The Spanish resort slapping a ban on “vulgar” stag and hen parties

Mojácar, a major tourist resort in Almería, wants an end to what it calls the “vulgarity” typically associated with bachelor and bachelorette parties.

From now on, the Mediterranean town will no longer tolerate the public exhibition of “phallic tiaras” or “unbecoming behavior with inflatable sex dolls.”

A Socialist spokesman calls the initiative “a factory for destroying future tourists”

The city council has just approved an ordinance addressing behavior in public spaces and is also banning the practice of walking around the streets in bathing trunks with no shirt, a practice popular with many tourists. Outright nudity is also specifically prohibited.

But it’s the stag and hen parties that have drawn the most ire from local officials.

“We’re sick and tired of seeing inflatable dolls and phallic tiaras. We don’t want that kind of obscene behavior in our town,” said Mayor Rosa María Cano, of the conservative Popular Party (PP).

Bachelor parties themselves are not being banned, she noted, adding: “That would be undemocratic.”

Instead, Cano said the aim of the new rules is to make these celebrations compatible with family tourism, since bachelor parties “begin at noon in places where there are children present.”

Anybody breaching the regulations will be subject to fines of between €100 and €300, although if the rules are broken in crowded areas where there are children or in buildings under landmark protection, the fine could be as steep as €1,000.

The ordinance was rejected by all three opposition groups in the council. Manuel Zamora, a Socialist (PSOE) spokesman, called the local council “a factory for destroying tourism.”

“Anybody fined for wearing a bathing suit on the street would find it so ridiculous and unfair they would never return here,” said Zamora. “And then they will tell everyone about it and the news will spread like wildfire, and people considering coming to Mojácar will go somewhere else.”

English version by Susana Urra.