To be put off taking another holiday in Spain by these open displays of prostitution?

[janegrey]

We've just returned from a family holiday in southeast Spain, encountering something we'd never seen before - girls on beach chairs with an umbrella protecting them from the sun, waiting at roundabouts.

At first I naively thought they were young tourists waiting for a bus to the beach - but after seeing many as we drove around they're clearly prostitutes.

This article says a bit more about prostitution in Spain, and the so-called roundabout girls.

It made me and dh feel so sad - some of them looked little older, if at all than our 16yo dd.

I do wonder why the Spanish authorities allow it, especially if they're little more than slaves. It's put me off going there again.

I watched a tv programme once about Tuscany, it certainly put me off going there - girls standing by the side of the roads that lead into the hills outside Tuscany

Not something I would want to explain to young children!
At least you didnt have that problem

That article makes for pretty depressing reading.

Mind you there are women in that situation all over the world - in places like the UK though they are hidden away.

Very sad.

It is depressing. At least the police in the UK do try to clamp down on human trafficking - there've been cases in the news locally that I've seen where the pimps have been arrested, and there's been support for the young women.

I don't want to support a country where it's allowed to go on, knowing that the girls are likely to be slaves.

I think I'll email my MEP to see if it's something she can do something about.

I am sorry to say that if you were going to boycott countries that did not do much to help girls like these roundabout girls, then you could pretty much stay home.

We went for a walk with the DC through the centre of Geneva and DD asked why there were a lot of ladies standing around.

Unfortuantely prostitution is 'allowed' to go on, and pretty openly so, in most countries, so I am afraid you will most certainly have to boycott most European countries in the future if you take this stance, however noble your intentions. I do though think that emailing your MEP about it is a great idea, and is taking positive action.

I used to live in the Cascine Park in Florence and it was unbelievable the amount of prostitutes there. I could not go out without being propositioned (even when I was riding the polo ponies ). Mostly though, they were very glamourous transvestites - you'd see a beautiful looking young man in a bar and the same night a stunning looking woman on the street at night and realise they were one & the same - the plucked eyebrows were usually a give away.

DP once got propositioned in Florence. "Lady of the Night" was so elderly he didn't know whether to be offended or offer to see her safely across the road.

It is hardly 'hidden' in the UK. I live in Belfast City Centre and I would bet there is at least one prostitute on the corner of my street right now. Well, unless she's got a 'client'...

Prostitution is really not that visable in Belfast.