Sex work: « Buy sex » – Should prostitution be prohibited?

Buy sex – this is allowed in Germany. CDU and CSU demanded a new law last year. You want to ban the purchase of sexual services and punish more freely. The goal should be protection against exploitation and human trafficking. The opposite side warns of relocation to illegality. But what do they say about which the discussion is about? And how do the perspectives differ?

A two-part documentary series wants to get to the bottom of these questions. Today from 8:15 p.m. the two films “Buy sex – who pays the price?» and « buy sex – forbid for everyone? » one after the other on 3sat. Lisa Altmeier’s documentary series is devoted to questions about prostitution and legislation and was first broadcast in 2024.

30,600 people officially work in prostitution

Prostitution used to be immoral. In 2002 she became legal under the red-green federal government. Around 30,600 people officially work in prostitution in Germany. The actual number is probably much higher.

However, it is clear that 80 percent of the reported people have no German citizenship. Before Corona, around 10,000 more people were officially registered in prostitution. During the temporary ban, many have disappeared from statistics, it is said.

Sex worker Tamara has their say in the documentary. She is actually called differently and has been working in a Berlin brothel by operator Aurel Marx for a few months. The women work here as self -employed and pay space rent to Marx. This is a normal job for them, says Tamara.

« The whore almost always remains whore »

But she also says: «I don’t want to do it forever. I also want to have a family at some point, children, this, that. It doesn’t fit together. » This is the plan of many women. House lady Maria says that this is rarely realistic: « The whore almost always remains whore. »

A ban would be « shit, » says Maria. She is certain that the risk of diseases would increase. The risk of pimps and violence against women in prostitution too. Maria says that many of the women would certainly end up in street prostitution.

« I was an easy victim »

But there are other voices in the 3sat series: Anna and Natalja – their names have also been changed – come from Eastern Europe and are former forced prostitutes. Women like them often work in legal German brothels, but under compulsion. Both now live in a shelter.

Anna says that as a teenager she had to take care of her siblings without parents and ended up in prostitution. « I was an easy victim for this man who manipulated me. » The man brought her to Germany with false promises, played her love and forced her to prostitution with the so-called loverboy mesh.

Natalja also fled from forced prostitution. «It felt like rape, such as long rape and my body also has strong consequences of this involuntary sex. If I had the chance, I would cut off my body and throw away, »she says. A possible ban would find Natalja good. « That would be very, very good, because that means that women would look for a different job. »

Sex work as a mirror of society

According to estimates by the police union, around 90 percent of women do not work voluntarily in prostitution, according to the second part of the documentary. There is no reliable data basis for this.

Stephanie Klee considers these numbers to be wrong. Klee has already worked in brothels, apartments and on the street. In the meantime, she is a sex assistant, for example in senior residences, hospice and facilities for people with disabilities. « We have sex activists, have always said that all numbers that are mentioned are wrong, » she says.

«I always say sex work is a reflection of society. This means that all problems and inequalities we have in society, of course, we also find sex work. » It demands more social workers and a social climate in which one does not have to be ashamed of sex work.