Switzerland’s city of Zurich has opened a sex drive-in. Essentially an area for prostitution away from the city center, the fashionable teak colored “sex boxes” will be used as spaces for clients of prostitutes on a first come-first serve basis. The city of Zurich has had legalized prostitution since 1942.
Several dozen sex workers will wait nearby a park along a circular road. The park was built specifically for the clients to choose form and negotiate with the prostitutes there, according to NBC news’s world news. This special and publically funded area was built from a “former industrial area nestled between a rail yard and the fence along a major highway.” The facilities will be open from 7pm to 5am, and will be a little ways off from the downtown areas, will have modern bathrooms, lockers, laundries and showers. The sex workers will not have video surveillance, but they will pay a tax and will have a “panic button” in case things get violent or if they feel they are in danger.
The most interesting about this setup, is that there will be social workers on-site, to “look after” the sex workers. One lawyer in Zurich comments on what he feels is a ‘win-win’ situation. “[The] prostitutes [will have] safety. At least it’s a certain kind of shelter for them. They can do their business…they have better working conditions here. They’re not exposed to … pimps here.”
The project had cost approximately $2.4 million, and it definitely is a social experiment that aims on creating a better society. They city of Zurich will pay $760,000 a year to maintain the facilities. The lack of facilities before this had caused “public nuisances and safety concerns due to lack of sanitation, aggressive men, and associated drugs and violence.”
The project is seen as a way to improve safety as well as curb illegal trafficking. The basic standards of living will be improved and health concerns will also addressed. The cities expect that human trafficking and exploitation will decrease-especially violence towards the women sex workers.