Quite a lot of drama when you consider that prostitution is not actually a crime in Brazil. The Ministry of Labor has recognized prostitution as an official occupation since But as Rio de Janeiro prepares for its turn on the global stage โ as the host of the World Cup in , then the Summer Olympics โ the city is taking drastic action to keep its thriving sex industry out of the spotlight.
Rio has already shuttered 24 sex establishments in the rapidly gentrifying downtown and tourist-friendly South Zone neighborhoods. Another 33 venues have been threatened or harassed by the police. Blanchette and da Silva have verified different addresses comprising a sprawling map of sex in Rio. Since prostitution is not a crime in Brazil, the city has had to find other reasons to conduct its raids. Which is, of course, illegal.
This week, a local judge cleared the owners of the Monte Carlo, one of the brothels targeted in the raid, of all charges. The city has a history of warring with its prostitutes when tourists come to town that stretches over years, as Blanchette and Argentine professor Cristiana Schettini detail in an upcoming academic paper. Particularly Centauros. It is the most expensive venue frequented by foreigners in any number and also one of the oldest termas sauna brothels in town. But there was also Help!
The building, appropriately, is a former brothel called Hotel Paris. In April the city bull-dozed a handful of lunch counters and bars guilty of code violations, including one owned by a former prostitute I spoke with who saw her new livelihood vanish overnight. Police are threatening prostitutes who post fliers in public pay phones with 15 years in prison for "destruction of public property.
What remains to be seen is just how far Rio will go to exclude its prostitutes from the picture. Julie Ruvolo is a freelance journalist and editor of the Red Light Rio project. Since , economists say, wage growth for the highest-paid workers has been roughly triple that for the lowest paid. In some cities, the disparity is wider.
