HAMBURG: It looks like a scene from a movie, as Barbie doll look-alikes dressed scantily in the cold breeze stand freely by the streets, waiting for their next gentleman caller.
In this case, of course, the gentleman caller has to have enough money to convince the girl into disappearing with them to the next room.
The girls normally have a pouch attached to their waist, to show that they mean business and they have change if you have too much money.
The girls are spread throughout a whole street, and men have the option of scouting around the street until they find one of the girls they find most attractive and, of course, affordable.
Such was my first experience with the serious business that is Prostitution in Hamburg, Germany.
Prostitution and Brothels are legal in Germany and the police station is just around the corner from the busy Red Light District, as such city areas are commonly known the world over.
In Botswana, prostitution is illegal and thus the prostitutes there work undercover. It is, therefore, not a common sight to see people exchanging money for sex in broad daylight.
One of the streets is called Beatles-Platz, a street named after the famous pop group, The Beatles, because it’s where the group first caught international attention made and became the music gurus they became.
The funny thing is that at the street corner is a church, which means those going to the church have to pass by the streets, and those who are going to the street have to pass by the church.
There is no telling if these girls are here on their own accord or they have been forced to sell themselves in a bid to save their families back home.
As free as prostitution is in Germany, there has been reports that some of the girls on the streets are there through human trafficking .A number of arrests have been made against syndicates who bought girls from Eastern Europe to become prostitutes.
Germany is apparently listed under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as a top destination for victims of human trafficking. An estimated 400 000 women are believed to be working as prostitutes in Germany, be it full time or part time.
As I mentioned before, prostitution is a serious business in Germany, what with the prostitutes having to pay tax, they can also charge VAT for their services.
According to research work carried out by various groups, they are many different kinds of prostitution forms.
There are prostitutes that pose in bars and try to seduce men into buying them expensive drinks and after that try to convince them to pay for sexual favours. Apparently, these girls are in partnership with the owner of the bar, who will also have a share from the prices paid to the prostitute by the customer.
The most common one, however, is the street prostitution which is run by pimps; prostitutes either use the customer’s car or a nearby hotel where they might also know the owner.
The one type I wasn’t familiar with is the Eros prostitution, where they rent a room in a centre of town for roughly BP700 and try to solicit men from the windows of their rented rooms.
The most interesting one, however, was of the massage centres that offer massages with a “happy ending”.
While mentioning brothels and prostitutes, it would do no justice to our topic if we didn’t address the situation of sextainment (a fusion of sex and entertainment).
It’s a vast industry, which is also located around the same corners.
It ranges from shops selling erotic sexual garbs to strip clubs catering for both men and women.
I remember there was a street in the red light district of Hamburg that was sealed off and only men were given access to pass through it. From the experience captured by men; it’s a street where the high class prostitutes are based. Women are also not allowed access to some of the strip clubs, while men are also denied access to some meant for women.
I remember we passed by one shop where we were offered a chance to witness a live sex show for an equivalent of what would be 180 pula in Botswana. The man said that the artists were “very professional” and would give us the show of our lives.
As if that’s not all, the streets were lined up with strip clubs and sexual objects shops which were filled with fairly attractive men, dressed in suits, looking like a fusion of young and old professionals. Men on this road wouldn’t miss a chance to undress you with their eyes as you pass by, sizing you up, making you feel naked already.
To stay on topic, those who are for the legalisation of Prostitution in Botswana have long argued that if prostitution was legalised the rape statistics wouldn’t be as high as they are today.
The initiative would perhaps not stop rape but it would reduce drastically the number of women being raped in the country, they said.
But, at the same time, some have said that prostitution was against the morals and principles of the country.
The opposition parties have, of course, smartly distanced themselves from the sensitive topic that could possibly chase away their followers.
