The American Spectator

Special Report

Germany Gets Its Kicks

By Manon McKinnon on 6.6.06 @ 12:07AM

The games of the FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup are about to open in Germany, and the contest is shaping up to be about more than soccer. Politics, for example, with suggestions that the games may serve as a way to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. Considering the tournament's slogan, "A Time to Make Friends," that may be difficult.

But there is one aspect of the spectacle -- not just a suggestion -- that is firmly underway. That is the extraordinary increase in prostitution and sex trafficking to meet the demands of 3 million World Cup fans. Prostitution and pimping, sad to say, are legal in Germany. In 2001 Germany's official position became that prostitution should no longer be seen as immoral.

Here are some facts from American and European reports:

* There are an estimated 400,000 women in prostitution in Germany.

* 75 percent of the prostitutes are foreigners.

* 80 percent of the trafficked women in Germany are from Central and Eastern Europe.

* Regional and city officials are involved in planning and providing "sex huts" or "sex garages" for prostitution during World Cup Games.

* Officials accommodate the demand for prostitution and provide for their anonymity.

* Officials estimate that 3 million fans will buy sex while at World Cup Games.

* 40,000 extra prostitutes are expected to be brought into Germany during this time. Many of the women in prostitution in Germany are trafficked; many of the additional women brought in for the World Cup will be trafficked as well.

* "Mega-brothels," which house up to 100 women and operate 24 hours/day, are being built.

* Officials in 12 cities that will host the World Cup games plan to provide special licenses for prostitutes so they can offer sex on the street.

* City officials are adopting a "pragmatic" approach to the situation.

How did all this come about? Think back to the 1990s when certain feminists the world over proclaimed that prostitutes must be considered workers like anyone else -- "workers" whose business is sex. Therefore, these "sex workers" deserved the approval, rights, and benefits of the state. These activists dismissed apprehensions about women being forced into prostitution and, according to a study by the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project at Brandeis University, declared "the harms of prostitution are caused largely by moral attitudes and their domestic legal consequences." Here's a pip of a quote from "Brazilian activist" Gabriella Leite: "I look forward to the day when every prostitute can put their hand on their heart and say 'I am a worker,' and every worker can put their hand on their heart and say 'I am a prostitute.'"

So Germany gave in and the "sex worker" feminists got their way. But not everyone in Europe is buying it. The Prague Post reported:

The normalization of prostitution as work has not occurred in Germany, the Netherlands, or Australia. Legalization was supposed to provide women with benefits and the right to join unions, but few women have signed up [for] either. The reason has to do with the basic nature of prostitution. It is not work, a job like any other. It is abuse and exploitation that women only engage in if forced to or when they have no other options. Women and children controlled by mafias and criminals cannot register with an authority or join a union. Unionization of "sex workers" [an idea promoted by world feminists] is a fantasy, because it is incompatible with the coercive and abusive nature of prostitution.

In opposition, Swedish official Claes Borgstrom urged his country's soccer players to boycott the games. He said, "This event will be followed attentively by the whole world. Many people just don't know what's going on behind the scenes. This is our chance to show we don't accept prostitution and the human trafficking associated with it....Sex is one thing, prostitution another. The link between human trafficking and prostitution is obvious."

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topics:
Business, Iran, United Nations, Unions