It is descriptions like Liane Bissinger’s that shock many of the MPs in the plenary hall of the state parliament. Bissinger is a gynecologist in Munich and has been taking care of sex workers for years. She reports on the condition in which many women, but also men and trans people who she treats find themselves. “The reality of their lives has nothing to do with Pretty Woman or the student who works as an escort. They often have 150 clients a month, five times a day a woman’s body is penetrated anally, orally or vaginally. Other violence, for example penetration with his fist is not included in this.” In addition to psychological problems, the prostitutes often suffered from “far-reaching consequences of infections” caused by injuries in the genital area, from “permanent injuries to the sphincter muscle”, which often makes it impossible for women and men to hold their chair. Most of these women come from Eastern Europe and try to escape the poverty in their home countries.
On the initiative of the Greens and the FDP, twelve experts were invited to the plenary hall of the state parliament to give an overview of the situation of prostitutes in Bavaria. Former and active sex workers spoke there, but also scientists, a former police officer and experts from specialist counseling.
The members of the Labor and Social Affairs Committee wanted to know where politics needs to make improvements in order to curb the exploitation of sex workers and to significantly improve their situation. The fact that this is a very complex and multifaceted problem should have quickly become clear to everyone listening. The relatively poor number basis in Bavaria alone makes it difficult to get an overview of this area. While the State Ministry for Family, Labor and Social Affairs recorded 4105 prostitutes in 2020, associations and advice centers assume a significantly higher number of unreported cases. In Nuremberg alone, the Kassandra advice center estimates the number of prostitutes to be between 1,300 and 1,800.
How many of these people can be attributed to poverty prostitution and how many pursue this profession voluntarily can only be estimated so far. Exactly this distinction – whether a woman is forced into a misanthropic system of total exploitation by human traffickers from countries like Hungary, Romania or the Ukraine, for example – or whether she works as a sexual assistant in a nursing home or as a self-employed sex worker, was always shown in the hearing again the contrary perspectives on the area.
According to the “Ella” network, at least 15 prostitutes have been killed in Bavaria alone in the past 20 years. “Prostitution produces dead people and orphans. That’s our everyday life,” said Viktoria K. from the Wiesbaden prostitute network. The former Augsburg criminal chief Helmut Sporer also denounced violence against prostitutes in Bavaria. He reported on numerous victims of human trafficking and on the fact that these offenses are far too seldom punished: “The current system always produces new victims and that is irresponsible.”
A sex worker criticized the posts as too emotional
Inge Bell from the organization Terre des Femmes assumes that the “overwhelming majority” of women who work as prostitutes in Germany experience “hardship and violence”. She quoted a customer’s comment online: “A country without brothels is like a house without a toilet.” This sentence shows “that women and girls in prostitution are seen as toilet bowls – dehumanized,” said Bell. “And that must not be.” Bell advocated making the so-called sex purchase a punishable offense – not criminalizing prostitutes as before, but the clients.
Ruby Rebelde, chairwoman of Hydra eV, a counseling center for sex work and prostitution, has been a sex worker herself for many years. She criticized what she saw as emotional and scandalous contributions from some of the previous speakers. The often emotional reporting on this topic is not based on facts. That’s why Bavaria needs a scientific advisory board that examines sex work in depth. It is also a problem that politicians “who have never seen the inside of a brothel” are drafting a law.
Rebelde was referring to the prostitute protection law that came into force in mid-2017. It should help to create minimum standards for the protection and safety of prostitutes. It was also intended to curb organized crime and human trafficking. The law also stipulates that a report on its effects should be drawn up. However, this evaluation does not have to be submitted to the Bundestag until 2025. Far too late in the eyes of many politicians and experts in the Bavarian state parliament.