“I cannot deny my part whore. I cannot deny the mark it left on me. I neither can, nor must, nor want to. I transform it into something revolutionary,” says the activist Amelia Tiganus (Romania, 1984). After experiencing first-hand the horrors of prostitution, she discovered feminism, which liberated her and at the same time pushed her (out of the moral obligation she felt) to do activism. The result of this journey of life is collected in your book The revolt of the whores. From victim to activist (Penguin Random House), a work that is revolutionizing the networks.
Run away from qualifier exprostituta because as she explains “we would never call a woman who has survived her partner’s abuse ‘ex-abused‘ for the rest of his life, because that also stigmatizes and prevents a full development of (self) perception in the world “; and defends the abolitionist feminist current in addition to oppose liberal feminism.
The book collects on the one hand the experience of Tiganus during her five years of prostitution, and offers us a deep and critical reflection on this institution. “It is much easier to manufacture proud whores than feminist activists” affirms the writer, who speaks without mincing words about her opposition to the current defender of prostitution within feminism.
Cover of the book ‘The revolt of the whores. From victim to activist ‘, by Amelia Tiganus.
Penguin Random House
Feminist activism
Much has been written about prostitution in recent years, in response to the alarming problem for women. From the texts of Ana de Miguel, through those of Rosa Cobo, Sonia Sánchez or Victoria Sau, ideas that share space with those of other authors such as Virginie Despentes.
“It will be the revolt of the whores that the end of patriarchy“exclaims Amelia Tiganus in her work, where she defines the brothel as a concentration camp, without happy women.” The only happy whores I have met once outside and they are all day on social networks defending prostitution “. The author denounces that in his opinion “the privilege of a few is the yoke of all others, because his speech is the best marketing, the best publicity so that the wheel of prostitution keeps turning “.
In her book she is direct, she speaks loud and clear, she is no longer afraid to speak her mind. In it he states that whorers pay for soulless women, without desire, as she says “they pay to fuck dead women.” He also tells us that she wants to stop being the victim, “the survivor, the raped, the ex-prostitute, the whore, the Romanian who gives her testimony.”
And, although among its pages we can find some really hard experiences, there is also a space for positivism and a clear request on the part of the author: “Let’s eroticize good treatment and empathy. Until our panties get wet thinking about it. Until men get hard to see us as human, “he writes.
From Romania to Spain
“In Romania I first came across male stalkers, then rapists and then pimps (many of them they are also rapists who choose girls to rape, break them and then sell them: Whoremaking and patriarchal violence are inseparable) “, relates Amelia Tiganus.
Far from looking like hell outside our borders, Tiganus provides us with highly worrying data and information about our country. “In Spain and in the rest of the European countries the majority of prostituted women are of Romanian origin. We are the cheapest and easiest merchandise to move,” he explains. Far from staying there, it also reveals that “Spain is the largest consumer of prostitution in Europe: four out of ten men are prostitutes; it ranks third in the world, after Thailand and Puerto Rico. ”
Victims or empowered?
The debate on the legalization of prostitution it is still on the table, even more so within the feminist movement where the opposite positions are more firmly appreciated. “Facing the prostitution system based on the individual consent of women is an example of how machismo uses neoliberalism to empty a very heavy intellectual baggage of content as far as the left is concerned, “says Tiganus.
The author explains in her “revolt of the whores” that to escape the horror of the brothel, she dissociated from herself in a method of adaptation to the “infinite violence of degradation”. In addition, Amelia talks about the “sexual colonialism” that is present in this industry where race and social class are two determining factors.
For this reason, he decides to focus on the role of the putero which he defines as “a macho man who makes use of his privileges, money and power, to satisfy his desires, without taking into account the human condition and the vulnerability of women prostitutes and their circumstances “.
The author goes further and classifies these men into categories, from the power may until the male whore, the latter characterized by “his patriarchal toxic masculinity” and that he enjoys “the more pain, humiliation and fear they put you through”, according to his experience.
abolitionist feminism
For Amelia Tiganus it was essential to be able to define the concept of abolitionist feminism, since his book wants to publicize the keys to this movement. “Speaking of the power of the word, I want to clarify here something that abolitionist feminists claim: prostitution is not exercised by women, it is exercised by pimps and whores, men who prostitute women and girls trapped in this prostitution system. Not the other way around, “he clarifies.
A movement that some branches of feminism in Spain do not accept as part of it, a situation that the author denounces in some of its pages. At a time when prostitution is still strongly present in Spain and the rest of Europe, it seems that intersectional feminism it is more necessary than ever. A feminism that embraces everyone, and that listens carefully to the life experiences of the most affected.
Follow the topics that interest you
Reference-www.elespanol.com