Children in a sex education class in Germany were instructed to design a brothel “for everyone” as part of their course, sparking backlash from parents and even other students at the school.
The children, aged between 13 and 15, received the assignment at the Cardinal von Galen Gymnasium in Kevelaer, a small town in North-Rhine Westphalia close to the Dutch border with a population of just 28,000. The community is most known for being a religious pilgrimage site for Roman Catholics, who descend upon the town once per year to honor the Virgin Mary.
But despite being a fairly religious community, the local secondary school issued a disturbing assignment to its youth centered around prostitution.
The assignment was leaked to news outlet WDR, and sections from the workbook began to circulate on social media last week. According to the excerpts, the children were tasked with modernizing an existing brothel in a large city, effectively simulating operating the facility as though they were a manager. Titled “Puff für alle,” with “Puff” being a German slang word for brothel, the workbook appeared to be primarily framed not just around upgrading the brothel, but making it more sexually “inclusive.”
According to the introduction of the assignment, the children were asked to “modernize, in group work, an already existing brothel in a large city. The floor plan is predetermined and cannot be expanded (see worksheet: floor plan of the brothel to be modernized). For structural reasons, it is also not possible to change the interior area, including the walls. Only the installation of doors and staircases is allowed. As part of the modernization, you are now supposed to create a ‘brothel for everyone’ or rather a ‘house of pleasure for sexual fulfillment.'”
The questions in the assignment asked children to consider “what sexual preferences need to be addressed and catered to in these spaces,” along with what type of different “services” need to be offered in the brothel, and what “skills and abilities” of the prostitutes would be needed so “that all kinds of people could be served and satisfied.”
The exercise was part of a larger syllabus entitled “Sexual Education of Diversity: Practical Methods on Identities, Relationships, Bodies, and Prevention for Schools and Youth Work.”
One older student at the school offered WDR a critical perspective on the assignment, and said that people should be questioning the acceptance “surrounding the topic of sex work.” The girl argued that it “belongs in social studies classes, where students learn to critique sex work and, ideally, to condemn it from a modern perspective.” She added that “95 percent of all sex workers being women, and a significant number of them being girls, I believe it’s inappropriate to address brothels in sex education and, above all, to fail to differentiate and explore the topic in an assignment.”
In a statement to WDR, Christina Diehr, the headmistress of the school, claimed that the material was “deliberately designed to be provocative in order to stimulate discussion,” that it “responds to developments in our society with a diversity of lifestyles and gender roles,” and that it also “addresses the heavy use of social media channels by children and young people and the associated flood of information about various forms of sexuality.”
However, following a concerted uproar among parents, the school has confirmed that they don’t intend to re-issue the assignment in future.
This is not the first time prostitution has intersected with youth education in Germany.
In 2023, the city of Berlin has prompted outrage from locals after offering a graphic picture book on prostitution to children via its official website. The book, titled Rosie Needs Money (Rosi sucht Geld), was advertised as a resource for youth aged 6 to 12 years old, and was illustrated using drawings sourced from children in the community.
The story was written from the perspective of a child named Maryam, whose family relocated to Germany from Syria. Maryam narrates as she and her equally-young schoolmate, Martin, look for Rosie, a woman from Bulgaria who is in the sex trade. Maryam says that her mother told her that Rosie is often “looking for money” in the street.
The Berlin government is offering children a pro-prostitution picture book intended to teach them that the sex trade is safe and enjoyable.
— REDUXX (@reduxx) September 25, 2023
"Rosie Needs Money," which is written from the perspective of a little girl, is targeted at children aged 6-12.https://t.co/r5FlkE0kGW
“But they don’t seem to find much money. Their clothes are not enough. Their breasts and legs must freeze in winter,” observes Maryam. “Today we decided to finally ask Rosie what she does with men. Actually, we already know. They give her money and want to make love.”
Martin then appears to reference pornography, saying: “It’s different from mom and dad. Mom makes love to dad, but Rosie’s men don’t make love, they make sex like on TV.”
In the book, Rosie suggests that men use prostitutes due to loneliness, and advertises the sex trade as a legitimate and important field.
After Reduxx reported on the book, the city of Berlin removed the book from its official website.
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