{"id":1595,"date":"2014-01-17T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/17-01-2014-rroma-and-the-street-prostitution-in-basel\/"},"modified":"2022-07-25T15:27:05","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T14:27:05","slug":"17-01-2014-rroma-and-the-street-prostitution-in-basel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/17-01-2014-rroma-and-the-street-prostitution-in-basel\/","title":{"rendered":"17.01.2014 Rroma and the Street Prostitution in Basel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Laur \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2014) explores the street prostitution in Basel. Again, as told earlier about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe now closed Zurich Sihlquai, the prostitutes are said to be of mainly Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\torigin. How the author got this information remains unclear. Rroma are a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminority of about 800,000 to a million members in Hungary. The identification \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof ethnic membership is anything but easy, as the case of the blond Rroma girl \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin Greece has shown. Furthermore, not all members of the minority speak \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRromanes. The Rroma membership of the portrayed women has therefore to be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcritically questioned. Laur states: \u201cMany \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof these prostitutes come from Hungarian Rroma families. They are usually \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprepared early for their future profession. An evil fate and yet they appear \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texternally unbroken on the road in Basel [ … ] . None of them moans, not feeling \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvictimized. They do sex work because they see no alternative.\u201d<\/em> Discussions \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabout Rroma and prostitution are often performed in conjunction with terms such \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tas clan structures or forced prostitution. By stating that it is poverty that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleads the portrayed women into prostitution, Laur may be closer to the reality \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthan the estimates of support agencies and the authorities. These ascribe the prostitutes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tusually a victim status, which neglects the factor of poverty: \u201cAs you sell your muscle strength, you can \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talso sell your body\u201d, says Peter Thommen, a bookseller at Rheingasse and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconnoisseurs of the scene. To get upset about it or to moralize doesn\u2019t bring \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tanything. But he finds the prices scandalous, they are much too cheap. Exploitation \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcan be found in other industries such as in the construction industry or in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagriculture too. Furthermore, there is a lot less excitement than about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprostitution, while the scandal is in fact the same.\u201d <\/em>However, when seeing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprostitution as a form of work, one should be cautious not to trivialize \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdangers as the infection with deadly diseases and psychological damages.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n