisible. Sex work exists. There are many colleagues who adopted this political identity because it serves to organize and defend themselves. We are only complicating their existence by denying them.

"There is still a great stigma about sex workers: we women were raised thinking that whores are the enemy . Every time they say 'whore' they are insulting you, you don't want to be that. The living conditions of a precarious group would be less precarious if sex work ceased to be a social shame, "he explains, adding:" In addition to improving this group, it is clear that you have to work on public policies so that those who want to abandon sex work have options to do so . "

María Alejandra Magnano is one of the heads of the Office of the Prosecutor for Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Protex) of the Public Prosecutor's Office. "Argentina adheres to international laws and treaties that, as they are, penalize any form of exploitation of the prostitution of others . There are many brothels that have women as regents to look like a cooperative , or women in a situation of exploitation who are given a card to appear self-employed . Any modification to that legal basis must go through Congress, cannot be resolved through any of the dependencies of the Executive Power. It is a debate that cannot be settled in a web form , "he maintains. It is much bigger than that.

DD