Carly, 32, is an Italian cross-border commuter. In order to work freely five days a week she drives 6.9km from Como, northern Italy, through the Alps to Chiasso in Ticino, the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. Carly is a sex worker. “Switzerland offers safer spaces to work,” she says. “In Italy streets are dangerous, you do it in the car and you never know what may happen. Italians are lewd because prostitution in our country is still a taboo”.
Despite thousands of Italians taking to the streets to protest high taxation, transgender Efe Bal, above, demands to be allowed to pay taxes. GUISEPPE CACACE/AFP/GETTY
And in Ticino there are no pimps: “What I earn, once I’ve paid taxes, goes straight into my pockets.” In Chiasso Carly’s income is higher than what it was in Como – about 8,000 Swiss francs per month. “My husband knows what I do and supports me. He’s a mason and earns just €500. We need the money, we’ve got a three-year-old daughter. We’d like to buy a house in Switzerland and settle here one day.”
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