Source: The Independent. Source: Dignity , Spokesman. Source: The Telegraph. Source: PRI. Source: New York Times. Source: USAToday. Source: BZ Berlin. Source: DW. Source: Foreign Policy. Source: Sputnik News. Source: BBC. Globe Icon An icon of the world globe. Link Copied. Slideshow One Page. While laws vary, Europe has a more permissive attitude towards prostitution than in the US. In other countries, it is legal but not regulated. Share Slide. For most Americans, prostitution in Europe likely calls to mind Amsterdam's red-light district.
In , the Netherlands was one of the first countries to legalize and regulate prostitution Though the Netherlands began regulating prostitution in , 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. While prostitution has been legal in Switzerland since and is protected by the constitution, Petit Fleur, the first legal brothel, didn't open until Typically, sex workers work in a brothel or buy a daily "ticket" to sell sex in designated street areas.
Europe's 'biggest brothel' is Germany. While sex work was tolerated as early as the s, the government formally legalized it in Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany has long been one of the world's most famous red-light districts.
In its s heyday, it was home to over 1, prostitutes, but in recent years, the area has become better known cheap bars and binge drinking.
