Ex-prostitute says she left the job to pursue a normal life

Sandra sits at a table in the Amalie counselling centre for prostitutes in Mannheim and talks about her difficult life.

Calmly and without self-pity, the Jamaican woman, who does not want her name revealed, describes her slide into prostitution. It all began with a visit to a vaguely named place, organized by a supposed friend, where one could have "fun."

"I was thrown in at the deep end," she says. The place turned out to be a sauna club - a luxury brothel. She didn't have the money to pay for the tickets and entrance fees laid out by the other woman. In order to be able to reimburse the costs, she started working that same evening.

"I also had to pay for a place to sleep and taxes." At the time, she had no one who could have shown her the way out, she says.

She looks back to a cancelled apprenticeship in geriatric care and describes her job at a waste disposal company, which she gave up for prostitution. There is only one point where the 36-year-old cannot suppress her feelings - the painful memory of violence in her immediate neighbourhood.

Like many other prostitutes, she experienced sexual abuse by relatives as a child. It began shortly after her arrival in Germany and ended when she moved out. "He used me as a sex object."

Astrid Fehrenbach, head of the contact centre, says that such situations are not uncommon among prostitutes. According to a Hamburg study, 83% of the prostitutes surveyed experienced trauma in their early childhood, 48% of whom had been sexually abused. Such experiences affect the self-confidence of the victims. "I had no respect for myself," Sandra says.

Getting into prostitution is much easier than getting out of it, Fehrenbach has observed. In order to be able to take up regular work, they need a secure flat. However, many of those affected live with friends or at their place of work in the brothel and cannot provide a registered address that would allow them to receive benefits from the authorities.

Most women from non-EU countries like Sandra do not have work or residence permits. "Getting out is a very complicated process that often takes years, with lots of ups and downs."

Sandra can share a thing or two about that. "I've been fighting with the authorities for 15 years," she says. But now, thanks to Amalie's efforts, nothing stands in the way of her finding work.

Fehrenbach, a theologian and social worker, estimates that more than half of all prostitutes want to get out. "You can only be successful if you are motivated and get behind it." From 2021 to the end of 2022, Amalie accompanied 18 women on their way to a self-determined life in a dropout programme. This year they helped six.

Germany's Federal Statistical Office counted 28,280 registered prostitutes at the end of 2022, 19% more than in the previous year, when coronavirus restrictions still applied in some cases. At the end of 2019 - before the coronavirus pandemic - 40,370 prostitutes were registered.

Sandra made the leap, partly because, unlike the majority of prostitutes, she speaks fluent German. According to Fehrenbach, it is even more difficult for the 80% of women from Romania and Bulgaria who do not speak German to leave the trade.

Not seen as immoral, legally in Germany, prostitution has been considered a normal trade since 2002. Since 2017, a Prostitute Protection Act has also stipulated that brothels require an operating licence. Prostitutes are obliged to register their work and attend regular health counselling.

Amalie has been offering psychosocial counselling, support, basic medical care and exit assistance for 10 years. The counselling centre is funded by the City of Mannheim, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Diakonisches Werk.

The experience of abuse has left deep scars on Sandra's psyche. "Sex was a violation for me," she says. She wanted to get back at her mostly older clients for what had been done to her at home.

"Someone had to pay," she says. Then, at some point, her desire for a normal life was so great that she made the leap. "Normal life was calling me."

Politicians take a range of stances on the issue of prostitution but Sandra doesn't think much of conservative politician Dorothee Bär's proposal to curb the trade by banning the purchase of sex. "That's the biggest piece of rubbish," she says. This model, which originated in Scandinavia, combines punishing the clients with exit programmes for the women.

In Fehrenbach's opinion, prostitution violates human dignity and should be abolished. Studies have shown that prostitution in Sweden has decreased and social acceptance of prostitution has also dwindled. She says Germany should no longer be regarded as Europe's brothel.

Sandra, on the other hand, is convinced that the demand for sex will not decrease, but will only shift underground. That would make it even more difficult for women to leave.

In her view, it is more important that state inspectors in brothels ensure that standards are met, such as separate sanitary facilities for prostitutes and clients, separate living areas for prostitutes and an emergency call system.

Now she has a job in a retirement home and enjoys the acceptance and friendliness the residents show her.

"It's a nice contrast to what I experienced before."