A giant Teutonic brothel - Has liberalization gone too far?

[Ed Anger]

Yuk.

[Duque de Bragança]

It's a sad commentary on the current state of France that they have to travel to Germany to hump.

It's not legal there?

The S-Bahn (rapid transit/regional train) between Strasburg and Kehl/Offenburg (on the other margin of the Rhine) is even called by some the Love Train German efficiency and cheap prizes attract people

Brothels are not legal (proxenetism is ilegal) and hookers get sometime into trouble if they "advertise" their services (too much) their services in the street specially due to some dumb law enacted by Sarkozy but enforced with varying degrees. Still, prostitution is not yet banned though the left in power plans to ban it which won't solve the problem at all and make it go underground i.e worse but that has not stopped Sweden.

[Ideologue]

It hasn't gone far enough.  It's still an ocean away. 

[Berkut]

The OP doesn't answer one basic question that frames the entire issue:

1. Is the point of liberalization to recognize that the act of prostitution is not in an of itself a necessarily "wrong" activity, and hence it should be legalized, or
2. Is the point of liberalization of these laws to simply make an undesirable, yet inevitable, activity less problematic?

If the point of decriminalizing prostitution is recognizing that it should never have been criminal to begin with, then who cares if there is a lot more prostitution? That should not really be seen as a negative, right?

But if the position of the state is the prostitution is in and of itself not a desirable activity, but perhaps criminzliaing it is worse than the problem to begin with, then concern that there might be MORE prostitution as a result of legalizing it is valid. In that case, it is kind of like drugs - you would really rather there be as little use of it as possible, but perhaps the "solution" of criminalizing it is worse than the problem.

In that case, then maybe Sweden does have the right idea - they want to minimize prostitution while at the same time also minimizing the negative impacts that come with criminalizing it.

I don't think in most cases there is really a "good" answer here - there are certainly some bad ones though.

[Sheilbh]

Needless to say I agree with the Swedes

[Admiral Yi]

Needless to say I agree with the Swedes

Why?

Presumably you don't people to interfere with whom you fuck.  Shouldn't you reciprocate?

[mongers]

I thought basically most of Europe was now Germany's prostitute ?   

[Admiral Yi]

I thought basically most of Europe was now Germany's prostitute ?   

Do you think that's a clever line or are you ironically imitating someone who thinks that's a clever line?

[mongers]

I thought basically most of Europe was now Germany's prostitute ?   

Do you think that's a clever line or are you ironically imitating someone who thinks that's a clever line?

I was a joke on the UKIP/Little Englander viewpoint here, hence the bowler.   

[Admiral Yi]

I guessed right!

I'm starting to understand mongers. 

[mongers]

I guessed right!

I'm starting to understand mongers. 

To be fair to me, some of the people who support them are pretty 'oddball' characters, which is putting it politely, more accurately a certain section of their voters are racists, who wouldn't subscribe to any notion of melting pots etc.

[Sheilbh]

Why?

Presumably you don't people to interfere with whom you fuck.  Shouldn't you reciprocate?

You must mistake for some sort of liberal

We shouldn't necessarily be entirely sexually free because what we can and can't do affect all of society and how we value/view sections of it. There are all sorts of limits we place on it based on consent and ability to consent, age and sometimes taboo.

I don't think we should accept prostitution. I think buying sex from a woman who may (and often will) not want to have sex is an obscenity that shouldn't be legal and I think it is a major driver of people trafficking. Honestly I think in many cases it's an institutionalised form of violence against women. But I think arresting the women or rent boys is clearly targeting the victim and it should be the pimps or the men purchasing prostitutes who are arrested.

I believe a lot of research shows that most prostitutes were abused, many started as prostitutes very young and there are links to addiction. This is a problem for social workers not police, but men buying women is a problem for the police.

[Admiral Yi]

I think buying sex from a woman who may (and often will) not want to have sex is an obscenity that shouldn't be legal

By this do you mean a woman who is being coerced or do you mean a woman who is not particularly horny at that moment?

[derspiess]

Bleh.  No compassion for the men who have problems and are driven to sleep with whores?

[Josquius]

Sex tourism is a problem but that's down to everyone else having silly rules, not Germany.