LEGALIZATION OF PROSTITUTION: GERMANY.

At a historical moment in which the government of Spain is considering the abolition of prostitution, in this article we are going to discuss a country also belonging to our European Community in which the approach was completely the opposite, legalization.

We will begin by recognizing that our Germanic neighbors were pioneers when it comes to open debate and putting on the table an issue that matters a lot, the legalization of prostitution.

We will see how throughout history, Germany went through different legal and social scenarios regarding this issue.

And we will realize that currently, along with the Netherlands and Austria, the Germans are at the forefront when it comes to the oldest profession in the world, since prostitution there is not only legal but also regularized.

However, as we have said before, this process was not instantaneous.

In this article we will see the different stages as well as the twists and turns that the legal and social treatment of prostitution has had and how it affects the people who practice it and the clients of this service..

"Currently, along with the Netherlands and Austria, it is at the forefront since in these territories, prostitution is not only legal but is regularized."

On the other hand, we will analyze the pros and cons of the current situation and what effect the regularization of prostitution in Germany has had..

MIDDLE AGES, WOMEN'S HOUSES.

Since the Middle Ages, records have been left about the work of whores, courtesans and companions in German territory.

In the 13th century, there were German cities that had several brothels, run by the same authorities.

They were known as a "women's house" or Frauenhäuser and were considered necessary to satisfy a man's needs outside of marriage.

The cities were enriched in part by the tax revenues from the houses of prostitutes.

"They were known as a "women's house" or Frauenhäuser and were considered necessary to satisfy the needs of men outside of marriage."

However, things changed drastically starting in the 16th century, with the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and the appearance of syphilis, Carlos V ordered the closure of all brothels in the Holy Roman Empire.

By the year 1700, a Law was created that determined that "dissolute women who want to do business with their bodies have to go to whorehouses tolerated under the supervision of the State."

One hundred years later, in 1800, prostitutes in all regions were already registered with the police and underwent periodic health checks to prevent sexually transmitted infectious diseases.

The Bremer Regulation of 1852 held that "prostitution was not a trade in the strict sense" which led to prostitution being judicially defined as immoral.

GERMAN EMPIRE AND THE FIRST RED ZONES.

During this period, in the society of the German Empire, prostitution was tolerated, and was still seen as a necessary evil functional to provide for male sexuality.

But on the other hand it was considered a threat to the moral image of the "decent woman."

So the state police took charge of regulation and in 1871 the Penal Code prohibited brothels and "commercial fornication."

By 1876 prostitution became punishable only if it was outside police supervision, so most whores and courtesans were registered.

Controls became very strict, especially in Hamburg. The regulations that were applied included everything from the dress code to the conduct of the prostitutes both inside and outside the brothel.
This generated a very large social gap between women who practiced prostitution and the rest of society.

At the beginning of the 20th century, although prostitution was considered "harmful to communities" and somewhat as a result of this, the first red light districts began to be created such as Helenenstraße in Bremen, Linienstraße in Dortmund or Stahlstraße in Essen and many more.

By 1900 there were already around 50,000 women working as prostitutes in Berlin.

"By 1876 prostitution became punishable only if it was outside police supervision, so most whores and courtesans were registered."

Towards the end of the First World War and with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to pay compensation to the other countries, as agreed at the Paris Peace Conference, which ended the war.

In this way the German middle class lost all its savings and the working class was left without work, not to mention the million widows who had lost their husbands during the battles. This is how decadence took over Berlin and prostitution plagued the streets.

Prostitutes were required to undergo mandatory medical examinations for sexually transmitted diseases, were prohibited from entering public areas, and were required to renounce their personal freedoms of private residence, travel, and refuse unwarranted searches under the German moral police, the Sittenpolizei.

Unregistered prostitutes arrested for prostitution, or for other reasons, did not receive the same legal protection or voice as ordinary citizens, and due process of law was not practiced.

This system came to an end in 1927 when the Law to Fight Venereal Diseases was approved, which one of its points decriminalized prostitution.

NAZI PERIOD AND PROSTITUTES.

The Nazis did not completely disapprove of prostitution, in fact they created a centralized system of brothels operating in urban areas, foreign slaves, concentration camp brothels, and military brothels.

However, whores were considered "asocial" and degenerate, many of them were sent to a concentration camp in Ravensbrück.

The German writer Lothar-Günther Buchheim described his impressions from Brest: "If a large ship arrived, the prostitutes would simply lie there among the sailors." Prostitution was regulated by the military services: "Only a permit from the brothel from the military command allowed you to visit it. You always had to use a condom. For German soldiers there was a disinfectant syringe in the urethra."

In 1942 they began to set up brothels inside the concentration camps, there were ten of them, with the pretext that it would serve as an incentive for non-Jewish and non-Russian inmates to cooperate and work hard.

In these establishments there were both former prostitutes who volunteered, as well as women who were forced to work there and be sexually available to guards and favored prisoners.

"Their main role is to delight them with the sounds of the Shamisen, to the rhythm of the typical songs or kouta as well as the sensuality of their dance, the perfection of their hands when serving tea and their intoxicating lips reciting poetry."

Already by the end of the Second World War with a Germany divided between East and West, the work of whores, courtesans and escorts was illegal and according to the official position did not exist.

However, it was known that the hotels in East Berlin (East Germany, Eastern communist bloc) and other cities offered escort and prostitute services that were at the highest level and had mainly Western visitors.

Some of these companions were employed by the Stasi (German Intelligence Agency) to serve as spies during a complicated political scenario.

Just as the "elite whores" operated, so did the "lower class" ones on the streets.

REUNIFICATION IN GERMANY AND "DORMITORIUM OF WHORES"

During the reunification of Germany, health requirements for prostitutes continued and in some regions were intensified.

A study carried out in 1992 that sought to confirm how many of the people tested actually had a disease, gave the result of 2.5%. Which compared to workers in any other trade was noticeably inferior.

This demonstrated that the non-transmission of diseases through sex could only be combated with condoms, which thanks to this type of debates has educated the population, generating a general culture of sexual health and self-care.

In 1967, an imposing brothel was inaugurated, the largest in Europe at that time, the Eros Center. Its six floors were too small next to the large Pascha Brothel in Cologne, which had twelve floors. But none of them survived the AIDS epidemic of the late 1980s.

"This demonstrated that the non-transmission of diseases through sex could only be combated with condoms, which thanks to this type of debates has educated the population, generating a general culture of sexual health and self-care."

Most brothels operated as a bar with a separate rental room attached, this way they were not so exposed to the law.
Many municipalities built and profited from high-rent or townhouse-style Dirnenwohnheime ("whore dormitories"), to keep street sex work and pimping under control.

The prostitutes offered their services in a room that they rented by the day. These establishments, called "Laufhäuser", still exist and have mostly been privatized.

LEGISLATIVE REFORM (2002) AND ITS EFFECTS.

In 2002, the so-called Prostitution Law (Prostitutionsgesetz) was created with the intention of removing the general ban on encouraging full-service sex work and allowing prostitutes to obtain regular employment contracts.

They stated that prostitution should no longer be considered immoral and the new law contemplated several important points about the rights of workers in this trade, however, some of the requirements exposed those who practiced it a lot. For example, the obligation to carry the card at all times stating that the person was a prostitute registered under the law. This generated a lot of discomfort for most of these people since in many cases they lead a double life and do not want the university or family to know about their work.

For this and more reasons, it was strongly criticized and it was often questioned whether the law was achieving the true objective for which it had been created in the first instance.

The German government published a report on the impact of this law in January 2007, which concluded that few prostitutes had entered into regular employment contracts and that working conditions had only improved for 35% of workers.

"They stated that prostitution should no longer be considered immoral and the new law contemplated several important points on the rights of workers in this profession."

Also in 2007, the Berlin authorities began to close several apartment brothels that had existed for many years. They cited a 1983 court decision that considered the inevitable nuisance caused by brothels to be incompatible with residential areas.

Sex worker rights groups and brothel owners opposed these measures. They commissioned a study that concluded that, overall, apartment brothels do not encourage crime or disturb neighbors.

Some of the owners of the most important brothels were linked to organized mafias and human trafficking, this generated more than one scandal and many arrests.

Although the German model still had many weaknesses, violence against prostitutes had decreased significantly.
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The Penal Code was amended again in October 2016 to penalize trafficked or coerced clients of prostitutes. This change was led by the social democrat Eva Högl.

REGULATION AND CURRENT SITUATION.

Since 2017, prostitutes have been required to obtain registration certificates valid for two years after undergoing prescribed health advice, and businesses engaged in prostitution must have legal permits.

The prostitution without condoms and publicity of prostitution without condoms or with pregnant women are illegal.

Prostitutes can work as regular employees whit regular contract and are also supposed to register with the local authority, which provides them with a document colloquially called a Hurenpass.

Brothels are registered businesses that need a special license to operate and if food and alcoholic beverages are offered, they also require the standard restaurant license.

Prostitutes must pay income taxes and have to collect VAT for their services, which they must pay to the Tax Agency.

The states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden Württemberg and Berlin have implemented a system whereby prostitutes have to pay their taxes in advance, a fixed amount per day, which brothel owners collect and pay to the Treasury. .

Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled that, as a consequence of the new prostitution law, publicity of sexual services is completely legal.

Many newspapers publish daily advertisements for brothels and women who work in apartments, and most whores, escorts and brothels have websites on the Internet.

Sex shops and kiosks sell magazines specializing in advertisements for prostitutes.

Foreigners from European Union countries can practice prostitution in Germany, but those from other countries who can obtain three-month tourist visas for Germany cannot practice prostitution, it is illegal, because the tourist visa does not include permission to work.

Pimping, admitting prostitutes under the age of eighteen to a brothel, and influencing persons under the age of twenty-one to engage in or continue to engage in prostitution are illegal. It is also illegal to contract sexual services from anyone under the age of 18 (before 2008 this age limit was 16). This law also applies to Germans traveling abroad.




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