JU LIANA SENR A | NE WS F E AT U R E
THE BUSINESS OF SELLING SEX HOW A P E TI TI ON S P LI TS TH E P O RTUGUES E F E M I NI ST MOVEMENT JANUARY 2020: A PETITION WITH OVER 5000 SIGNATURES IS PRESENTED TO THE PORTUGUESE PARLIAMENT BY “SEX BUSINESSWOMAN” ANA LOUREIRO. IT AIMS TO LEGALIZE PROSTITUTION, PROPOSING ITS REGULATION AND STATUS AS “REAL” WORK—INCLUDING LABOUR AND FISCAL RIGHTS. IT HAS RAISED CONCERNS FROM FEMINIST ASSOCIATIONS, INCLUDING OTHER SEX-WORKER LED MOVEMENTS, SCHOLARS AND POLITICAL PARTIES. THE PERSPECTIVE SPOKE WITH SÉRGIO, FROM SEX WORKERS’ MOVEMENT (MTS), AND DR. ALEXANDRA OLIVEIRA, AN EXPERT IN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT OF SEX WORK, TO UNDERSTAND THE STAKES OF THIS
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Every day I practice a crime, and I will continue to do so until [prostitution] is legalized,” Ana Loureiro—the author of the petition—told RTP, the public broadcasting organization of Portugal. Selling sex itself is currently not illegal in Portugal, but facilitating such a transaction by others is a criminal offense—according to Article 169 of the Portuguese Penal Code, penalties reach up to eight years in prison. Ana Loureiro, sex worker
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and manager of a brothel in Campo Grande, Lisbon, has thus placed herself in an unusual position: calling herself a “sex businesswoman.” Publicly describing her business ventures alongside other women, Ana is admitting to being a criminal while simultaneously addressing the country’s highest legislative body. “Facilitating” the selling of sex is not an easily defined legal term, and that means that not only “pimps,” but also a variety of other agents end up being labelled as criminals. According to Sérgio from Sex Worker’s Movement (MTS), a grassroots sex-worker led association, Article 169 “makes us [sex workers], or people in our lives, criminals, preventing us from working together.” This is because “facilitating sex work” can be interpreted in multiple ways, from being security guards, drivers, landlords or coworkers of sex workers, thus potentially criminalizing their whole support network. As a result—despite selling sex not being illegal—sex workers are, according to Sérgio, currently
