Prostitution in Germany is legal, as are other aspects of the sex industry, including brothels , advertisement, and job offers through HR companies. Full service sex work is widespread and regulated by the German government , which levies taxes on it. However, the social stigmatization of sex work persists and many workers continue to lead a double life.
Sex work in historically German lands has never been outlawed and has been described since the Middle Ages. Some municipalities actively encouraged it and far from existing on the margins, sex workers were often honoured guests, who maintained domestic order as an outlet and lesser evil to such things as adultery and rape. Emperor Sigismund β thanked the city of Konstanz in writing for providing some 1, workers for the Council of Constance which took place from to Sex workers were more vigorously persecuted beginning in the 16th century, with the start of the Reformation and the appearance of syphilis.
Section of the General State Laws for the Prussian States determined that "dissolute female persons who want to do business with their bodies Braunschweiger Monogrammist : Brothel scene Carl Spitzweg : Auf der Dult c. Pimp waiting for a prostitute after her medical check, Berlin , Beginning in the 19th century, sex workers in many regions had to register with police or local health authorities and submit to regular health checks to curb venereal diseases.
The so-called Bremer Regulations of stated that prostitution was "not a trade in the true sense". By this distinction between prostitution and other trades, immorality of prostitution was defined in law.
In Imperial Germany β attitudes to sex work were ambivalent. While sex work was tolerated as a necessary function to provide for male sexuality outside of marriage, it was frowned on as a threat to contemporary moral images of women's sexuality. Therefore, state policy concentrated on regulation rather than abolition. This was mainly at the municipal level. The Criminal Code of prohibited brothels and "commercial fornication".
