{"id":1589,"date":"2013-08-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/16-08-2013-hungarian-rroma-and-the-zurich-street-prostitution\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:43:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:43:08","slug":"16-08-2013-hungarian-rroma-and-the-zurich-street-prostitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/16-08-2013-hungarian-rroma-and-the-zurich-street-prostitution\/","title":{"rendered":"16.08.2013 Hungarian Rroma and the Zurich Street Prostitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staat (2013) focuses on the lives of Hungarian street prostitutes on the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSihlquai in Zurich. She describes the circumstances that lead young women into \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprostitution, as being dominated by poverty. But they are not just either victims \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tor they prostitute themselves entirely voluntary: Lack of educational opportunities \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcombined with socio-economic poverty are forcing young Rromnja to prostitute \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthemselves or they are being forced or enticed by relatives or acquaintances to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdo so. Staat says: \u201cFor it is precisely \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthis mix of poverty, lack of education, violence and hope for easy money that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdrives Hungarian Roma women to Zurich into street prostitution.\u201d <\/em>This representation \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmay correspond to reality, but it be considered with caution when read in terms \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the world of the Rroma. As an example, Staat tells the story of a Rromni who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprostitutes herself for her family in Zurich. This may be true of women with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsimilar biographies, but great caution should be taken before interpreting the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcircumstances portrayed as being a cultural phenomenon, as it is often just done. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPoverty is not a cultural phenomenon, even if in the case of Rroma it certainly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thas cultural causes: the exclusion by the majority society. If one represents \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tor understands poverty resulting from marginalization as being a cultural \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcharacteristic of Rroma, one actually ethnicises exclusion. One certainly needs \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto distance oneself from such a view.<\/p>\n

Prostitution is a good example to highlight the complexity of supposedly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone-dimensional phenomenon. Liberal representations of prostitution, such as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe one, amongst others Mr. Valentin Landmann (Westnetz, 2013), assume a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlargely voluntary prostitution. Feminist representations in turn see almost all \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprostitutes as victims of organized trafficking (Schmid 2012). FIZ (2013), in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tits latest brochure writes that one must distinguish between human trafficking \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand sex work: The work in prostitution, whether due to lack of alternatives and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlack of training is sometimes the only way to make money, but sometimes women also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdecide for it. It is thus wrong to always see all prostitutes as victims. Not sex, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbut the violence and exploitation in prostitution should be criminalised: \u201cThe distinction between sex work and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttrafficking is essential for the fight against the trafficking of women. Exactly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tas the distinction between marriage and domestic violence. Not marriage, but \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe violence in marriage, not sex, but violence and exploitation in sex must be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpunished.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n