Past Forward: Sex gegen Geld

For centuries, prostitution has satisfied sexual needs - and for just as long, people who offer these services have been on the margins of society. Used, but despised.

Why is sex work still so stigmatized today?

Almost every day, Past Forward reporter Sophie Labitzke drives past Helenenstraße, the oldest brothel street in Germany, which is located in the middle of Bremen's trendy Steintor district. Until now, she has never looked closely at its history and the women who work here. Sophie finds a wealth of material in the archive: Helenenstraße was set up in 1878 as a so-called control street to better control prostitution and was considered a model for other cities. Prostitutes worked and lived here under police supervision - and above all, they were kept away from the supposedly respectable part of society. However, the main beneficiaries of such control streets were the landlords, who demanded extortionate rents from the women, who were not allowed to be anywhere else, and thus indirectly forced them to serve more customers.

Sex for money remains a question of morality for most people. Reporter Sophie realizes: both in the past and today, the topic is one thing above all: quite complicated.

A Dokness production for Radio Bremen on behalf of ARD.

Autorin: Nadja Kölling
Presenterin: Sophie Labitzke
Kamera: Marina Schnieders, Moritz Bauer
Ton: Veit Klück
Toningenieur:in: Frank Buermann, Jutta Boukamp
Schnitt: Paul Heide
Producing: Wencke Santen
Praktikum: Franz*i Betz
Produktionsleitung: Tina Maibach-Lee
Produktionsassistenz: Kirsten Haas
Produzentin: Heidi Bruns
Redaktion: Michaela Herold