Justice
Zurich's Drive-In Prostitution Facility Is Officially Open for Business
The city says it wants to protect sex workers, but it's also clearly an attempt to keep prostitutes out of sight.
In 2012, residents of Zurich, Switzerland, voted to ban street solicitation in favor of what is essentially a drive-in prostitution warehouse in the suburbs. The idea is that sex workers who are picked up off the street often don't know where their clients are going to take them. Prostitution has been legal in Switzerland since 1942, but city officials say women are sometimes taken to isolated areas, where they have been robbed and abused.
By requiring that all sex-work activities—including selection, payment, and the activity itself—take place in a carefully controlled environment, officials hope to cut down on the amount of violence done to sex workers. The BBC explains: