“What am I doing, can you help?” Instead of relief about the restart of the prostitution industry, concern is growing among women working there in Nuremberg. She often came to Manuela Göhring on the phone – at the “Kassandra” association, which provides specialist advice for people involved in sex work. Wait and hope that the health department will work quickly, that the regulatory authorities are actually accommodating – Göhring could hardly recommend more.
It’s about the work card that prostitutes need to legalize their trade, it has often expired during the pandemic. This usually includes an annual consultation at the health department. A service that the authority cannot offer – it is in a state of emergency because of Corona and probably surprised by the latest innovation for sex work. After the long work ban, a new hurdle, at least indirectly?
The Bavarian Administrative Court recently eased restrictions on prostitution in an urgent procedure. According to this, prostitution facilities are allowed to open, including hourly hotels and houses with separate rooms. This applies to brothels if they change their “club character” – i.e. no bar, sauna, darkroom or other where several people meet.
According to reports, classic brothels in particular are often kept closed because opening them is hardly worthwhile without having a drink. The previous rule severely affected the industry in its occupational freedom, the court decided, also in comparison with other “body-related services”. The official advice on expired ID cards was apparently not considered when changing the Infection Protection Ordinance.
“Authorities are also service providers for prostitutes,” says the member of the state parliament and social politician Julika Sandt (FDP), who has taken on the issue. “Prostitutes now need unbureaucratic help so that they can legally do their work.” Otherwise “the door to illegality would already be half open.” It was clear that offices would have a lot of counseling sessions. Therefore, it is incomprehensible why the Free State did not care about meaningful transitional rules, “instead of taking the notoriously understaffed health departments by surprise again”. The advice, according to Sandt, is important apart from all formality, since it deals with health protection as well as dealing with violent suitors or the risk of forced prostitution.
“Kassandra” consultant Göhring cannot judge how the situation is throughout Bavaria. According to figures at the request of the state parliament, at the end of 2019, before Corona, 8,150 prostitutes were registered in the Free State, 1428 in Nuremberg. The illegal field cannot be “validly estimated”.
While there was initially no appointment at the office or telephone information to be gotten in Nuremberg, the reports from Fürth and Erlangen are better – less rush, says Göhring. The city’s public order office promised to turn a blind eye to the controls of the documents. “Anything else would be madness,” she says. Experienced women would know what a gonorrhea looks like. But soon more sex workers would be coming from abroad again; the deadline jam at the office will be even bigger.
The trouble comes during the precarious Corona time for her clients. “It was often just a way of securing a livelihood,” says Goehring. Homelessness was an issue when women also lived in brothel rooms. More often she receives questions about reorientation, there are application training courses – however, alternative jobs, for example in gastronomy, were in short supply during the crisis.
The burden of the health authorities in Bavaria continues, the fight against pandemics has “absolute priority” – in particular the tracking of contacts and controls of hygiene regulations, the Ministry of Health said on request. Due to the corona, there could be restrictions in party traffic and waiting times for consultations. If necessary, prostitutes can be certified “that counseling can temporarily not be offered”.