Biography
Sandra Norak (a pseudonym) is 29 years old. She was in prostitution from 2008-2014. Now, she is about to finish law studies in Germany, specializing in European and public international law (especially international criminal law and international protection of human rights). She works to raise awareness about the system of prostitution and different forms of human trafficking like the "loverboy-method." She is also doing prevention work in schools to teach young girls how to identify and protect themselves and friends from "loverboys." She was part of the German TV documentary Brothel Germany—The Billion-Dollar Business in Prostitution which was nominated for "Prix Europa" 2018. Her homepage is: https://mylifeinprostitution.wordpress.com/]
Ingeborg Kraus, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and expert in psychotraumatology. From 1995 -2002, she did humanitarian work in Bosnia and Kosovo, especially working with women victims of sexual violence. She assisted in setting up one of the first shelters for women victims of domestic violence in Kosovo. Since 2011, she has her own counseling practice in Karlsruhe, Germany. In 2013, she co-founded the Stop SexBuying Network in Germany; in 2014, she started the appeal of the German Psychotraumatologists Against Prostitution; and in 2015, she initiated a petition to abolish prostitution in Germany. She is a member of the German Society for Psychotraumatology, the German Society for Trauma and Dissociation, and the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. www.trauma-and-prostitution.eu
Abstract
This article, co-authored by a six-year survivor of the sex trade industry in Germany (Sandra Norak) and a psychologist and trauma therapist (Ingeborg Kraus), provides perspectives on the difficulty of withstanding the coercion of traffickers and the difficulties of exiting prostitution in a country in which prostitution has been legalized, normalized and made “a job like any other.” This normalization persuades survivors to believe their traffickers that it is a legitimate occupation and encourages them to endure the violence. Liberalization also has prevented the development of needed trauma services to those seeking to exit the sex trade industry.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Norak, Sandra and Kraus, Ingeborg (2018) "Never Again! Surviving Liberalized Prostitution in Germany," Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence: Vol. 3: Iss. 3, Article 5. https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2018.03.03.05
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