I have to admit I was really skeptical when I heard about Brazilian prostitutes taking English classes in order to better haggle in English with foreign tourists during the World Cup. The teacher is called Igor Fuchs for Fuchs sake! The Brazilian prostitutes need to know about six words and a few numbers. All of which can be communicated with hand-gestures. Thousands of trafficked children are set to be at-risk during the World Cup and beyond.
Remember, prostitution is a totally-legal, trade union-certified profession in Brazil. It involves consenting adults. Pimping is illegal, as it should be. Child prostitution is a huge issue in Brazil. If there were really one million prostitutes in Brazil, as this Independent article suggests , that would mean one in every Brazilians was a prostitute. More than that, considering half of that are men, and assuming most prostitutes are women, it would mean one in every hundred women in Brazil was a prostitute.
Thousands of journalists are set to arrive in Brazil to cover the World Cup. Hopefully these journalists will dig deep into the country and leave aside the antiquated, colonial image of Brazil as a hyper-sexualised third-world country where everyone lives in a favela and sells drugs in between Samba and Carnaval.
What journalists and visiting tourists will actually find is that Brazil is a modern, technologically-advanced country full of entrepreneurs, lawyers, doctors and hard-working Brazilians working hour-days to provide for their families and loved ones. Prostitution is, however, legal, and always has been in Brazil, which protects sex-workers and allows them access to trade unions as well as mental and sexual health services.
Pimping is โ quite rightly โ illegal in Brazil. Agencies such as Meninadanca operate in the poorer northern areas of the country where poverty is high and families sell their children to passing truckers and sex-tourists. She was rescued a few weeks before the World Cup starts. This photo was taken outside the World Cup stadium at Fortaleza a few weeks ago:.
