Prostitution in Germany

Prostitution in Germany is legal, as are all aspects of the sex industry, including brothels, advertisement, and job offers through HR companies. Full service sex work is widespread and regulated by the German government, which levies taxes on it. In 2002, the government changed the law in an effort to improve the legal situation of sex workers. However, the social stigmatization of sex work persists and many workers continue to lead a double life. Human rights organizations consider the resulting common exploitation of women from Eastern and Southeastern Europe to be the main problem associated with the profession.

Sex work in historically German lands has never been outlawed and been described since the middle ages. Since the 13th century, several German cities operated brothels known as Frauenhäuser ("women's houses"); the practice of sex work was considered a necessary evil, a position already held by Saint Augustine (354-430). Some municipalities actively encouraged it and far from existing on the margins, sex workers were often honoured guests, who maintained domestic order as an outlet and lesser evil to such things as adultery and rape.Emperor Sigismund (1368–1437) thanked the city of Konstanz in writing for providing some 1,500 workers for the Council of Constance which took place from 1414 to 1418.

Sex workers were more vigorously persecuted beginning in the 16th century, with the start of the Reformation and the appearance of syphilis.

Beginning in the 19th century, sex workers in many regions had to register with police or local health authorities and submit to regular health checks to curb venereal diseases.

In Imperial Germany (1871–1918) attitudes to sex work was ambivalent. While sex work was tolerated as a necessary function to provide for male sexuality outside of marriage, it was frowned on as a threat to contemporary moral images of women's sexuality. Therefore, state policy concentrated on regulation rather than abolition. This was mainly at the municipal level. The state regulation at the same time created an atmosphere which at the same time defined what was considered proper, and proper feminine sexuality. Controls were particularly tight in the port city of Hamburg. The regulations included defining the dress and conduct both inside and outside of brothels, of prostitutes. Thus their occupation defined their lives as a separate class of women, on the margins of society.

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