The shit in Spain falls mainly in the fan

[celedhring]

This stinks of deliberate move on Puchi's part.

If he's extradited and sentenced just in time for PP & Vox to claim the next government it could backfire spectacularly, though.

He spent one night in jail. If you know Puchi you know there's no way on Earth he'll risk a single day in the slammer. I mean, he had parlamentary immunity for many months already, and he never dared to return to Spain even though it would be a massive propaganda coup, just for fear of possibly being jailed a few days if the Spanish court tried to play funny with his MEP status (which again, would also be a massive propaganda coup for him).

[Josquius]

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

[jimmy olsen]

Anyone read their books?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/17/europe/spanish-female-writer-revealed-intl-scli/index.html

Lauded Spanish female crime writer revealed to be three men
By Hannah Ryan, CNN

Updated 1335 GMT (2135 HKT) October 17, 2021


(CNN)Spain's literary world has been thrown into chaos after a coveted book prize was awarded to "Carmen Mola" -- an acclaimed female thriller writer who turned out to be the pseudonym of three men.

Television scriptwriters Agustín Martínez, Jorge Díaz and Antonio Mercero shocked guests, who included Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia, at the Planeta awards Friday when they took to the stage to pick up the prize money and reveal the celebrated crime author did not actually exist.

On the website for Mola's agent, the writer -- who has been compared to Italy's esteemed novelist Elena Ferrante -- is described as a "Madrid-born author" writing under a pseudonym in a bid to remain anonymous. The description for Mola on the website also contains a series of photographs of an unknown woman looking away from the camera.

In previous interviews with Spanish media, Martínez, Díaz and Mercero had presented Mola as a female university professor who lived in Madrid with her husband and children.

Mola's novels usually revolve around the character of detective Elena Blanco, described by publisher Penguin Random House as a "peculiar and lonely woman" and a lover of "grappa, karaoke, collectors' cars and sex in SUVs."

However, the book that won the Planeta prize was not a story featuring Blanco. It is a historical thriller called "The Beast" set during a cholera epidemic in 1834 and centers around a serial killer who is hunted down by a journalist, a policeman and a young woman.

The Mola novels are well known for being gory and graphic -- and Spanish media has noted in the past that the contrast between Mola's supposed life as a married university professor and the violent nature of the books served as a useful marketing tool.

In an interview with the real authors following the revelation, Spain's El Mundo newspaper reported: "It is not lost on anyone that the idea of a university professor and mother of three, who teaches algebra classes in the morning and, in the afternoon, writes novels of savage and macabre violence has been a good marketing operation."

The news stunned many fellow literary figures -- and not everyone is thrilled about the news. Beatriz Gimeno, who describes herself as a writer and a feminist -- and who was once the director of the Women's Institute, a key national equality body in Spain -- took to Twitter to criticize Martínez, Díaz and Mercero.

In a tweet, Gimeno said: "Beyond using a female pseudonym, these guys have spent years doing interviews. It's not just the name, it's the fake profile they've used to take in readers and journalists. Scammers."

In 2020, a regional branch of the Women's Institute included Mola's work as part of a selection of "feminist reading" alongside Canadian poet Margaret Atwood and Spanish writer Irene Vallejo.

Mola was still listed as an author on the Penguin Random House website over the weekend. CNN has reached out to Penguin Random House for comment but has not received a reply yet.

[chipwich]

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

Is this the first time in your life you've seen left wing opposition to prostitution?

[celedhring]

Yeah, this is hardly new or exclusive to Spain. And we do have a problem with prostitution: it has grown rampant, it's a hotspot of organized crime, and many women are coerced into it.

That said, I don't expect anything to be done with it in the short term. Actually this pledge has got very little attention in the Spanish press.

[celedhring]

Anyone read their books?

No, and I wasn't even aware of "her" until this controversy happened. But then again Spanish noir is far from my making my reading list 

Nom de plumes are fine, and I love people going all in on their nom de plumes with fictional biographies, fake interviews and such, in the name of fun. But it feels like these guys have milked the fact that this was a woman (and there's a cultural drive to highlight the work of female writers) a bit too much - and only came clean because there was €1 million on the line.

That said, people seem to be taking it jokingly rather than going on a cancelling drive.

[Josquius]

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

Is this the first time in you life you've seen left wing opposition to prostitution?

Yes.
The left more usually when it has anything outside the ordinary to say comes from the recognise its a fact of life,: legalise, tax, protect and empower the women, angle.

[garbon]

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

Is this the first time in you life you've seen left wing opposition to prostitution?

Yes.
The left more usually when it has anything outside the ordinary to say comes from the recognise its a fact of life,: legalise, tax, protect and empower the women, angle.

There are many feminist takes against prostitution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_views_on_prostitution#Arguments_against_prostitution

[The Larch]

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

Is this the first time in you life you've seen left wing opposition to prostitution?

Yes.
The left more usually when it has anything outside the ordinary to say comes from the recognise its a fact of life,: legalise, tax, protect and empower the women, angle.

What? That's at least in part a "leave it to the market" approach, by legalising and taxing it, and seeing the countries that fully legalize prostitution in Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and Latvia, none of them leftist strongholds) it really boggles the mind where you took that approach as the "left wing" one. I'd guess that the route that Pedro Sánchez announced is the French/Scandinavian one (go after the customers, protect the women), but as cel said it's not been really developed and it has generated very little traction in the media. It will have to be seen if in the next general elections it is highlighted or not.

[Duque de Bragança]

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

Is this the first time in you life you've seen left wing opposition to prostitution?

Yes.
The left more usually when it has anything outside the ordinary to say comes from the recognise its a fact of life,: legalise, tax, protect and empower the women, angle.

What? That's at least in part a "leave it to the market" approach, by legalising and taxing it, and seeing the countries that fully legalize prostitution in Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and Latvia, none of them leftist strongholds) it really boggles the mind where you took that approach as the "left wing" one. I'd guess that the route that Pedro Sánchez announced is the French/Scandinavian one (go after the customers, protect the women), but as cel said it's not been really developed and it has generated very little traction in the media. It will have to be seen if in the next general elections it is highlighted or not.

Tyr 

The French approach has made things worse, with the activity going through Internet and sex workers being even more exploited.

[Josquius]

There are many feminist takes against prostitution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_views_on_prostitution#Arguments_against_prostitution

I wonder what the overlap with TERFs looks like.

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

Is this the first time in you life you've seen left wing opposition to prostitution?

Yes.
The left more usually when it has anything outside the ordinary to say comes from the recognise its a fact of life,: legalise, tax, protect and empower the women, angle.

What? That's at least in part a "leave it to the market" approach, by legalising and taxing it, and seeing the countries that fully legalize prostitution in Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and Latvia, none of them leftist strongholds) it really boggles the mind where you took that approach as the "left wing" one. I'd guess that the route that Pedro Sánchez announced is the French/Scandinavian one (go after the customers, protect the women), but as cel said it's not been really developed and it has generated very little traction in the media. It will have to be seen if in the next general elections it is highlighted or not.

Its not leave it to the market at all.
Its the left wing approach in that it recognises reality for what it is and sees it as a social ill to be solved rather than futilely shouting about morality of the nasty crime and demanding the bad things stop or else you'll be punished in the conservative fashion.
It is a practical solution to a part of life that empowers the workers (largely vulnerable people) and takes criminals out of the equation.
In the UK it is Labour who have moved things in this direction against Conservative opposition. You continue to see calls for further legalisation coming most strongly from the left.
e.g.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/04/jeremy-corbyn-decriminalise-sex-industry-prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39909126

[Valmy]

If women are being exploited then logic suggests the exploiters be the ones to be thrown in prison. How are the customers supposed to know if the sex worker they are hiring is a legitimate worker or somebody being human trafficked? And surely throwing the sex workers in prison is not the answer either. The whole "Let's destroy sex work" approach has centuries and centuries of failure behind it doesn't it?

[Razgovory]

BBC News - Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58947172


Well this is a backwards step. I'm very surprised to see it coming from a left wing PM too. Expected on clicking the article it'd be coming from the typical feelings over logic think of the children right.
Stupid stuff. Wtf?

Is this the first time in you life you've seen left wing opposition to prostitution?

Yes.
The left more usually when it has anything outside the ordinary to say comes from the recognise its a fact of life,: legalise, tax, protect and empower the women, angle.

There are many feminist takes against prostitution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_views_on_prostitution#Arguments_against_prostitution

There are feminists against everything.  If you look hard enough, you'll find feminists against women.

[HVC]

If women are being exploited then logic suggests the exploiters be the ones to be thrown in prison. How are the customers supposed to know if the sex worker they are hiring is a legitimate worker or somebody being human trafficked? And surely throwing the sex workers in prison is not the answer either. The whole "Let's destroy sex work" approach has centuries and centuries of failure behind it doesn't it?

isn't the whole prostitution is bad thing a legacy from WW1 and STD's?

*edit i mean the modern sense of bad as in illegal, not the moral you're going to hell sense.

[Barrister]

If women are being exploited then logic suggests the exploiters be the ones to be thrown in prison. How are the customers supposed to know if the sex worker they are hiring is a legitimate worker or somebody being human trafficked? And surely throwing the sex workers in prison is not the answer either. The whole "Let's destroy sex work" approach has centuries and centuries of failure behind it doesn't it?

isn't the whole prostitution is bad thing a legacy from WW1 and STD's?

*edit i mean the modern sense of bad as in illegal, not the moral you're going to hell sense.

Err, no.

The idea that sex should only occurr between married people goes at least as far back as the early Christian church, if not much further back.