Swiss Sex Drive-In Opens With Slow Start
Switzerland's first sex drive-in aimed at keeping
prostitutes safe and taking the sex trade off Zurich's streets has
opened for business.
The nine "sex boxes", which are hidden behind a high fence, are
available for prostitutes and their clients - but on the first
evening there were few customers and just a handful of sex
workers.
Television cameras, photographers and journalists jostled to get
through the gate, discreetly displaying the red umbrella icon that
designates a regulated sex work area.
A few minutes later, a prostitute sitting in the passenger seat of
a caravan arrived, covering her face.
Within the hour, the number of workers had only increased to four,
all flatly refusing to have their pictures taken or talk to the
media.
Just a small sign displaying opening hours and the red umbrella
icon mark the site in a former industrial zone in the west of the
city.
The drive-in, which has room to accommodate around 50 prostitutes,
will be open every night from 7pm until 5am and is one of three
spaces in the city where prostitutes can work legally.
There are clearly defined rules at the drive-in. Clients must be
older than 18, one to a car, and condoms must be disposed of
immediately after use in the bins provided.
There is an area where clients make a choice and the women
negotiate a price before heading for the boxes, which are wooden
frames that look like car ports.
Each box has an alarm bell to keep the prostitutes safe.
Michael Herzig, director of social services for sex workers in the
city, said: "Prostitution is a business basically.
"We cannot prohibit it, so we want to control it in favour of the
sex workers and the population because if we do not control it,
organised crime is taking over, and the pimps are taking over.”
Ursula Kocher, director of Flora Dora, a support network for
prostitutes, said that prostitutes were regularly taken to a nearby
forest or outside the city and often found themselves in
danger.
She said: "Here, they remain on-site and can deal with customers
quickly."
The sex drive-in was approved by the people of Zurich in a March
2012 referendum, with 52.6% voting in favour.
And the idea has a broad consensus among political parties, with
only the populist Swiss People's Party (SVP) opposing the
project.
"It will not work, either because the clients will not come or
because the site will not be used by prostitutes," said Sven Oliver
Dogwiler, a local SVP politician.
"It puts them in a cleaner space but one that is subsidised by
taxes," he added.
There are
clear rules in the sex boxes, which are displayed on
signs
