Switzerland experimenting with drive-in 'sex boxes'


Recommended Posts

ZURICH ?  No car, no sex.

That's the rule for an experiment Zurich is launching Monday to make prostitution less of a public nuisance and safer for women.

Fashionably teak-colored open wooden garages, popularly called "sex boxes" by the Swiss media, will be open for business for drive-in customers. The several dozen sex workers who are expected to make it their new hub will stand along a short road in a small, circular park for clients to choose from and negotiate with. The park was built in a former industrial area nestled between a rail yard and the fence along a major highway.

The publicly funded facilities -- open all night and located away from the city center -- include bathrooms, lockers, small cafe tables and a laundry and shower. Men won't have to worry about video surveillance cameras, but the sex workers -- who will need a permit and pay a small tax -- will be provided with a panic button and on-site social workers trained to look after them.

As far as Daniel Hartmann, a Zurich lawyer, is concerned, it's a win-win situation.

"Safety for the prostitutes. At least it's a certain kind of a shelter for them. They can do their business, and I respect them," he said. "They do a great job,  :huh:  and they have better working conditions here.  ... They're not exposed to the bosses, to the pimps, in here."

Voters in Zurich approved spending up to $2.6 million on the project last year as a way of relocating the sex traffic away from a busy downtown area where it had become a public nuisance and safety concern due to lack of sanitation, aggressive men, and associated drugs and violence. The city, which only allows prostitution in certain areas, also plans to spend $760,000 a year to keep the sex boxes running.

Jean-Marc Hensch, a business executive who heads a neighborhood association in another part of Zurich, said he hopes the sex boxes succeed because otherwise the prostitutes might return to his area. He also cited the disgusting lack of sanitation in other city areas where prostitutes and their clients defecate and urinate in the streets and gardens, or have sex in the open because they have nowhere else to go.

The drive-in garages, or sheds, have no doors to shut and come equipped with an emergency call button on the passenger side of the structure that sets off a flashing light and a loud alarm inside an adjacent office building where the city will post social workers specially trained to provide a measure of security. The Zurich police say they will beef up patrols around the perimeter to protect the sex workers when they leave and enter.

Modeled after the drive-in brothels used in several cities in Germany and the Netherlands, which have had mixed success improving safety, the sex boxes will be open daily from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. The city painted the outdoor bathrooms in soft pink and blue, strung colorful light bulbs among the trees and posted creative signs encouraging the use of condoms to spruce the place up a little and make it seem more pleasant.

Along with improving safety for prostitutes, the sex boxes are seen as a way to curb illegal trafficking among crime syndicates. Prostitution, escorts and massage parlors are a thriving business in a nation with wealthy and international clientele and tourists.

Zurich requires that street sex workers register with city and health authorities, and it offers health checks and requires that sex workers be at least 18 years old, in keeping with a Council of Europe convention on protecting children from exploitation and abuse.

In Switzerland, anyone who works in the sex trade must be at least 16, the legal age of sexual maturity. The income is taxed and subject to social insurance like any other economic activity.

more

post-37120-0-26592000-1377551898.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if the Zurich Government actually provide a similar amount of funding,facilities and one to one support for new company start ups, as it seems to me a wasteful funding regime given the present financial burdens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if the Zurich Government actually provide a similar amount of funding,facilities and one to one support for new company start ups, as it seems to me a wasteful funding regime given the present financial burdens.

Most likely to provide a safe , out of camera range place for politicians & appointees to have their flings. /s

Look, I don't give a rip about what they're doing, so "prude" doesn't apply, but I do object to a govt. spending taxpayer monies on projects like this.

Protection for sex workers can be provided in other ways, example being requiring hotels & motels that service hookers to have security personnel. Then the John's pay for it. Social workers could be provided at health care institutions, as they should already be. If there's a serious incident it's likely the sex worker will be transported there anyhow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neat idea to help protect the women..

 

 

Not that I agree with abortion, because I don't, but I feel as if it is legal, so should prostitution. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most likely to provide a safe , out of camera range place for politicians & appointees to have their flings. /s

Look, I don't give a rip about what they're doing, so "prude" doesn't apply, but I do object to a govt. spending taxpayer monies on projects like this.

Protection for sex workers can be provided in other ways, example being requiring hotels & motels that service hookers to have security personnel. Then the John's pay for it. Social workers could be provided at health care institutions, as they should already be. If there's a serious incident it's likely the sex worker will be transported there anyhow.

 

But they are paying for it, in the article it states that they are subjected to income tax like any other business.

 

I think it's a good idea, people are not going to stop doing it/using it, so why not legalise it in a safe environment. They should do the same in the UK, it would stop money being wasted on the police and would also provide additional revenue through taxation. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Selling their body for cash...not worth protecting. Let them rot

Such a backwards statement......considering you need to learn any job you do, and things you have learned are stored in the brain, you could argue that everyone who has a job is selling their body (or at least a part of it) for cash.

 

That being said, why are they not worth protecting? Just because their sell their body for cash? What makes that wrong and not worth protecting? They are doing a job and providing a service to any person who needs such service, no reason to not protect them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's understandable that people feel weird at these kind of things and some eve find it outrageous, but you have to understand these type of things will ALWAYS exist, and you can either ignore it or work with it to make it better, it's the only choice, it won't stop just cause some people would love for woman to stop prostituting themselves, some are even enslaved for sex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...  and it offers health checks and requires that sex workers be at least 18 years old ...

In Switzerland, anyone who works in the sex trade must be at least 16, the legal age of sexual maturity....

Contradiction or typo?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sexbox 360?

and her name is Sony!

 

there are drive-in motels in Colombia that are similar. you park your car in the garage, which has access to the hotel room and pay by the hour. no one has to know its you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope they choose to sell their bodies on the game rather than get what I would class as a normal job, so I have no empathy for their situation

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.