FAIRLY LEGAL
Germany prepares for the World Cup - and an onslaught of illegal prostitutes.
This July, three million soccer fans will storm Germany’s World Cup – crushing beer cans, bloodying jerseys, and lining prostitutes’ pockets. Despite 400,000 legal prostitutes in Germany, EU officials fear heightened demand will aggravate illegal prostitution as well. Officials estimate 40,000 women could be lured to Germany this summer with promises
of legit jobs, then divested of their passports and forced into prostitution.
Ever praktisch, Germans are ready for
the stampede. Several advertising campaigns urge men themselves to discriminate between legal and forced prostitutes. Nicknamed for a soccer penalty, “Red Card” puts the choice bluntly: “Are you in or out? Say no to forced prostitution”. Hanging above urinals, “Responsible Johns” posters talk straight at that organ running the show (hint: not the brain): “Responsibility can’t be measured in centimeters…only you can recognize if a woman is forced.” Men should avoid and report women who seem disoriented, abused, exhausted, or younger than 16, the legal limit.
To limit streetwalking and open-air sex, some World Cup cities are outfitting land near the stadiums with “performance boxes”. Drive-in units include a panic button for women and free condoms. Most praktisch of all, many facilities are underwritten by the Catholic Church. Says Sabine Reichert of Cologne’s Catholic social services for women: “Our mission is to help women stay safe enough to [eventually] find other work.”
—Jude Stewart for PRINT, July / August 2006
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