Identidades in English No 3, September 2014 | Page 26

World Cup. The Law’s Article 1 stated: “Any
person over 18 years of age who is also able to
voluntarily offer sexual services in exchange for
payment is considered a sex professional” and is
guaranteed important rights. Similarly, sexual exploitation is deemed a crime.
A debate about prostitution is complicated, which
is why it is forbidden or not tolerated in certain
countries, and legal in others, for example, in Germany, with its 2011 Lprost (Prostitution Law),
which was approved five years before the World
Cup. The profession’s regularization in Germany
brought with it progress, e.g., punishment of clients, autonomy and equal treatment, compulsory
registration, exemption from self-identification
and rules for the creation of an entity that would
have control over the professionals. In addition,
prohibition in certain areas was lifted, equality for
all professionals, medical exams, free and anonymous medical tests from the Health Ministry, and
protection so that sex work did not get mixed in
with sex trafficking.
During Germany’s World Cup, prostitution was
not promoted. A prostitute from Hamburg declared: “Despite there being more men on the
streets, they didn’t want anything. They spent
their money on a trip to Germany and event tickets. Whatever was left over was for beer…”
(MUNK 2014). Prostitution’s complexity as a
profession lies in the way in which it is dealt with
among different social groups in society, and who
is requesting its legalization and how this request
is presented. In the Brazilian case, if the law’s
presenter is a homosexual, that is a disadvantage.
I don’t want to further delve into the debate about
prostitution’s legality or illegality. Instead, I want
to highlight the fact that the concern about it in
Brazil definitely does not represent a responsible
attitude with sex professionals, particularly when
one takes into acc ount that the country has done
nothing to deal with the issue prior to the arrival
of the 2014 World Cup.6
Of the 100 countries that have legalized prostitution, 49% did not result in much of anything that
could be seen as positive for those professionals.
Brothels are illegal, as are agents, but there are a

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few cases in which both are legal. In Afganistan,
prostitution is illegal but brothels are not, which,
in my opinion, facilitates sex trafficking. When
brothels are illegal, workers are left without any
formality or workplace. Sex professionals are far
from getting recognized or respected. On the contrary, they are marginalized, something that regulation in Brazil will not resolve. Even in places
where prostitution is legal prostitutes are not accepted and always face great resistance and limitations regarding the topic. Regulation of that profession created arguments in the countries where
it was proposed; Brazil is no different. There are
many criticisms coming from political, religious
and civic sectors.
Article 1 of the proposed Law is specific to sex
professionals, but also contains a contradiction
regarding sexual exploitation: “A brothel is allowed to exist so long as no sexual exploitation
takes place in it.” Yet, Item of the Law allows the
place to receive up to 50% of its income from
prostitution. Isn’t that legally consented sexual
exploitation? Even so, Gabriela Leite affirms that
prostitutes at these establishments will have a
boss seeing to her rights and addessing her labor
needs. I want to highlight that the proposed, Brazilian law covers less ground that the German one
because it does not guarantee the rights that are
implicit in the Lprost. In Brazil, we have the CBO
(Brazilian Work Classification) — Labor Ministry defining prostitution as a profession, which is
progress when compared to other countries. But
there are still more disfavorable than favorable
commentaries about its regulation. I won’t go into
an analysis of the criticisms, but will highlight
them, indicating what sector is making them.
In their analysis of this proposed Law, different
sectors begin by generalizing and assuming that
all prostitutes are working due to need, because of
a lack of opportunities, and can stop being prostitutes.
According to Dr. Rubens Teixeira, this is terrible
and undignified, which may or may not be true,
in the opinion of many prostitutes.7 Many of them
declare that they like what they do, as in the case
of Gabriela Leite, who prefers being called a