Reason #1545 of why I'm against the sex trade: It's not uncommon for fathers or friends of male minors to take them to brothels to turn them into "real men". It's an ancient patriarchal practice that still exists today across the world. This is both child abuse and abuse of women
The majority of women in the sex trade who can refuse to see a minor absolutely will. But what if it's legal like in e.g. Switzerland? There 16 to 17-year-old boys go to brothels all the time. "They have no respect, because of the porn they watch." blick.ch/schweiz/ex-dir…
Quote from a Swiss boy in whose country paying to access women's bodies is legal from the age of 16 (and selling girls 16-17 years of age was legal until 2013): "None of my buddies are ashamed of paying for sex. Quite the opposite. We go to school and boast about it."
The number of male minors going to brothels is on the rise in Switzerland and every single source agrees: The reason is hardcore #pornography. Girls around them don't want to do it, so they go where they will always find someone who cannot say no. spiegel.de/panorama/gesel…
Swiss brothel owner: "I have had to send home boys even younger than 16." Everyone wants to be a "real man". We have collectively lost our minds & said hardcore porn is harmless for kids and does not inspire them to act out what they see - yet that's exactly what's happening.
Germany isn't much better: Here sex buyers have to be 18, but we still have cases of boys caught in brothels. Here a 17-year-old boy was handed over to child services, a 17-year-old trafficked Romanian girl was meanwhile arrested for illegal immigration. faz.net/aktuell/rhein-…
If it's a "service like any other" there is no reason for 18+ only. If you're consistent - like Switzerland is/was - according to German age of consent 14-year-olds should be able to buy and sell "sex". Many already are & while adult #sexbuying is normal this trend won't decrease
Just to show you all the end product of a culture that is flippant about #sexbuying: I don't want this for women and girls. ALSO don't want this for men and boys.
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The life of Joop Wilhelmus - an exemplary tale of many a "#sexualrevolution|ary's" extreme hatred of women and children...🧵
Joop Wilhelmus is born in 1944, son of a Communist, sent at an early age to GDR socialist fraternization camps. Begins writing in leftwing papers at 14. Noticed for his braggadocio, claims of having first had sex at 12 years of age, and attracting "hot chicks" with his politics.
Jumping on the bandwagon of the sexual revolution in the 60s he soon becomes one of the Netherlands' most notorious pornographers, founding (among others) the adult porn magazine "Chick" in 1968. His fans are proud of the fact that he is hated by "the bourgeoisie and feminists".
There's a new website educating about the largely forgotten and understudied history of Nazi military brothel networks during WWII by German feminist historian Anne S. Respondek. "The male right to sex" in full brutal force looks like this... 🧵wehrmachtsbordelle.de/2023/09/12/gla…
During their time in power the Nazi war machine established a brothel network stretching entire occupied territory. Brothels catered to (nearly) every sector of the male population incl. not just soldiers, SS, police and elites, but military allies, workers and even camp inmates.
The history is glossed over in large part because post-war Germany still maintained its hatred of prostituted/sexually exploited women while also wanting to justify its continuance of the prostitution system (openly in the West, covertly in the East).
One of Germanys biggest news magazines, Der Spiegel, headlines:
"We will be ashamed"
Deploring 20 years of failed German #prostitution policy.
Here's the story of how the law let women down, the people (often survivors) ringing the alarm & the politicians admitting the mistake
The article opens with the story of "Lena" (20), the victim of a "loverboy" pimp, a trafficker who makes their victim think they're in a loving relationship - in Lena's case a martial arts world champion. Atypical about her story is that he got sentenced to 6 years and 3 months.
Lena's story is not a singular case, the article explains. There are countless women and some men & trans people trafficked to Germany annually. Most traffickers dont have a day in court nevermind the men literally paying to rape, the latter's actions are only criminal since 2017
Every femicide in the sex trade warrants action and no country is doing enough to stop men using lethal violence against women in #prostitution. But the radio silence on the recent case of a woman murdered in a German apartment brothel, compared to the Irish case is deafening.
I don't think anyone can prove their case on what policy is better based on homicide data alone because as far as I'm aware no country is tracking murders of women in prostitution specifically. The cases and survivor reports we do have indicate lethal violence is a concern always
In any country, call it "legalization", "liberalization" or "decrim" women in #prostitution are given advice on how to not get robbed, raped, and murdered on the job from organizations that speak of #sexwork. Clearly, it remains a significant concern under all models of law.
Reading about legal experts and sexologists who work with child rapists repeatedly going "oh, if they'd just pay someone 18+ for it, it's totally fine!" and the totally fine thing is cutting someone's skin or keeping someone in a basement for a dozen men a day. I'm furious.
Women in prostitution are not sponges for rape and abuse. Not only are men very capable of raping both their stepdaughter and the barely 18-year-old woman at the brothel, a disproportionately large number of women in the sex trade are themselves child sexual abuse survivors.
Some women in the sex trade have reported that men tell them "I chose you because you look like my niece/daughter/granddaughter/student". How does that make her feel esp. considering the significant chance she is a survivor of incest/child abuse? Why are "experts" endorsing this?
Having made terrible experiences with window #prostitution in Amsterdam, the city plans to build a mega-brothel euphemistically called an "erotic center" instead. 100 women in rooms plus social and health service, security, hospitality, entertainment, education & cultural events.
In Germany, we call these places "mega brothels" and we have many of them. The biggest is the Pascha brothel in Cologne with 150 individual rooms. Such places may also include strip clubs, restaurants, spaces for concerts and business meetings. None of this has made women safe.
Not only are mega-brothels dehumanizing to the women in it, presenting them often based on "flavor" as in sorted by race or transgender status, bouncers and cameras have not made them remotely safe. The Pascha in Cologne has seen drug and human trafficking + 1 murder & 2 attempts