Prostitution is legal in Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Austria, and many other countries in Europe. But regulating it hasn't had the intended effect.
While prostitution has a long history in Europe, it's legality varies from country to country. In countries like Germany and Greece, the sex trade is fully legalized and regulated, whereas is many northern European countries like Sweden, it is illegal to buy sex, but not illegal to sell it.
Brothels and red-light districts have been a part of major European cities like Amsterdam and Hamburg for decades and, in some cases, centuries. But the current era of prostitution began around 2000 when the Netherlands became one of the first major European countries to formalize prostitution's legality and regulate it like any other industry. Germany, Greece, and others followed suit, though Switzerland has had fully legal prostitution since 1942.
Legalizing and regulating prostitution was supposed to make the trade safer for sex workers, helping them access critical health and government services, but by most accounts, it mostly resulted in turning prostitution a major industry with hotel-sized brothels, brothel chains, and a cash cow of tax revenue.While laws vary, Europe has a more permissive attitude towards prostitution than in the US.
Night view of De Wallen red-light district with its many red-light windows, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24 April 2004.... leading to scenes like this in Amsterdam's famous De Wallen district, a neighborhood famous for marijuana coffee shops and sex-worker windows, where prostitutes try to solicit customers for a 30-minute soiree.
Prostitutes wait for clients behind glass doors in the Red Light District on April 19, 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.Though the Netherlands began regulating prostitution in 2000, the sex trade was more or less tolerated for decades before. The idea behind legalizing the trade was that it would it would root out organized crime, limit human trafficking, improve worker access to healthcare, and make sex work safer.
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