Austria, especially Vienna is a place of sexual freedom. Prostitution is legal and almost all sexual preferences are accepted. However, things weren’t like this more than a hundred years ago.
During the middle ages, prostitution was accepted in Austria and plenty of women sold sex. Even though the practice was frowned on by the public, it thrived and was tolerated. In 1276, Habsburg Rudolph I of Habsburg stated that nobody should insult these “gelüstigen Frauen”. They pay taxes regularly and would accept to not go into town during Lent and on Sundays. So, prostitution always had a special place within the Austrian public. Even though Maria Theresia shipped prostitutes and thousands of other “antisocial” individuals to the Timișoara, Romania, it didn’t stop prostitution from thriving.
Soon enough, Austria’s prostitution laws were changed as the profession came to be considered as a necessary evil in society. Dr. Nusser of the Vienna police suggested that prostitutes had to register and go through medical examinations twice every week to obtain certain health certificates. It was Anton Ritter von Le Monnier, the head of Vienna’s police department, who finally reformed Austria’s prostitution laws.
From there on out, prostitutes had to comply with the requirements of registration. More importantly, they were no longer prosecuted by police officers. According to a newspaper article published in 1874, exactly 6,424 prostitutes received health certificates and were observed by health authorities and the police. However, 12 000 women still proceeded with “free love”, without being registered.
More than a hundred years after that, even homosexual male prostitution was legalized in 1989, which led to more brothels opening. Austria was on the way to become the liberal country it is today.
What About the Brothels?
Duke Albrecht lll (1365-1379) was the first to publicly mention the existence of brothels. At that time, numerous council members wanted to create a charitable foundation for the prostitutes who renounced their sinful way of life. In actuality, the same councilors were among the first to establish a brothel and they supported a nunnery from the tax payments. It was actually an ingenious solution.
The Current Situation
The only restrictions of prostitution in Austria are the need to register prostitutes and brothels, along with the health regulations they have to comply with. Furthermore, prostitutes who serve clients younger than 18 years old, can be prosecuted. However even though Austria’s sex industry is thriving, there aren’t many red-light districts like there are in Amsterdam. Brothels are distributed over the cities and prostitution goes unnoticed. In the year 2007, there were 1,352 female and 21 male prostitutes registered in Vienna. This number moves between 3000 and 6000 right now, with them serving about 15 000 clients.
Quick Info: Check out some of police licensed brothels in Vienna! You could visit them today if you want.
Sex Trafficking
With Austria offering such a beneficial environment for prostitution, it is both a destination and a transit for sex trafficking. Women from Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Nigeria and Slovakia are trafficked for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation.
The problem with this is that a lot of women are brought to Vienna with the promise of getting high paid work as waitresses and nannies, without any skill requirements. But upon arrival, they are often coerced into prostitution. It’s often hard to know which women entered the country with the intention to work as a prostitute and which ones didn’t. Sadly, a lot of them were forced into a dependency akin to slavery. A lot of the victims were in the country illegally and were afraid of being turned over to the authorities and getting deported from the country.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to have some awesome paid sex, there are few better places than Vienna to do it. It’s filled with amazing brothels and you can enjoy the company of amazing girls.
