In the years since 2009 Myrto has gained access to brothels and the so-called ‘studios’ (a modernized form of the traditional brothel), revealing through her film and photography the dark-curtained rooms and smoke-filled bars that provide a backdrop to the nightly purchase of women-by-the-hour in Athens. Her portraits of sex workers are both intimate and heartbreaking; images from a world where every fantasy is edged by seediness, brutality and the threat of violence.
But why in times of crisis is the sex industry booming? Surely if people have less money overall wouldn’t they have less to spend on prostitutes and porn films? Perhaps, but that is only half of the story. The fact is that the crisis has also made it a lot easier for traffickers to meet European demand - both legal and not - for the services of sex-workers.
“We are facing a major social, political, financial crisis at the moment, and what we see is increased vulnerability and social exclusion. This is exactly when we expect the numbers to go up of people being exploited and trafficked.”That is according to Myria Vassiliadou, the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, speaking at the recent presentation of The Attendants project.
Prostitution and Sex Trafficking
The statement cuts to the core of why projects like The Attendant’s are relevant not just with regards to the world of prostitution, but to the wider humanitarian crime that is people trafficking. Because the fact is that the sex trade is by far the single greatest driver of the illegal trafficking and exploitation of people. According to the most recent data from Eurostat, 62% of all those who are trafficked in the European Union are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. and it is a trade that, despite what is commonly believed, primarily has European victims. 61% of the estimated victims of trafficking in Europe are EU citizens, primarily from Eastern European countries.
The profits from this modern day slavery are huge - roughly estimated to be 2.5 billion euros per year. It is also highly gender specific: 96% of all victims of sex-related trafficking are women or young girls.
Clearly any attempts to address people trafficking without examining the role of the sex trade are doomed to fail. Yet this is also where the issues get thorny.
While people trafficking is obviously a serious crime throughout the Union, prostitution is legal in a number of member-states, including Greece. As such, while the European Commission has a direct responsibility to act against trafficking, it is up to each member state to determine how it will handle prostitution with the issue largely out of the competency of the Commission.
In short, while the European Commission is tasked with reducing human trafficking, it can only indirectly tackle the main source of cash driving the trade. Still, that has not stopped it from trying, and today there is ever increasing pressure to target the millions of clients who visit Europe’s brothels and prostitutes every night.
“For every woman that is trafficked for sex, there is a trafficker - but there is also a client,” Myria Vassiliadou said. “So for each little girl that is exploited in prostitution and pornography, there is somebody out there who is asking for that service in Europe today. So we can not focus on the victims without addressing demand.”Recently In a bid to crack down on human trafficking, the European Commission issued the Anti-Trafficking Directive which member states were obliged to transpose to national laws by April of 2013. The Directive focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and the protection of victims and obliges member-states to take ‘concrete measures’ to reduce demand.
An example of such ‘concrete measures’ include efforts to recruit private companies in the fight against trafficking such as those announced by Heracles Moskoff, the Anti-Trafficking Coordinator of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “During the Greek Presidency we intend to launch a European business coalition against trafficking ...we want to provide a labelling system, something like an ISO, that will give the opportunity to businesses to work together to make sure their supply chains are free from exploitation.” It is hoped that businesses such as hotel chains, for example, could be accredited with having systems in place to ensure that their services are not used for the purposes of the illegal sex trade.
The Nordic vs the German Model
Of course, many campaigners would like Europe to go a lot farther than that, effectively banning prostitution throughout the Union in line with the so called ‘Swedish model’ where it is the clients purchasing sex, as opposed to those selling it, that face prosecution. Such a law was implemented in Sweden in 1999 and is credited with achieving significant reductions in prostitution rates.
Proponents of the Swedish model point to its relative success compared to the ‘German model’ implemented around the same time. In 2001 the Greens and Social Democrats passed a law the intention of which was to remove the stigma and isolation faced by prostitutes by regulating the trade and providing them with access to state benefits. More than a decade on the result has been a ballooning of the sex industry in Germany (referred to as a 'giant Teutonic brothel’ by the Economist) with sex tourism on the rise. It is estimated that Germany now has 400,000 prostitutes catering to 1 million men a day. Meanwhile, according to the newspaper, in a mockery of the original law the prostitutes actually claiming welfare benefits number exactly 44.
To people like UK MEP Mary Honeyball, the German experience proves that prostitution is fundamentally a violation of human rights and a form of violence against women. Ms Honeyball is the rapporteur for legislation recently passed by the Women’s Rights Committee and due to be voted on by the full European Parliament in February which calls on all member states to tackle demand for prostitution by criminalising sex-buyers.
While the legislation is non-binding, Ms Honeyball hopes that it will be passed and this will send an important signal to the rest of Europe. She is not without opposition however - some of it coming from prostitutes themselves such as the International Prostitutes Collective who claim that the Swedish model would violate their right to choose sex-work as a legitimate profession.
Such groups make the case that sex work can be a healthy and even valuable service to society - for example for individuals that find it difficult to have their sexual needs met elsewhere due to mental or physical problems. Such a scenario is depicted in the Helen Hunt film the Sessions, based on the true story of a paraplegic who lost his virginity late in life thanks to the services of a sex worker.
These stories clearly complicate the case for outright bans on prostitution in theory. Yet in practice they also amount to a tiny proportion of the modern day sex trade. For people like Myrto, who have chosen to chronicle the industry firsthand, it is far from the reality that they see. “Without exception all of the women I have met have ended up working in the sex-trade either by force or through very difficult circumstances. Many resort drugs to cope and suffer effectively from post-traumatic stress disorder.” she says.
Myrto highlights the loss of identity she believes is inextricably linked to the women’s work in the sex trade. “Prostitutes never give you their real names,” she says. “Why? It is because they are always playing roles. These women have effectively lost their true identities. Society only ever sees them as prostitutes. What they need is actually a form of rehabilitation.”
The goal of the Attendants programme is to provide some measure of that re-integration working with sex-workers in a safe-house currently being set up in a red-light district in Athens by the Salvation Army. Through art therapy and other specialist-led workshops the women will be encouraged to contribute to a mobile exhibition that will travel through Greece telling their stories and shedding light on the murky word of the sex industry.
Allowing them to reclaim control of who they are and how they can fit into a society that as often abuses them as it blames them for their abuse.
Because even if prostitution is not considered a crime, it certainly creates an awful lot of victims.
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