In the year 2003, prostitution
in Slovenia was decriminalized, which means it is not seen as a criminal act
anymore, but people still can’t register it as working industry. They have
civil rights and it is a free act of individual, but only for persons who
actually do the work. Pimp is still seen as a criminal and so are other people
who encourage women and men to work as prostitutes. So whoever works as a sex worker doesn’t have
to pay taxes, they can keep all their money for themselves because their field
of work is not registered as a work line. By the latest non-official findings we can say
that this industry makes 40 – 50 million euros per year.
The most common type of prostitution
is ‘housing’ prostitution and prostitution in night bars and clubs. Women who
would reveal themselves on the streets are very rare. The amount you have to
pay for half an hour is between 50 and 150 euros. It depends on age, looks and
experiences of sex worker. The easiest way to get in contact with them is by
using big phone books and web sites made especially for that. By the research
made in 2003, there was around 3000 prostitutes in Slovenia, 600 of them were
students. The most common reason why they decide to start with this is because
they need more money. There are mostly women who do this kind of work, average
age from 18 – 55. It is also known, that prostitution in Slovenia is on a
higher level, which means women often work as escorts for home or foreign business
men, with extra payment for sex. There is also a lot of prostitution in hotels
and ‘closed' bars and parties. So overall,
it is happening behind closed doors, not out on the open, where everyone can
see them. There is still very big stigma about sex workers, despite removing
this area out of criminal acts. Some professionals think, and I agree with it,
that stigma against them is still existing because it was known as illegal and
criminal for such a long time, that it’s going to take a while until people
realize, this is also work and it shouldn’t be seen as ‘wrong’ forever.
I thought that most girls who
are working as prostitutes in Slovenia are immigrants, but as the research from
EU states, this is not the case. Around 30% of them are from different countries,
mostly Ukraine, Czech and Poland, others are Slovenian. Average amount of
immigrants working as prostitutes in other countries from European Union is 60%
out of all registered sex workers. In Slovenia, there are three big cities
which are more known for people working this kind of job. Two of them are in
north-east, where in the past, there was a lot of bordellos, which are now by
law forbidden.
On the internet I found an
interesting interview with a girl, who is a student and working as sex worker
for 6 years now. She was the first girl in Slovenia who was brave enough to
step in front of camera, reveal her identity and answer a lot of questions
about prostitution and her own experience with it. To summarize all important
information she gave to the reporter: She started at the age of 14, because she
needed money for books, paying school, food. When the interview was made, she
had 20 years old, a child and a partner, but still working as a sex worker. She
also had a husband before, but it didn’t work out. She says neither husband nor
partner disagree with her job. Her record was 24 clients in 8 hours, which
means 1200 euros if she charged 50 euros per client. In the interview she says,
she has a plan to stop doing this at the end of the year, now for real.
Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzWBK5aWW50
There is also a movie called
Slovenka (Slovenian girl), which talks about a Slovenian girl, who studies in
Ljubljana (the capital), while in secret working as a prostitute. It is
actually very similar to the real life story of a girl who gave public
interview about it. And the movie is definitely worth watching it. It shows the
real picture of life of some students, who start doing this so they can afford
paying for their studies and basic needs a human being has to satisfy.
Ni komentarjev:
Objavite komentar