On paper, Zurich's drive-through sex boxes sound like a prostitute's dream. Indeed, two months after their establishment, the sex boxes are being hailed as a great success by everyone. Although prostitution has been legal in Switzerland since , locals were increasingly uneasy with the "presence of sex workers in residential areas," wrote Dr. Brooke Magnanti at The Telegraph. They also wanted create a safer space for prostitutes that would protect them from violence and assault.
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. This past week, government officials have been praising the sex boxes for successfully addressing all those concerns.
The sex boxes even have friendly PSAs reminding people to use condoms, as well as on-site doctors and social workers. Who wouldn't love these magical sex boxes? Well, for one, the prostitutes. While Herzig sees encouraging sex box numbers, others believe they are lackluster. On average, 14 of the 30 available sex boxes are used a night, which means they're operating under 50 percent capacity.
In turn, this suggests the prostitutes don't love the program. UK Metro reported that prostitutes have complained that the sex boxes are "bad for business" and "not worth our while. A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day — and the best features from TheWeek. And it turns out, the johns feel similarly. Metro quoted a letter printed in a local newspaper in Zurich from a man complaining, "On a Saturday night, there were only three prostitutes there.
That is not really a lot of choice. Prostitutes also say they are taking a financial and emotional hit from the sex boxes. Director of Switzerland's Salvation Army prostitute rehabilitation program, Cornelia Zurrer Ritter, told Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung that the women who use sex boxes "make less money" and find the "working conditions inhumane.
