Originally Posted by *Nikki*

Being that this is happening in Germany, it does not surprise me. Prostitution is already a large source of income there.

Originally Posted by Blaspheme

While I agree that it sounds like the woman in question was being solicited as a prostitute, it doesn't actually say that anywhere. I think it would be pretty amusing if after all the fuss and worldwide news stories we find out that they wanted to hire her as a receptionist, or housekeeper, or bartender, etc.

Would that circumstance change your opinion? We all seem to more or less agree that it would be unconscionable to force some woman to become a prostitute. Suppose though, that she was not performing sexual functions. If her only objection was on the grounds that she was morally opposed to prostitution, would that justify her remaining on the unemployment roster?

Originally Posted by Pacifier

What? please define "large source of income"

Originally Posted by *Nikki*

Well last time I was in Germany there was a ton of prostitutes. We could not walk a block without being approached by half a dozen.

Originally Posted by *Nikki*

Furthermore, they also get paid for stripping and flashing on the street as well.

Originally Posted by Pacifier

Let me guess:
Hamburg Reeperbahn?
or Herbertstraße?

Originally Posted by *Nikki*

Hamburg
Deggendorf

Were the most populated with them from what I remember. Of couse this was in early 2002.

Originally Posted by *Nikki*

My boyfriend (at the time) was approached by a lot of the women. Some of the woman were just regular looking and we had no idea until we would talk to them. Of course many of them spoke English well. I was approached a couple of times while we were in Hamburg and I was actually quite flattered. The woman that call themselves prostitutes that I saw there were actually very attractive. Of course I did not participate in such behavior

You made a good point Yakk, sometimes you don't know until you ask!! It's not like they are carrying signs that say "I fuck for money".

Originally Posted by Telegraph

'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'
By Clare Chapman
(Filed: 30/01/2005)

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Kindred spirits

Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.

The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.

She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.

Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.

When the waitress looked into suing the job centre, she found out that it had not broken the law. Job centres that refuse to penalise people who turn down a job by cutting their benefits face legal action from the potential employer.

"There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."

Miss Garweg said that women who had worked in call centres had been offered jobs on telephone sex lines. At one job centre in the city of Gotha, a 23-year-old woman was told that she had to attend an interview as a "nude model", and should report back on the meeting. Employers in the sex industry can also advertise in job centres, a move that came into force this month. A job centre that refuses to accept the advertisement can be sued.

Tatiana Ulyanova, who owns a brothel in central Berlin, has been searching the online database of her local job centre for recruits.

"Why shouldn't I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?" said Miss Ulyanova.

Ulrich Kueperkoch wanted to open a brothel in Goerlitz, in former East Germany, but his local job centre withdrew his advertisement for 12 prostitutes, saying it would be impossible to find them.

Mr Kueperkoch said that he was confident of demand for a brothel in the area and planned to take a claim for compensation to the highest court. Prostitution was legalised in Germany in 2002 because the government believed that this would help to combat trafficking in women and cut links to organised crime.

Miss Garweg believes that pressure on job centres to meet employment targets will soon result in them using their powers to cut the benefits of women who refuse jobs providing sexual services.

"They are already prepared to push women into jobs related to sexual services, but which don't count as prostitution,'' she said.

"Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centres to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do."