Thread by @EllyArrow

For 3 years I've wanted to write about why men murder women in the sex trade. I've been waiting for the publication of a study on the subject in Germany that finally come out a month ago. Stay tuned for my summary. Its painful but necessary to know who, when, where and why.

The state sanctioning the sex trade does not prevent lethal violence against women in #prostitution. From hands-off essentially decriminalized Berlin to the nearly prohibitionist German South, here is who is killing whom, when, where, how, and why. ellyarrow.wordpress.com/2021/03/29/who…

Murder in the sex trade is about as old as the industry itself. In Germany paying for sex has rarely ever been expressly illegal, yet sex buyers make up more than half of perpetrators (a lot of serial killers are buyers). It's not illegality of the trade that makes men kill women

Murders in the German sex trade are a form of #femicide. Some Romanian feminists have even started speaking of #genocide considering how many women from their country die early deaths due to violence, abuse, long-term health issues caused by sex buyers, pimps & societal neglect.

Indoor #prostitution is decidedly not safe. Women in the German sex trade are routinely murdered in apartment brothels, including those shared with other women, and mega-brothels, with cameras, security, panic buttons, etc. Nowhere is safe from men's lethal violence.

All of Germany's mega-brothel chains have been busted for #trafficking of adults and minors and for #murder inside their walls: The "Pascha", "Eros Center" and "Paradise" chains were all held up as "clean ethical" prostitution and have fallen out of favor.

I think the most important issue here is why men kill women in the sex trade. The real reasons are misogyny, racism, entitlement, lack of empathy, outward-directed self-hatred, and in the case of robberies greed. But there are various ways narratives in society feed those causes.

The most likely killer is a #sexbuyer - so what drives him? He usually feels "exploited" by the woman somehow. How dare she ask to be paid? Ask for that much money? Refuse to see him? Refuse this or that act? Not show more enthusiasm? This is a culture of extreme male entitlement

These are two sex buyers commenting on the murder of a woman at the hands of a guy they talked to regularly on the forums. #VictimBlaming of raped and murdered women being "too careless" and "insufficiently professional" extends into the whole of German society.

The second-largest group are serial killers (a lot of whom are also prolific sex buyers). We have a "ripper" in Germany every few years and barely take notice because it's just so normal. Sadly, yes, these crimes are hard to investigate, because the suspect pool is often large.

Then there are #pimps who kill women when they lose control over them. Or women getting caught in the crossfire of organized crime, which still runs the majority of the #sextrade, despite or rather because of its legality. Pictured is the German gang "United Tribuns".

Many of the ex-partners who murdered women in #prostitution were also pimps or sex buyers. They were often twice the age of the woman and the partnership was an extension of or attempted escape from previous exploitation, not a love relationship.

The rest of perpetrators are robbers or rapists trying to cover up their crime, as well as the rare case of an acquaintance or friend of the victim. Only in prostitution are you more likely to be murdered by your "customer" or "boss" than someone from within your private circle.

Finally let's remember women in the sex trade who were murdered by men as people, not numbers. Here are many of the cases in Germany from the last 2 decades:

https://twitter.com/EllyArrow/status/1278300650544271360