Die Number of registered sex workers in Saxony has fallen again. As reported by the State Statistical Office, 572 sex workers were registered in the Free State last year. In 2020 there were 675. This means that the number has fallen by around 30 percent since 2019 (800).
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The number of registered prostitution businesses has also declined slightly since 2019. According to the State Office, the number of registrations has fallen by around three percent in the last three years. At that time there were still 90 trades registered, the number rose slightly to 93 in 2020. Last year there were 74 prostitution trades.
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Corona and duty to advise
The professional association for erotic and sexual services doubts that the figures represent a reliable current status. The number of registered sex workers does not say much because many colleagues did not want to expose themselves to the risk of being outed. Linda Apsel from the specialist counseling center for sex work at the Aidshilfe Leipzig reports something similar. She explains the declining number of registrations with the work bans during the pandemic. In some cases, sex workers had to continue working for financial reasons and were thus pushed into illegality. “After that, some didn’t register again,” explains Apsel.
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How many sex workers are registered in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt?
The number of registered prostitutes in Thuringia fell significantly at the end of 2021. Compared to the previous year, 138 sex workers were registered, the State Office for Statistics said. That is 62 percent less than in the previous year (226).
In Saxony-Anhalt, on the other hand, the number of registered sex workers has almost doubled. While 183 were registered in 2020, the number rose to 336 in 2021.
According to experience, the number of unreported cases in sex work is very high, according to the state office in Thuringia.
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In addition, the “forced setting” that sex workers have to seek advice from the authorities by law, no matter how much work experience they already have, is a problem for many, reports Apsel. “In some cases, the counseling is given by people who have no connection to the topic at all and who speak judgmentally or even derogatorily about it. Word gets around among the sex workers,” says Apsel.
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Fortunately, the situation in Leipzig is different. “Social workers have been working in the health department for years, and they have a very appreciative perspective. That’s certainly not the case everywhere in Saxony,” the consultant suspects.
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Sex worker for 18 years
One of the people who decided to do sex work is Lydia from Leipzig. The qualified social worker has been working in the industry for 18 years. “At the age of 23 I was in a difficult financial situation. And because I’ve always found sex work somehow exciting and I’m a sexually open-minded person, I tried it out,” says the 41-year-old in an interview with MDR SACHSEN. In the meantime she had worked as a social worker for two years, but then gave up this job for sex work. “I missed the sex work,” says Lydia.
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