{"id":286,"date":"2017-01-03T21:39:41","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T19:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trauma-and-prostitution.eu\/en\/?p=286"},"modified":"2018-07-12T17:52:01","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T15:52:01","slug":"prostitution-is-violence-against-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trauma-and-prostitution.eu\/en\/2017\/01\/03\/prostitution-is-violence-against-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Prostitution is Violence against Women!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speech held by Dr. Ingeborg Kraus on 25th<\/sup> November 2016 in Strasbourg \/ France.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women the Pr\u00e9fet of the Alsace Champagne-Ardenne Lorraine region, the head of the regional health authority in co-operation with the organizations called centre d\u00b4information des droits des femmes et des familles (CIDFF), Mouvement du Nid France and P\u00e9n\u00e9lope 67 have invited to a cross-border symposion related on the subject of \u201cProstitution and Health: Challenges and Change of Perspective in Europe\u201d.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would like to thank the organizers for this German-French symposion. This first event after the introduction of the legislation for abolishing the prostitution system in France located next to Germany has a symbolic meaning to us. I think it is indeed necessary to wake Germany up. Germany, which provides guidelines with regard to a lot of European subjects, may \u2013 in this case \u2013 need tutoring from France and Sweden.<\/p>\n

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I would like to report about the dramatic consequences for prostitution after its legalization in Germany and I will prove that prostitution is violence against women. Afterwards, I would like to talk about its psychological impact.<\/p>\n

The reason why I want to focus on the vioIence is because the political discussions in Germany have never really recognized the aspect of violence. Prostitution is seen as a private play which<\/a> is none of the state\u00b4s business.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Violence in Prostitution:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In Germany, there is a large Federal Study[2]<\/a> dated 2004 on subjection to violence. Among the total of 10,000 interviewed women, there were 110 prostitutes who made these statements: 82% named forms of psychological violence, 92% experienced sexual harassment, 87% experienced physical violence, 59% experienced sexual violence.<\/p>\n

    There is a second study in Germany dated 2001 by Zumbeck[3]<\/a> with 54 prostitutes. It found out that all women had experienced traumas. 70% had been physically attacked and 68 % had been raped.<\/p>\n

    The \u201evoluntary\u201c decision to choose prostitution requires certain preconditions. All prostituted women who visited my practise had a history of insufficient protection in their childhood and \u2013 as a consequence \u2013 insufficient self protection. At a very early age, these women learned to \u201eshut themselves off\u201c. Also here, there are numerous studies that prove the relation between experiences of violence as a child and prostitution. Zumbeck\u00b4s study in Germany has shown that 65% of the women had been physically abused and 50% had been sexually abused in their childhood.<\/p>\n

    Violence in Prostitution has many Faces: <\/strong><\/p>\n

    It starts with light clothing or even being totally naked in the cold.<\/p>\n

    In the street prostitution there are only poor hygiene conditions, no washing facilities, no protection, no safety, darkness, coldness, being exposed to the gaze of the sex buyers and passers-by who evaluate, devaluate, insult, call names etc.<\/p>\n

    In the brothels the women are \u201elocked up\u201c. The right of instruction is held by the owner of the brothel, which means that the owner decides who can get in and who cannot. If someone is seeking contact to the women he needs to \u201cget along well\u201d with the owners. The contact with the outside world is strictly regulated. Not everybody is allowed to speak to the women. The women are not free.<\/p>\n

    In the brothels the women do not experience any self-determination. They do not have the right to speak or make any claims. As Manfred Paulus[4]<\/a> describes it, \u201efrom the very beginning they are prisoners of these mainly criminal subcultures in the red light district. In these milieus they are located at the very bottom of the hierarchy. They are deprived of all their rights, defenseless, helplessly exposed\u201c.<\/p>\n

    There is a totally asymmetrical relationship between women and men: \u201eToday, prostitution looks this way: About 90 % of the women in prostitution originally come from poorer EU-countries from the East. About 30 % are under the age of 21. They do not practice safer sex, they cannot set limits or negotiate. They are in a very inferior situation. They do not have the power to enforce their claims. For 30 Euros they will do everything, the johns want. <\/em>They are totally overstrained, totally traumatized<\/em>\u201d.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

    An additionally large problem is the fact that these women are mostly sacrificed by their own families. The income of their occupation is sent to the family in the countries of origin. Therefore, exiting prostitution is related to deep inner conflicts. It is not like freeing oneself from the chains of a strange pimp but one is forced to break up with the own family. The prostitution mainly taking place today actually is worse than forced prostitution because the human trafficker is no strange predator but the own family.<\/p>\n

    Also the high daily rents (up to 180,\u2013\u20ac every woman needs to pay) can be called violence because that means that women need to serve up to 6 johns, before they can even start to earn a single Euro.<\/p>\n

    Flatrate brothels are against human dignity. It is humiliating to know that you are sold for 50,\u2014\u20ac in a complete package along with a sausage and beer.<\/p>\n

    Since the legalization, the sex buyers have become more perverted and the practices accordingly more dangerous. Of course, as a result the violence against prostituted women has increased. In many sex buyer forums[6]<\/a> men pride themselves, how \u201ehard\u201c they \u201epushed\u201c the prostitute and they evaluate her. Obviously they see it as their male right to evaluate women and to use them in every way. There is a \u201cmenu\u201d circulating on the Internet, where buyers can choose what they want from a long \u00e0 la carte list. In other countries this creates disgust and is seen as torture. In Germany, this seems to have become normality. Here are some examples[7]<\/a>:<\/p>\n