{"id":29802,"date":"2016-06-20T12:28:06","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T15:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=29802"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:20:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:20:54","slug":"sexual-tourism-and-the-olympics-breaking-taboos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=29802","title":{"rendered":"Sexual Tourism and the Olympics: Breaking Taboos"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Popular Committee for the World Cup and Olympics <\/a>and the Marcha Das Vadias<\/a>\u00a0(Slut Walk) came together last week, June 16, to discuss mega-events<\/a>, sexual tourism and the regulation of prostitution in Rio de Janeiro. The Marcha Das Vadias, a group of feminists who fight against sexual and gender violence and in favor of autonomy of bodies, invited the public to participate in the conversation at Casa Nem<\/a>, located in Lapa in central\u00a0Rio de Janeiro<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The compact space at Casa Nem was \u201cthe fullest [they had] ever seen,\u201d but the organizers were content in their location decision as it is a safe and accepting environment for sex workers. The event was also streamed online where another 350 people tuned in.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Audience<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The aim of the event was to discuss decriminalization of prostitution along with highlighting the issues around rights violations and mistreatment<\/a>, particularly in the lead up to the\u00a0Rio 2016 Olympics<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The debate panel was comprised of\u00a0Indianara Siqueria<\/a>, the trans leader at Casa Nem, Amara Moira<\/a>\u00a0a trans student at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) and blogger, and Monique Prada, head of the Sex Workers Central Union (CUTS) based in Porto Alegre. For context on violations, Laura Murray, American researcher at the Observatory of Prostitution<\/a>\u00a0at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ) and Larissa Lacerda, representative from the Popular Committee, were invited to the panel. Originally two representatives from RadFem (Radical Feminist Group) were to present their viewpoints but after a recent conflict Marcha Das Vadias decided a safe\u00a0environment\u00a0for the sex workers\u00a0was more important\u00a0and they were removed from the panel.<\/span> Following this, there were rumors the evening’s event was to be attacked by the opposing RadFem Party but this did not come to pass.<\/p>\n

Larissa Lacerda from the Popular Committee spoke in broad terms about city government human rights violations leading up to the Rio 2016 Olympics and emphasized mistreatment of\u00a0prostitutes as one more violation to add to their list of 100<\/a>. Lacerda<\/span>\u00a0highlighted how mega-events are being used as a pretext by the city government and gave examples of violations including the forced removal<\/a> of 22,000 families in favelas, rampant\u00a0real estate speculation<\/a>, and the mistreatment of the homeless in an attempt to\u00a0<\/span>\u201cclean up<\/a> and disguise the city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Laura Murray addressed her research findings<\/a> on victim management and protection for prostitutes in Brazil. Murray, along with Amara Moira, stressed the importance of having people\u00a0unite with trans women and prostitutes and understand their needs, which they believe will help them gain desired respect. <\/span><\/p>\n

The trans women at the event presented their immediate social concerns with sex\u00a0work. The influential activist<\/a> and blogger<\/a> Amara Moira said, \u201c[Our] biggest dream is to have society look at us like citizens.\u201d An important message from the trans speakers was for \u201cbetter rights and conditions, and more job security,\u201d for which they need others in society to help them fight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

According to Thaddeus Blanchette<\/a>, anthropologist at UFRJ\u00a0and researcher of prostitution and mega-events, the prostitute movement in Rio is fighting for two things: decriminalization and regulation of prostitution. Ideally the women want the latter where their work conditions are improved and wages are fixed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Groups like RadFem see this as officializing pimping but in reality this is already the case:\u00a040-60% of wages made by women in brothels is taken by the house, so \u201ceffectively there already is regulation [which is] effective for everyone except the workers, who have no rights,\u201d the researcher highlighted. Sex workers\u00a0are willing to accept the current system but they demand more rights, which in turn would put greater control and accountability on the work they are doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is however an opposing side within the trans and prostitute community as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are several<\/span> individuals and groups against prostitution because they believe society forces them into this type of work due to limited access to other jobs. These individuals are fighting for greater job opportunities and against the idea that \u201cprostitution is their [only] destiny.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Indianara Siqueira, a powerful figure\u00a0in the trans community,\u00a0wrapped up the evening’s discussion. She began: \u201cThere was a war here [in Casa Nem] decades ago and all you have to do to know who won is look around and see who is still here. We<\/em> are still here.\u201d The audience cheered. <\/span><\/p>\n

In support of her sex work, Indianara stated:\u00a0<\/span>“I won’t say that prostitution saved me, I would say prostitution liberated me.” She highlighted that 20% of a\u00a0sex worker’s\u00a0salary goes to taxes, therefore\u00a0giving a fifth\u00a0of their income to the needs of the general public. <\/span><\/p>\n

Indianara noted: \u201c5,000 women who are involved in relationships and marriages are murdered in Brazil per year. So before we stop prostitution, let\u2019s stop marriages. Let\u2019s stop violence against women.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In relation to sex tourism, Indianara believes in reality it doesn\u2019t really exist. She said: \u201cPeople are coming for the Olympics, and they will have sex yes. But this isn\u2019t just the case for men. Women do this as well.\u201d \u00a0She gave the example of women traveling, for example, to Cuba to indulge in Cuban masculinity, as well as other Latin American men. \u201cWomen are also participating in this so-called sexual tourism.” She argued that sexual tourism is not just about provocative, sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n

That being said her primary concern\u00a0is with the need to\u00a0regulate spaces of sex work. \u201cIt\u2019s not about taking anyone out of work, saving anyone or helping anyone. It\u2019s about negotiating rights and work in legal places, safe places.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Popular Committee for the World Cup and Olympics and the Marcha Das Vadias\u00a0(Slut Walk) came together last week, June 16, to discuss mega-events, sexual tourism and the regulation of prostitution in Rio de Janeiro. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":29816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1736,1333,336,1329],"tags":[1261,190,456,459,436,25,1259,5,740,2275,194,2076],"writer":[1807],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-1736","8":"category-event-reports","9":"category-violations","10":"category-by-international-observers","11":"tag-central-rio","12":"tag-comite-popular","13":"tag-domestic-violence","14":"tag-feminism","15":"tag-gender","16":"tag-human-rights","17":"tag-mega-events","18":"tag-olympics","19":"tag-research-findings","20":"tag-sex-work","21":"tag-tourism","22":"tag-violence-against-women","23":"writer-clare-huggins"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29802"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=29802"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=29802"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=29802"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=29802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}