I lived a number of years in Spain, and it struck me early on that the endless discussion of prostitution failed to comprehend the variety of kinds of sex for sale within the industry, in all sorts of venues and situations that could be seen as good, bad or indifferent but that ought not to be reduced to any abstract, simplifying, uncontextualised term. Here are researched descriptions of four types of places where different kinds of sexual services are for sale in Spain: After each description, I highlight the socially interrelated themes that arise from even such a brief glance, in order to point out how a cultural study of commercial sex — not prostitution — might proceed, on the assumption that knowing more about the specifics will help promote justice for more people.
Puticlubes from puta, whore. Streams of cars and trucks roar along multi-laned routes that connect Spain with France, Germany and other states east and with Portugal to the west.
For long-distance truck drivers, the backbone of European commerce, long stints of solitary driving must be broken up with places offering rest and recreation.
The buildings strung along these superhighways, as well as along smaller, provincial roads, are known informally in Spanish society as puticlubes whoring clubs , but to those that work there they are hoteles de plaza , a term that refers to the employment system used, in which those offering sex for sale pay a daily rate for a place to live and work for three-week stretches.
These businesses may house 50 workers or more, and in some areas, such as between Burgos and the Portuguese border, numerous clubs are located close together, forming a veritable erotic shopping area.
