drive in sex01

At the end of August, just one month ago, the city of Zürich, Switzerland’s largest municipality, answered the public’s call to clean up the city in a most unusual fashion. The inner city was experiencing trouble on the streets as a result of street-side prostitution, but rather than simply ban the girls from standing on street corners to attract Johns, the city built their first drive-in prostitution facility. City officials expect great things from this new government-enabled business model. They feel that giving prostitutes a safe and organized environment in which to operate will inspire them to abandon the street and will ultimately prove beneficial to both the girls and their customers.

In the Swiss Confederation, prostitution is perfectly legal as long as all involved parties are over the age of 18. It’s estimated that approximately 300 people from Eastern Europe hold one of these licenses and are certified street walkers.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that other crimes associated with roadside prostitution are not present. The government recently had to enact a prostitution ban on the streets around Zürich Station because the amount of human trafficking and violent crimes had gone completely out of control. But, rather than simply ban certified sex workers from conducting their business, the city, with approval from a public referendum, spent 2.4 million Swiss francs (US$2,634,000) to build a drive-in prostitution facility.

The main building, located near the railway tracks by Zürich Station, acts as both a safe house and a base of operations for the prostitutes in the area. Open from 7 P.M. to 5 A.M., for just 5 francs (US$5.50), working women may enter and make use of  the building’s kitchen or shower room. Once a week, there is also a doctor present for consultations. It’s estimated that about 20 women make use of the facility every day.

For people hoping to buy a little love, a string of car parks has been built along the roadside where prospective customers can drive up and discuss business with one of the women on stand-by. If an agreement is reached, then the pair is able to drive on ahead to an exclusive-use space, where the customer will receive whatever services were discussed. For the safety of the women involved and in case of general emergencies, there is an emergency button installed in this private room.

Now, at the risk of a heated moral discussion on whether prostitution is right or wrong, I find it interesting to see how the legalization and governmental enabling of prostitution as a legitimate business practice could in effect remove a great deal of crime and corruption from the streets and make the inevitable sale of sexual favors a safer transaction for all. If this method works out well in Switzerland, might other countries follow suit?

Source: Yahoo! News (Japanese)
Image: Wiki Neon Sign Blog