The presence of thousands of brothels and hundreds of thousands of prostitutes has heightened competition and pushed prices down steeply in the German sex trade. Prostitution became legal in Germany in , and the open sex trade has taken off in the years since. There are reportedly around 3, red-light establishments in the country, and brothels in Berlin alone. Instead, recent reports paint legalized prostitution in Germany largely as a failure. In May, Der Spiegel published a series of stories highlighting the atrocious conditions endured by prostitutes in Germany, some of whom say they arrived in the country against their will.
Some women report getting paid a pittance and never being allowed to leave their brothels. During rare breaks from work, they share a room with other prostitutes, where there is a single bed and no other furniture. The film was made in part by bringing hidden cameras into brothels over the course of two years. As more men and money have flowed into the country thanks to prostitution, more and more women have arrived to serve them with the hopes of making a decent living.
Instead, what seems to have happened is that the brothels have been aggressively competing with one another for business, and prices have plummeted. Alia, a year-old prostitute working in Cologne, related the following account to Der Spiegel :.
But when the nearby city of Dortmund closed its streetwalking area, more women came to Cologne, says Alia. National Chain of Marijuana Stores in the Works. An English-language news site in Germany called The Local interviewed a year-old man from Florida named Andrew about his brothel-frequenting habits.
He said he originally visited Germany in his mids because he was interested in the car culture and the history, but has since kept coming back three times annually because prostitution is legal and the prostitutes are so affordable.
