“I take a deep breath. In just one day, I went through 21-23 current prostitution places, 5-7 previous prostitution addresses, two murder scenes, a prevented brothel construction place, and a closed prostitution place. At some of them I have been several times.” How does this fit into the report published by the Frankfurter Rundschau in 2010:
‘The oldest service industry in the world doesn’t really have a great tradition in Wiesbaden. Four legal brothels, two in Mainzer Street, and one each in Biebrich and Kastel – there is nothing here anymore, ‘said [an employee] from the Public Order and Peace Office. This means that there is no classic red light district like in Frankfurt: The reason for B. is obvious: ‘Trade simply does not accept, mostly the civilian population.’ Where there is no demand, there is no supply. ”
Wiesbaden has not only very covert prostitution, but also an important historical position for the debate over its abolition. Nowhere else but at the Wiesbadener Kurhaus, in the early 20th century, women’s rights didn’t take any place and the abolition of events with international speakers.
We would like to follow this history of Wiesbaden on film with the staging of women’s rights and with activism of sociologist and activist Manuela Schon. Manuela Schon isn’t only led a political and educational campaign in Wiesbaden for women’s rights, equality and democratic values, but also she practically helped several women in Wiesbaden (mostly Roma women) from prostitution poverty.
We follow Manuela Schon to the important parts of Wiesbaden’s abolition history and we took bus line 6 (Mainzer Street, Kasteller Street and others) to the city’s open and hidden brothels. We allowed her to guide us into the historical and social background of prostitution, discussions of capitalism, patriarchy, women’s rights movements, and solidarity activities.
The short film (7-15 minutes) should convey to young people from Wiesbaden (around 16 to 30 years old) the impression of this topic in deeper action through the relationship to their city.