Women of Nanny State Forced into Sex Trade?

The following is excerpted from Clare Chapman's article in yesterday's UK Telegraph titled 'If You Don't Take a Job As a Prostitute, We Can Stop Your Benefits'

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year. Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.

Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. (No prize for guessing whether fellas are being forced into prostitution the same way-Henway) Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse...

"There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."

Well, certainly this marks the apex of the European experiment. People are incented to be non-contributing members of society and no personal behavior (regardless of its degradation to the ideals of a peaceful, fruitful nation) can be condemned under the banner of enlightened thinking. Thus are the females of this egalitarian, humanist society are pushed into the sex trade. Viva Progressive Civilization!