Identidades in English No 3, September 2014 | Page 28
prostitution’s exploitation as a money making industry, just like organized crime, with its drug and
arms trafficking. They state that dignity for
women does not come from dignifying prostitution. In this case, what will be dignified once
more is the sex industry.
The authors point out that Holland and Germany
regulated prostituton in a way that trafficking was
understood as “facilitated immigration,” and the
Dutch government even established legal quotas
for “foreign sex workers.” Since most poor
women cannot finance their immigration, they
submit themselves to people who run sex busineses. Above all, Pagu and Rocha affirm: “the debate about this proposed law contains no conditions for generating decent work for female or
male prostitutes.”
This simplification in the bill is justified by the
little debate and great polemic that its rejection
has provoked. The legislation of prostitution back
in 2012 was and is a project of Gabriela Leite and
Fernanco Gabeira, which focuses on that precise
bill. Given the fact there is no serious debate
about sexual exploitation and trafficking, the only
problem I have with it is that it was created with
“a view to the 2014 World Cup,” and was based
on economic interests. Similarly, investment connected to the pro-World Cup bill prior to 2014
was negligible when seen in the context of government projections regarding how many tourists
would visit Brazil. Salvador, Recife, Natal and
Fortaleza are tourist centers anyways, as well as
centers for sexual exploitation and abuse.
It is noteworthy that many of these women and
minors are black and poor. They end up being victims anyway for many reasons and have no legacy
regarding the World Cup, the reason being that
they were distanced from the process, according
to NGO Odara, CESE,9 Esplar, ANCOP and the
Heinrich Böll Foundation. The sale of acarajé
[black eyed peas fritter], a national dish originating in Bahia, was prohibited during the 2014
World Cup in Salvador. In this specific case,
FIFA did not allow the sale of this Bahian patrimony. In addition, black women, most of them
the primary earners in the homes, expected that
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with the World Cup they would at least offer their
cooking and sewing skills to the workers who
were building the stadiums. Yet, the Brazil General Law for the Cup (No 12.663) that was promulgated on June 5th, 2012 comments on measures
connected to FIFA’s 2013 Confederations Cup
and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
These measures did away with the rights of Brazilians and repealed the May 15th, 2003 Soccer
Player Law, and the Consumer Defense Code of
September 11, 1990. The rights Brazilians had
been given over ten years ago were lost and will
never be recovered. Brazilian law prohibits the
restoration of a permanent law after another temporary one takes its place. Thus, the old law will
never again have any validity. It would be important for the approved law be explicit about the
fact that it contains and enforces elements of the
older law or that it nullifies the General Cup Law.
In this case, only FIFA would benefit from it, as
well as the local sponsors and businesses who
would be able to increase their prices to make
more profit.
Notes:
1-“Baba” is newborn baby drool, especially when
they eat or their gums are irritated by teething.
This use of the term came about largely because
many of the people who were situated at the margin of playing fields, would “drool” while watching a game and could only play for a few seconds
when the ball went out of bounds among them.
Blacks would play for a few instants before returning the ball to the field, a grassy place to
which poor people did not have access. They
played in bare places, without grass, which is how
they coined another term, “pelado” [bald or bare]
in Rio de Janeiro, and “racha” in Fortaleza.
2-In 1921, Pessoa prohibited the promotion of
black players to the Brazilian Soccer Team in the
South American Championship.
3-Too read about sexual tourism and Senator Patricia Saboia’s failed attempts, see Zito, Joel. Cinderela, lobos e um príncipe encantado (2007).
4-General Cup Law, at: