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You are here: Home Life in News Focus Current crisis hurt prostitutes in Spain

08/09/2008Current crisis hurt prostitutes in Spain

Brothels and clubs are offering discounts and more as Spain feels severity of the economy slump.

A madame - or mami, in the current jargon - introduces the girl as Ana. She is very young and beautiful, and quite unassuming. She is wearing a Spanish national soccer team t-shirt and a thong.

"She is natural, empathetic - that is always the way with Spanish senoritas," explains Ana's madame. Ana exhibits a dull gaze and a soft smile as she greets the client, and says she is just getting started in the business.

It is early morning at a high-end prostitution club that is well known on the Mediterranean coast.

This is just one of many similar businesses that charge anywhere from a few euros to 200 per service.

But both the low-end and the high-end establishments would normally be charging a lot more than that, if it were not for the economic crisis.

Some clubs are open 24 hours and wake the girls up when there is work. The daytime schedule makes it easier for clients to drop by at lunchtime. The discretion with which business is conducted and the special offers starting at EUR 20 have lured a mixed crowd ranging from businessmen in suits to workers in overalls.

More Spanish girls turn to prostitution
Brothels and clubs such as this one are mushrooming due to lack of legislation. And for the first time in many years, they are showcasing their Spanish girls as the main attraction.

The boom of foreign prostitutes that took place in recent years had all but relegated Spanish girls to the most marginal markets such as industrial parks outside small towns.

But now, newspaper and local television ads are screaming out their presence. Sometimes they go as far as to specify the region the prostitutes are from: Catalan senoritas, Andalusian chicas and others.

According to Laura, the owner of a massage parlour in downtown Valencia, "each day there are more national girls offering their services".

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