Illegal prostitution and sex workers during corona virus pandemic

[PunterKing]

I've just read another news piece about an illegal laufhaus: https://www.heute.at/s/illegales-laufhau...-100139822

A new operator took control of the hotel recently and it seems, Romanian girls worked there as prostitutes. The police found seven women at 5pm and they also found few more Romanian documents as well. I think, after a year noone is wondering that the girls want to earn money for living. To be honest, the Austrian government did not do well the homework, at least, when we are talking about the sex industry. There were many public funds which wanted to help the prostitutes and gave them money for living, but it was not too much help.

The Sex Vienna portal published many similar news recently:

• Raid on illegal prostitution in Vienna
  
• Illegal Prostitution on the Rise in Vienna
  
• Increase in number of illegal apartments in Vienna and Graz
  

If you check the vote panel at the bottom of Heute article, there is a question: Do you visit sex clubs or laufhauses? There are more than 3000 votes, and 344 said that he visits such places regularly, another 468 said yes and 1337 said no. This means that the 1/3 of the men voters is a sex club guest. I can also confirm that there is a huge demand for sexual services, me and my friends were regular customers of one of the biggest sex clubs. You know which it is, I mentioned it a lot.

[XXX Addict]

I have seen many similar articles lately, and honestly it's not surprising. Ever since brothels and clubs were closed the women who worked there need some way to make money. Unfortunately because there is no other choice, illegal work is the only way out. The problem is that this gives way to criminals to use these women more easily then ever before. Now that they are treading on illegal territory too, they don't really have anyone to turn to for help. And this is visible not just in Vienna or Austria, but everywhere worldwide. This kind-of shows that having a legal and regulated prostitution system where the sex workers are registered and protected makes their job much safer. Let's hope this whole virus situation ends soon and we can see if the situation gets better once legal sex work is allowed again.

[PunterKing]

The situation is not good for anyone, except the apartment owners. Maybe they can get more money by giving the property for illegal purposes. Or who knows, the risk of getting caught is very high.

But if we check the girls, it is clear that they just want to get some money for living. And there are lot of people, who don't think that the corona virus pandemic is real or seriour enough. I personally know people who says that the virus is dangerouos only for elderly people or who has some cronic diseases. So they think they are not affected and live their life as usual, however the governmental restrictions must be followed. But if there is a chance to have sex, they use it and pay for illegal prostitutes. Illegal, yes, however few months ago these girls were totally legal, though.

[fodor]

Thanks for the private message, PunterKing. So, what are my thoughts about illegal prostitution and current situation in Vienna? In short, big suck. In longer, the corona virus killed the whole industry well and I see closed places wherever I go. Not just online, offline as well. It seems many small places went out for business and only the biggest players will survive.

I don't have fears that there won't be enough ladies at re-start, because by now, many of the Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian girls ran out of money at their home countries. It is possible that they got a civil job but the sex industry pays much better so they will be back as soon as it is possible. The current regulations mean the another side of coin. The ladies must comply with the regulations by the Austrian government, as well the brothels, sauna clubs, studios and laufhauses as well. What do you expect, will a vaccination card be needed to offer sexual services?

[clarissa]

I don't have fears that there won't be enough ladies at re-start, because by now, many of the Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian girls ran out of money at their home countries. It is possible that they got a civil job but the sex industry pays much better so they will be back as soon as it is possible.

You see it well, the civil jobs pays less than 700 EUR per month what is nothing.

[pepsi]

Thanks for the private message, PunterKing.

ROTFL. I also got his private message to continue the forum life here. He must be a diamond-level fan of this forum. Anyways, I'm proud that you are all here and healthy enought to share your point of views.

Illegality is a very serious problem on the current sex scene of Vienna, but I absolutely don't want to blame the girls. However, in the current situation they might be the centre of covid infection because they are the only connection between the different guests. But still. The sex market collapsed super fast, in days and noone gave real help to sex workers. I also read that there were some non profit organizations which collected money to help the sex workers but they were only drops in the ocean. The living costs in Vienna and Austrian cities are hight so I'm sure most of the sex workers had to leave the country. Which is not so fair after they spent years to give sexual services for people. Even if they were paid for that.

And we can't forget that however, we have serious months behind us, what will happen in Fall and Winter of 2021. By then, the majority of Austrian people and foreign sex workers must be vaccinated. But there will be a new variant of covid, at the moment there is the UK varian and the even more serious Indian variant. We must be ready that the virus will be with us in the next years and only people with vaccination card will be allowed to work in brothels and visit brothels.

[perez]

There was a report with Wolfgang Mückstein (minister of Health) in Der Standard few days ago, he said that so far they found 5 cases where the Indian variant might cause the sickness. 2 cases in Salzburg and 3 cases in Nickelsdorf, right next the Hungarian border. They are still examining the samples and the result will be ready by the middle of next week. Whatever this means, most likely they want to do something special with the samples, since a check should not need a week.

Of course, the Indian virus variant is here in Austria, and so far I don't see rapid spreading. We'll see what happens, when the restrictions will be lifted and there will be hundred times more contacts between the people. I strongly agree that the sex workers must be vaccinated, they are some kind of workers as shop assistants or other workers in the commercial area. We can say that sex work is not a must have thing, but then parfume shops, gadgets shops and other places are also not a must have ones.

[PunterKing]

I've just read, there was again a razzia in Vienna: https://www.vienna.at/illegale-prostitut...en/6984698

The Vienna police issued 109 complaints last week and closed 5 apartments because of illegal prostitution. The newspaper says that 25 police officers checked the online ads and they visited the girls as well. In the 25 apartments they found 31 women, 2 women were arrested, 86 reports were issued because of violation of Vienna Prostitution Act and 23 reports were issued because of disregard of covid regulations.

It seems to me that the Vienna police spends a lot of effort and resources on catching the illegal prostitutes, what is good if we are talking about pandemic. Hopefully this will push both the girls and customers towards the legal brothels, where the girls can work legally and customers won't have problems in case of police check.

[fodor]

The Vienna police issued 109 complaints last week and closed 5 apartments because of illegal prostitution. The newspaper says that 25 police officers checked the online ads and they visited the girls as well. In the 25 apartments they found 31 women, 2 women were arrested, 86 reports were issued because of violation of Vienna Prostitution Act and 23 reports were issued because of disregard of covid regulations.

It seems to me that the Vienna police spends a lot of effort and resources on catching the illegal prostitutes, what is good if we are talking about pandemic. Hopefully this will push both the girls and customers towards the legal brothels, where the girls can work legally and customers won't have problems in case of police check.

I also have the same feelings. 25 officers mean a lot of resources and working hours, so this must be a top priority at the moment. Maybe it is related somehow to the major or any governmental offices which put pressure on police to not let women offer illegal services.

[SFAdmin]

We've just published another article about illegal prostitution, based on PunterKing's link: https://sex-vienna.com/2021/05/13/raids-...in-vienna/