The drift of migration rhetoric: from pensions to brothels

From the promise of paying pensions to proposing brothels for migrants

The public debate on immigration has travelled in record time from the economic mantra —"they come here to pay our pensions"— to proposals that turn women's bodies into a tool of demographic containment. The latest twist has come from former British Conservative minister Edwina Currie, who, according to reports, has suggested setting up brothels near small towns with high migrant populations in order to reduce sensual violence.

The reaction was not long in coming. Among the harshest comments in the online debate, which we will not reproduce for obvious reasons, the idea was raised of satisfying migrants' needs to prevent assaults. This is no isolated anecdote: the discussion reflects a real social tension moving from demands for control to the normalisation of dehumanisation.

Currie, born Edwina Cohen in Liverpool, has been portrayed as a politician with an Orthodox Jewish background who abandoned religious practice. Her proposal, framed within a narrative that incivil migrants and objectifies women, has drawn criticism from every side, but has also found an echo in sectors calling for a "pragmatic" approach to sensual violence.

The question left hanging is whether the Spanish debate is willing to import this model of migration management, or whether there is still room for an approach based on rights rather than perceived threat.