Prostitution in Francoist Spain β presented the government with a problem. The Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War β tolerated the practice, but prostitution was actively opposed by the Catholic Church.
During the s, state policy was more tolerant of it, and allowed officially sanctioned brothels to serve the "needs" of men and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections STIs. However, clandestine prostitution was actively suppressed, while its economic causes, which largely involved war orphans and women in dire economic situations, were ignored.
In , the tolerance of prostitution that had been shown by the government of Francoist Spain largely ended, as a result of a number of factors, including the joining of international bodies dedicated to stopping the human trafficking of women. Following the death of Francisco Franco in , prostitutes were one of several groups of women that feminists sought to gain amnesty for.
Accusations of prostitution have been used as slanders against women as a form of disempowerment dating back to the Christian Bible. Fascism sometimes supported regulated prostitution. Opposition to prostitution was much more frequent, often because of a belief that legalization of prostitution would result in a surge of men getting sexually transmitted diseases. The state set up a battle between women, by encouraging women to define themselves as mothers and state patriots or as prostitutes who opposed to the state.
It was supposed by Pope Pius XII's direction on the purpose of Christian marriage, which said, "In accordance with the Creator's will, matrimony, as an institution of nature, has not as a primary and intimate end the personal perfection of the married couple but rather the procreation and upbringing of new life.
