In this article we talk about the basic characteristics of prostitution during the Spanish Civil War and we mention some of the measures that both sides took regarding it.
Many stories have been told and will continue to be told about the Spanish Civil War . When talking about the role that women played in it, it is usually emphasized, most likely in an excessively simplistic way, that the division into two sides was also reflected in the assumption of two types of roles by Spanish women of that time. time.
This simplistic vision has highlighted, among the ranks of those who remained faithful to the republican regime, the figure of the militiawomen , women who, instead of remaining in the rear, decided to take up the rifle and march to the front to fight against the enemy.
In front of them, on the coup side, were the women who adjusted their role to the role that women have traditionally played in every war, that is: taking care of the sick, watching over the home and waiting for the return of the boyfriend or husband.
Without a doubt, this simplistic view of the role that women played during the war is a vision without nuances. Not in vain, many women, like many men, were “trapped” in a territory controlled by the side that did not correspond to their ideas.
Thus, women with leftist thoughts were trapped in the Franco zone and women with more traditional thoughts were condemned to live in territories in which communist and anarchist ideas had prevailed over the most lukewarm and focused republican ideas.
This simplistic vision left out many women who did not fit the roles described and among these women we must highlight the prostitutes . The historian Francisco Martínez Hoyos , who has studied brothels during the Civil War , has tried to alleviate this silence to explain to us how prostitutes lived during the Civil War .
Civil War: more and more varied prostitutes
Firstly, Martínez Hoyos highlights how the Civil War increased the number of prostitutes in cities like Barcelona . Not in vain, many women who had recently emigrated to the big cities looking for work found themselves, suddenly, without the possibility of working because the war had fractured the country's economy and many companies had gone bankrupt or, directly, had been expropriated.
These women, deprived of the possibility of finding a job that would allow them to earn a living, were forced into prostitution . The increase in prostitution in large cities during the years that the war lasted was so notable that, according to figures provided by Martínez Hoyos himself, in Barcelona the number of prostitutes increased by 40%.
The studies carried out by this author have served to understand how sex workers were sought according to their nationality in order to be able to provide service to the men who participated in the war according to their nationality. Not in vain, there were many men of various nationalities who participated in the Spanish Civil War. If on the Franco side we can find a long list of Germans, Italians and, of course, Moroccans; In the Republican one we can find, apart from Russians arriving directly from the Soviet Union, members of the International Brigades arriving from almost all corners of the planet.
Thus, Martínez Hoyos has highlighted how, during the Civil War, Moroccan prostitutes were sought to serve the African troops fighting alongside General Franco and “specific brothels” were opened for German clients of the Condor Legion.
As at any other time in history, in Spain, during the Civil War, there were brothels of very different categories and prostitutes of very different kinds. From the so-called “wanker girls” who, in places like movie theaters, masturbated viewers for a very modest amount of money, to luxury prostitutes , there were very diverse types of sex workers who practiced prostitution in very different ways.
War, prostitution and STDs
Talking about prostitution during the Spanish Civil War is also talking about the proliferation of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Syphilis , for example, became a real social problem. In some places, patients infected with this venereal disease tripled. In fact, it was even stated in those years that syphilis had caused more casualties than the enemy's bullets.
Faced with the proliferation of STDs , authorities on both sides promoted campaigns warning of the risks of practicing sex without prevention or under certain hygienic conditions. These campaigns, consisting of the publication of pamphlets and press articles, as well as the placement of posters and the broadcast of advertising spots, did not have much impact among the troops of both sides.
In these campaigns, and especially those promoted by the so-called “national side”, sex workers were blamed for the proliferation of STDs and their clients were blamed as if they had not been largely responsible. that syphilis would spread as it did during the Civil War. And there were many men who decided to get infected so as not to have to go to the front.
The studies carried out by Martínez Hoyos demonstrate how the Republican army had to take measures before the famous Battle of the Ebro , the one that caused the most casualties during the entire Civil War, given the increase in the number of infected people.
The authorities of the Republican side, to prevent venereal diseases from continuing to decimate the troops of their army, decided to inspect the existing brothels, close those opened illegally and threaten those infected by any STD with disciplinary measures. These disciplinary measures ranged from prison sentences of between one month and twenty years to the execution of those infected who were repeat offenders.
Within the Republican side, the first abolitionist current emerged regarding prostitution. Feminists and anarchists highlighted how the practice of prostitution and the role that women had to play when exercising this profession directly contradicted the emancipatory project for women that these ideologies advocated. Organizations such as Mujeres Libres, for example, tried to put this way of thinking into practice by promoting the social reintegration of all those women who abandoned prostitution. Statistics say that very few (one in ten) achieved it or accepted it.
For its part, on the Franco side, controls were imposed to inspect the sexual health of prostitutes in order to isolate those who suffered from syphilis or gonorrhea , the two most common venereal diseases at the time.
Doing balancing exercises on the tightrope of moral hypocrisy, the prevailing doctrine on the Franco side, a traditionally Christian morality repressive of everything that had nothing to do with the maintenance of sexual relations within marriage and intended for procreation, He considered prostitution and its practice a “lesser evil” that, in times of war, guaranteed the dignity of the so-called “decent women”, that is, virgin women who had to maintain their virginity until marriage.
