“Historically, other women have always talked for us. They wrote articles, books and laws for us. They invent rules — for us. But they’ve never sat down with us at the negotiating table,” Georgina Orellano, secretary general of the Association of Argentine Courtesans (Asociación de Mujeres Meretrices de Argentina) said.
Part of the women's rights movement believes that sexual services are directly related to exploitation. Others believe that the concept of “sex for sale” leads to women being objectified, thus eventually resulting in disputes involving either the prohibition or legalization of the profession.
“Everyone who ever went to work, is a part of the capitalist system. We are used to it. There are many other workers who in their heart feel like an object when they sell their labor. Housekeeping — we did not choose it as a job. The underlying problem is to understand which part of the body can have a set price and what part of the body is for sale,” Orellana said.
Uruguay is the only country in Latin America, which regulates the scope of sexual services, Orellana said. In other countries the “prohibitive” public opinion has led to a legal vacuum in which the commercialization of sex is not penalized but it is not permitted. Examples of such places are Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
“Exclusionary and repressive policies eventually lead to pimping and exploitation of the female body,” Orellana said.
According to her, stigmatization in society is due to the fact that society has fabricated a lot of stories regarding sex workers and considers them to be “either victims or unable to utilize their own bodies.”
Orellana said that there are elements of mentoring and paternalism in this case. “They want to impose on women what we should or shouldn’t do with our bodies.”
