And the Moral of the Story—What Prostitution Politics Must Achieve Today

Abstract

The prostitution law of 2002 freed the world’s oldest profession in Germany from the illegal back-alleyways. Formally, prostitution is now a profession like any other. A moral reconsideration of “sex workers,” however, does not necessarily go along with this. The book, which brings together the most important papers from the conference “The Trafficking of Women and Prostitution in Europe,”(“Frauenhandel und Prostitution in Europa”) calls for a paradigm shift: Yes, they exist, those women (and men) who see prostitution as an alternative and absolutely viable path. However, the “white slaves” also exist, those victims of international human trafficking who are forced into prostitution. The book attempts to be fair to both the reality of the latter as well as to the voluntary sex workers. Additionally, the book presents the basic legal principles in Germany and other European countries (as well as the EU-wide attempts to create a shared anti-trafficking policy). The replication of exemplary work contracts and in