Prostitution in Italy is not a legally permitted activity. However, in fact, at the end of 2010, 70,000 prostitutes from 60 countries of the world worked in Italy [1] ; 90% of prostitutes are immigrants (Albanians, Romanians) [2] . The attitude towards the craft is bearable. Street prostitution is practically legalized. There are no brothels in Italy , but it is not forbidden to provide sex services privately. Only pimps and traffickers are subject to punishment.
Content
General situation
The market for sexual services in Italy is structured in several forms at once. Various methods of providing sex services are practiced in it: street prostitution , prostitution in nightclubs, call girls, Internet services, etc. The total number of sex workers is estimated at about 50,000, half of which are on the streets. The largest number of sex workers are employed in northern Italy, especially in large cities ( Milan , Venice , Bologna , Rimini ). In central Italy, most of the sex industry is concentrated in Florence and Prato , in southern Italy - in Naples and Caserta [3] .
Over the past few years, the sex market in Italy has undergone significant changes under the influence of international migration. Since the 1980s, Italian women have begun to gradually leave the field of street prostitution due to the increasing danger of this type of activity. They were replaced by a large number of visiting women, whose appearance is usually characterized as a series of waves of migration. The starting point for the first wave of migration was the border of 1989-1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when women from Eastern Europe (Bosnia, Slovenia, Romania, etc.) began to arrive in Italy. In 1991-1992, the second wave poured into Italy consisting of African women, mainly from Nigeria. The third wave (1993-1996) was formed mainly by the young representatives of Albania. The last surge in immigration was the mass arrival from the countries of the former socialist camp: Ukraine (see prostitution in Ukraine ), Bulgaria (see prostitution in Bulgaria ) and Moldova (see prostitution in Moldova ) [3] .
The appearance of such a large amount of labor in the Italian sex industry led to a rapid drop in prices, as the visiting girls agreed to make contact for only 15-30 euros. Another notable change was the transition to mobile work schemes, when using which sex workers no longer stand at one point waiting for regular customers, but constantly go to calls [3] .
History
In medieval Italy, some cities tried to expel prostitutes (Bologna in 1259, Venice in 1266 and 1314, Modena in 1326), but these attempts were unsuccessful. Florence in 1287 by decree terminated all contracts between prostitutes and brothel owners and ordered that no brothels be located within a radius of 0.5 km from the city; however, already in 1325, the registration of prostitutes and the allocation of separate areas for them began. In 1355, Podesta forbade prostitutes to appear in the city, except on Saturdays and Mondays. In 1384, a decree was issued ordering prostitutes to wear bells on their heads, gloves and high-heeled shoes.
Naples in 1401 began to tax prostitutes.
On April 30, 1403, the Morale Police (Onesta) was established in Florence, the purpose of which was to control prostitution [4] . The theoretical basis for the activities of this organization were the writings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas , who considered prostitution as a necessary institution to satisfy the sexual desires of men and counteract the propaganda of homosexuality ; Thomas Aquinas especially pointed to the example of Sparta, in which there was no prostitution, but homosexual relations between the soldiers were widespread.
In the papal region, prostitution was banned.
Since 1823, the municipality of Palermo began issuing licenses to open brothels in the city. In 1841, at the request of the King of Naples, the requirement of a mandatory medical examination of all the prostitutes of the city was added to this. A similar system operated in Bologna, in which there was a special hospital for ill prostitutes.
The regulation of prostitution in Piedmont was introduced into the Ministry of Cavour . Concerned about the level of sexually transmitted diseases in the garrison of the Piedmontese capital, Turin, he instructed his interior minister, Urbano Rattazzi, to find out the reason for this. He conducted a study and concluded that regulation is necessary on the model of the then France and Belgium. In 1855 and 1857, corresponding decrees were issued for Turin.
The first law on prostitution in a united Italy was passed on February 15, 1860.
The number of registered prostitutes peaked in 1881 - 10,422 girls; in 1948 there were 4,000, and in 1958 (in which the regulation was abolished) - 2,560.
A new law on prostitution was passed to the Crispi Ministry on July 26, 1888; this law diminished the regulation of prostitution, but after three years it was restored to the same extent as under Cavour.
In 1923, Mussolini ordered all prostitutes to wear special badges, which noted the results of their examination for sexually transmitted diseases.
During the occupation of Ethiopia, some Addis Ababa houses were turned into brothels for army needs. Some brothels were instituted for Italians, some for local collaborators .
The example of Martha Richard , who achieved the abolition of prostitution in France in 1946, was inspired by the Italian socialist (who became the first woman elected to the Italian Senate in 1948) Lina Merlin . Immediately after her election, she launched a campaign with the aim of joining Italy to other European states, which almost all have already abolished regulation. Among other active participants in the abolitionist movement, it is worth noting Antonetta de Silvestri, who wrote a draft law on the abolition of regulation for Merlin [5] .
Laws
February 20, 1958 the Italian parliament by a majority of 385 against 115 (voted, in particular, the monarchists and the Italian social movement ) adopted the Law on the abolition of the regulation of prostitution and the fight against the exploitation of prostitution of others. By the name of its lobbyist, the law was called the “Merlin Law” [6] . The law prohibits not only trafficking in women and exploitation of prostitution, but also any forms of aiding and abetting her, with or without mercenary goals [7] .
Since 1994, a number of municipalities have begun to pursue a neo - abolitionist policy regarding prostitution, imposing fines on clients. So, in 1998, such legislation was introduced by Bologna, which raised objections from the Transgender Identity Movement (the first transgender organization in Italy, founded in 1979), as well as some feminists; other feminists, by contrast, warmly endorsed the event.
Clients who have not paid prostitutes are equated with rapists [1] .
See also
- Prostitution in the USSR
- Prostitution in Europe
- Prostitution in Russia
- Sex tourism
- Sexual slavery
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 03/08/10 “Only In Italy” news archives!
- ↑ EUobserver / Romanian sex workers most prevalent in EU
- ↑ 1 2 3 Stefano Becucci. New Players in an Old Game: The Sex Market in Italy // Organized Crime: Culture, Markets and Policies / D. Siegel, H. Nelen. - Springer Science + Business Media, 2008 .-- P. 57-58. - ISBN 978-0-387-74732-3 .
- ↑ The Florentine Onesta and the Control of Prostitution, 1403—1680
- ↑ The Politics of Trafficking: The First International Movement to Combat the Sexual Exploitation of Women, p. 139
- ↑ Prostitution and the State in Italy, p.213
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=gbAUdBR2f5sC , p.165
Literature
- Fernando Henriques. Prostitution and Society. Macgibbon and Kee, London 1963
- Mary Gibson Prostitution and the State in Italy, 1860-1915. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey 1986