about the scene in Barcelona //
From: **********
Sent: January, 14, 2004
To: witness@ex-oriente-lux.org
Subject: My experience
I am a john in Barcelona, Spain. I have visited several girls, some of them from eastern europe. I would like to help you any way I can.
* * *
From: witness@ex-oriente-lux.org
Sent: January, 14, 2004
To: *********
Subject: Re: My experience
Hi there,
thank you very much for your reply. As you may have realized, I've started to run the website from quite an "objective" point of view. I do not count
myself to the group of "john-haters", as most of the anti-trafficking-people are. Probably it's because most of them are women and it might be difficult
for them to accept some facts which are hard to change. I am not against (voluntary) prostitution and I am not fighting it - this seems to me a
hopeless task...
How do you want me to call you? Real names are not necessary - it is up to you.
When I talk to customers of sex-workers, I am always interested in their point of view on trafficking in women/forced prostitution. Do you think you
would be able to discover it, if you would see it? Do you think a girl forced to prostitution behaves different than a girl doing it as her voluntary job? How would you deal with it, if you would feel you are sure that this one girl is really forced. Would you call the police? Would you try to get her away? Would you ignore this fact a go with her anyway (well there is always a certain fascination by total submission or the lost of dignity)?
You can write me about the scene in Barcelona. How would you describe there the presence of East-European girls? Do girls from the east have different
prices? Do you have some experiences in facing pimps? I know - a lot of questions... :-)
I am not moralizing, regardless what you write me. I am not goint to write you, you should do this or that. I let others to play the moralists. But I
am interested in the thinking and philosophy of johns, simply because from all the people involved into prostitution (like "prostitutes", "pimps",
"police", "streetworkers" and "clients"), they are those about who is not much known. The clients always remain in the shadow. Simply because the
public acceptance is very bad, or let's say not existing.
So hope to hearing from you,
Best regards,
Aliosha
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Hi Aliosha,
I will try to answer your questions as best I can and hope the information I give you will
be of some interest. I don't think it would be easy to tell if a girl was being forced into prostitution, not unless it was her first time.
Personally, I have been with several girls from Eastern Europe here in Barcelona but after reading your website I would never again go to a non
Western European girl.
The first time I was with an eastern european girl, *********, was several years ago, in *******. Her pimp brought her to my hotel room and I
remember that she was very nervous and had to smoke a cigarette before she could even speak to me. I told her that if she didn't want to do anything,
than that was okay but I don't know if she understood me. I still feel very guilty about this as afterwards she went to the bathroom to shower and
undress and when she came out I was too weak willed to resist and ask her to just put her clothes back on and wait a while before going back to her pimp. Instead I took advantage of the situation and had sex with her. Just before she left I gave her a $10 dollar tip and I remember how her face lit up and how she smiled and hugged me. She was so happy over 10 dollars, something that makes me feel even more pathetic and sad about myself. I feel that I helped to destroy that girl's innocence. She even told me that she had hoped to work as a musician but sobbed as she said that she had ended up in prostitution.
Here in Barcelona, I have been with one hungarian girl in a brothel, and two ukrainians and a polish girl, each time in a private apartment. The girls
who work in private appartments seem to do so without pimps (but of course I don't know for sure) while in brothels I guess all the girls have pimps. The
scale of prostitution here is just incredible. There are very many street prostitutes in different
locations. I have read in local newspapers that a lot of them are from eastern europe but I personally have never been with any of them (most girls
are south americans).
Eastern european girls seem to charge the same prices as others, apart from africans who on the street charge as little as 20 euro. The usual appartment price is 60 euro and in a brothel 90 euro. Of course prices advertised vary a lot. Here, even "respectable" papers carry 2 pages of advertisements for prostitutes every day. This just shows what a high demand there is, by people like me. I think eastern european, especially albanian, pimps are mainly active in the area around Camp Nou, Barcelona's biggest nighttime red light area. Girls may also be forced to work in brothels, pay part of what they earn to the brothel owner and the rest to the pimps. This is what I have read in newspapers, my own experience has almost all been in private apartments.
If I came across a girl who I knew was being forced into prostitution I like to think I would do something to help her if I could, but of course I know
that the last time I was in such a situation I didn't.
If there is anything else I can tell you or anything I could do for you
please let me know.
*******
source: Ex Oriente Lux