Kraut_and_Tea
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Saw something horrible and I wanted to share some thoughts with you.
🕑 Added 2021-11-08 19:40:09 +0000 UTCWhen I look for a new apartment I start with the places nobody wants to live. There is always a chance these places aren't as bad, but still cheap.
I looked at an apartment in the same building as a brothel... and it was one of the most depressing things I've seen in my life.
The apartment looked nice. I saw nothing of the brothel. But while looking at the apartment the landlord asked:
"Does your girlfriend work here?"
I thought it was an insult at first, or an insinuation that I was here for the brothel. But then he explained it to me.
He told me all the tenants in this building are the "boyfriends" of the prostitutes in the brothel. All of them are losers, long-time unemployed, too lazy to work, some alcoholics. But all of them manipulative people, in abusive relationships with younger women. They manipulate young migrant women into working in these brothels. Convince them to transfer all their money to his bank account. And once they made enough money they usually dump the girl, leave her penniless in a foreign country, and move on to the next girl to manipulate. He explained his only tenants are people he wouldn't want around his own neighborhood. Sometimes he gets people like me who just want the cheapest possible apartment, but all of them leave once they see who their new neighbors will be. I agreed. I do not want a place like that.
I am against criminalizing prostitution. We know making it illegal hurts the sex workers more. But hell... I really dislike how some people talk of it in weirdly cheery terms that overlook some very bleak and sinister truths.
Comments
Doompill
Han Pol
well for the most part corona has made legal prostitution a lot harder. Were it was allowed before, and often it's banned now for medical reasons
Yeah, there is an unpleasant culture war element to how some people defend sex work, like they're mostly for it because it upsets trads, I used to live in an area with a lot of prostitution, never saw anything that bad but I don't buy that it's anyone's first choice when it comes to working.
Han Pol
I guess the later is no real concern in a major city while price is more of a concern. even if Vienna is fairly affordable there.
Maybe reconsider slightly. I understand, that you want a cheap apartment, but maybe don't take the absolute cheapest, but maybe also look a bit at the location and reviews. This here feels a bit like modern day project bidding, where the cheapest contractor gets the job. Unfortunately they often have to add the cost at the end or the whole project will come to a standstill. Also, what could be important metrics for you would be maybe internet speed/connection, as you mainly provide your content over the internet.
Kraut
I always want to live as cheap and minimalistic as possible. Unless I am not single.
Tbh maybe not only looking by a single metric in the first place could help. I understand, that your work does not require you living in the city center, but like, what do you expect trying to rent into an hostel/hotel? Like, is it only temporary, or do you really just want to live in the cheapest possible apartment?
Yoko The Spacewhale
A concerning trend I'm seeing here in the states is what amounts to prostitution stings being reported out as "human trafficking" busts. In the past few months, I have seen two press conferences about "human trafficking" where they tell stories about catching sex workers and johns of various social strata and lump them in with the couple of kids they pulled out of a car in a tangentially related arrest. They also provide little to no evidence the workers were being coerced, etc. I really have no point to make here. Your last paragraph just made me think of that.
Mehrab
That has to be criminal somehow, like some form of financial scam. But probably not, sadly.
Snowdon
That's awful.
