Sex Trade Suffers From Global Recession

The international sex trade -- brothels, bath houses, escort services, etc. -- has taken a big hit from parsimonious clients tightening their belts the world over. But these workers aren't taking it lying down, as it were. According to a new Time story, sex trade businesses are launching a number of promotional initiatives to invite clientele, from senior-citizen discounts to free shuttles to and from the spots where the magic happens.

Some have been hit harder than others. For example, according to Time, almost half of all Czech Republic sex trade businesses outside of Prague have gone out of business, despite Czechs' notorious embrace of prostitution in years past.

The industry's struggle has its exceptions, such as in the Netherlands. From Time:

Not everyone needs a gimmick to stimulate business. In the Netherlands, Jan Bik says the recession hasn't affected his nine brothels because they target the "common man"; clients pay as little as $42 for half an hour with a woman. And while many of his former customers have left, "people who would normally go to the expensive clubs are visiting us now, so it's evened out."

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Comments

[Paulo1]

Somehow I think the sex trade will survive just fine.

As will the self righteous whining people who condemn it. Yawn

[Hdaryl01]

Yep.....and now for something completely new and different........

[loki]

They need to get their lobbyist to DC now while they can still get their hands on some bailout money. It wont be to long they wont have anymore money to give out.

[opine2u]

Bottomed out. Sex isn't what it used to be and is worthless, what with aids, herpes, syphilis and gonorrhea waiting to cost you your life, if not a fortune in medical assistance. Too risky to be risqué.

[ascenday]

Sex work is not the same thing as trafficking. True there are many victims of trafficking and slavery, and most of them are not sex wokres! A portion, yes, but not the majority. The majority of traffcked workers are in the laborer or house cleaner professions.

Most sex workers are not trafficked. No need to conlfate the two, thereby oppressing many others in the name of "rescuing" victims.

Please see Laura Augustin's site for more info (http://www.nodo50.org/Laura_Agustin/page/4) but really, it hurts all women and hence everyone when sex workers are not allowed the same protection under the law and are instead treated like criminals. Many seem to hate this kind of work, but also many really seem to need these services. If sex work is illegal, it makes it so much easier for sex workers to be abused, by pimps and by law enforcement. It is a waste of taxpayer's money to arrest sex workers. Being "rescued" in this way only hurts everyone.

Please try not to be so emotional and hateful towards sex work and sex workers.

[Hdaryl01]

Here here! Unfortunately, the truth of your comment doesn't conveniently fit the agenda and ignorance of many uninformed puritans in the US. But, your comment is entirely true. As per my comment below, trafficking, underage, pimping, abuse, drugs, disease, abuse, rape, murder, etc. occur almost universlly in countries like the US where prostitution is pushed underground due to its illegal status, and it is not regulated. Duh........ But, far be it for the US to adopt a reasonable regulatory framework to protect all parties, when we can demonize everyone involved.

[dmyron]

It is not about being emotional. Or hateful. "Sex Work" is a euphenism. Movies like "Pretty Woman" only obfuscate the grim reality of the life these "sex workers" live. And if you think thats OK, maybe you need rescued too.

[Hdaryl01]

And you clearly don't understand the realities of sex work, while choosing to impart your morality to the profession and its patrons by focusing on the grimmest of "grim reality"-the reality we create in the US with criminalization.

I know a woman who voluntarily put herself through law school (and paid cash) while working at a legal brothel in Nevada. She is now a partner in a large SoCal law firm.
What about the Coeds from Cleveland that travel to Vegas for a weekend once or twice a year and make their annual tuition and spending money-voluntarily? What about the underpaid teachers, lawyers, doctors, accountants, scientists in the former soviet union that supplement their income with hard currency by working a weekend or night here and there in clubs-voluntarily? What about the Columbian women who do the same thing to provide a better life for their families-v­oluntarily­?

Each of the above are not forced to do anything, and freely and voluntarily engage in the profession. Furthermore, they are all grateful that a clientele exists that is willing to pay for their services.

Your "grim reality" almost universally exists in countries like the US where prostitution is criminalized, pushed underground, and organized crime, pimping, white slavery, underage, drugs, disease, rape, murder, trafficking, and robbery can and does occur in the absence of regulation, and safety mechanisms for all parties.

Maybe the rest of the world understands something we don't......?

[InfinteShibumi]

Glad to hear the sex trade is suffering. Many of the women working in the Netherlands were kidnapped from states of the former eastern bloc and elsewhere. Now if we could just obliterate sex trafficking and slavery from the face of the planet, that would be a good start.

[Hdaryl01]

This comment is completely false and baseless. This comment is symptomatic of people who don't get out enough, have no clue, and don't want to accept that things might be done differently and better in other countries.

Do a little research into the sex trade in the Netherlands. You probably won't like what you find, because it won't fit your agenda, and myopic viewpoint. For sex workers to legally work in the Netherlands they need to be registered. To be registered they need to be legal residents and of legal age. They need to be drug and disease free, and are tested for both weekly. They are independent contrators without pimps that rent their own window, and are unionized. They receive police protection, as do their customers. It's a very civil and humane arrangement. And, it doesn't go on everywhere-only in designated, controlled areas.

You think the underage child trafficking, kidnapping, and pimping that occurs in the United States with diseases, drugs, rape, abuse, and murder that goes on every day in mutually unsafe environments is preferrable? That's what we get with continued prohibition and scapegoating. Get a clue. Your comment has more merit applied to the US than to Holland.

I've lived for years in both the Netherlands and the San Francisco Bay area. I prefer living in Holland, than having to step over used condoms, get continuously propositioned all over San Francisco by drug addicted, pimped, underage diseased prostitutes, and witness sex acts being committed in public.

[topkatnc]

In order to do what you say...you would have to get rid of every man on the planet....As long as the male gender runs things, NOTHING will change...