A BROTHEL serving only women is due to open in Valencia in the autumn.

The pioneering service, in a country where using prostitutes is traditionally seen as cosa de hombres (a man’s thing), will be run by “Charming Barbara”, 35, who was a sex worker for eight years.

One in four Spanish men has visited prostitutes, according to a survey by the Institute for National Statistics. But only 2 per cent of women have paid a gigolo, according to a report by Mundo Medico, a medical publisher.

Spanish law forbids living off a prostitute’s earnings but does not make selling sex illegal. In practice, this means brothel owners take a cut by charging “rent”.

Barbara thought of the idea after a chance conversation with a man who contacted her to offer his services. She set up an agency offering male escorts, but now wants to start a permanent luxury brothel.

Barbara has had no shortage of men who want to work for her. She is clear, though, about what her clients want.

“I don’t want muscle-men. Above all they must have good conversation,” she said.

Typically, mostly professional executives pay up to €1,200 (£830) for a night with one of Barbara’s prostitutes.

Neus Arqués, author of Un Hombre de Pago, a book about male prostitution, said that many women looked for gigolos to solve problems in their own lives. But Carmen Freixa, a sexologist, doubted if Spanish women would take to the idea of a brothel for female needs. “Women haven’t been educated to see men as objects,” she said.

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