Doña Carmen

Doña Carmen e. V.
purpose	Association for social and political rights of prostitutes
Chair:	Juanita Rosina Hennig
Establishment date:	July 13, 1998
Seat :	Frankfurt am Main
Website:	www.donacarmen.de

The organization Doña Carmen e. V. is committed to the political and social rights of prostitutes and advocates the "recognition of prostitution as a profession". The registered association founded in 1998 sees itself as a prostitute self-help organization and is based in the Bahnhofsviertel in Frankfurt am Main. He publishes the multilingual prostitute magazine La Muchacha .

activities

Office of the association

Doña Carmen e. V. rejects discrimination against prostitutes and prostitution. She respects the decision of all women to pursue this trade, be it in Germany or in other countries. The association mainly advocates the concerns of “prostitution migrants” and supports them on site with, among other things, social advice. Doña Carmen offers various services: telephone advice, interpreting, support for personal problems in the counseling center or directly in the brothels as well as clarification about the legal situation, information events with the women themselves and street worker activities, accompaniment of prostitutes to institutions, doctors, lawyers and other.

The red light district of Frankfurt am Main at night

Since the organization has access to all brothels in Frankfurt's red light district with the approval of the operator, consultations can also take place there. Doña Carmen has negotiated a “quality standard for brothels” in Frankfurt am Main with the establishment operators, including for a contractually stipulated employment relationship, and is demanding a green card for foreign prostitutes. Since the organization consistently refuses to cooperate with the police, it does not receive any financial support from the city and is dependent on private donations and help from sponsoring members.

Doña Carmen wants to speak for the sex workers who don't feel like victims, but who want to decide for themselves about their lives and their work. The association advocates fully decriminalizing sex work and recognizing it as a normal trade, with equal rights and obligations (also through legal regulations).

The association's co-founder, Juanita Rosina Hennig, who has been a social worker for prostitutes in Frankfurt am Main since 1991, estimates that around 1000 women work in the 21 brothels in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel, with an annual turnover of 80 to 100 million euros . “You don't get a number like that confirmed, refuted or corrected anywhere. The topic of red light is a gray area that few people have insight into. "

Under the title "Art about Prostitution - The Art of Prostitution", the Doña Carmen association worked with the German artist Silke Wagner . They set up a mobile home at the Frankfurter Konstablerwache , because mobile homes are often jobs for prostitutes and the mobile homes should be taken out of secrecy with this action.

Prostitution debate: dispute with Alice Schwarzer

Doña Carmen severely criticized the campaign against prostitution launched by Alice Schwarzer in October 2013 . Her appeal against prostitution is "unmistakably shaped by the clumsy, senior teacher-like, generally bilious undertone of bitterness and joylessness of a generation 70 plus". The fact that sex is not mentioned with a single syllable in an appeal dealing with prostitution is “a terrific feat of repression”. The call is "a case for the trash," every second sentence "a lie".

Shortly after prostitution appeared - a German scandal , Doña Carmen announced that she had taken legal action against the editor and publisher. In three text passages of the section From Hydra to Doña Carmen: The Pro-Prostitution Front, the association sees itself exposed to "falsehoods about the work of Doña Carmen as well as defamatory statements about the association's spokeswoman, which amount to character assassination". The Frankfurt Regional Court rated one of the incriminated passages as a “permissible expression of opinion”. The untruthfulness of the other two passages, which was previously admitted by Schwarzer's lawyer, violated the applicants' personal rights to a not inconsiderable extent. However, since this only concerns two and a half pages, there was no “particularly serious violation of personal rights”, which is why the application for an injunction against the book was not granted. The defamatory information may no longer be printed from the second edition.

The article “The Dignity of Sex Workers” had already appeared in the taz , in which Doña Carmen Schwarzer alleged that the pedophilia debate that was taking place at the time was also used to criminalize prostitution again. You put one on a par with the other and deal with empirically untenable numbers. To cite poverty in the country of origin from the outset as evidence of “coercion” towards prostitution migrants is also “ racism in disguise ”, after all, with the same argumentation, the immigration of guest workers should have been banned in the 1950s and 1960s .

La Muchacha Newspaper

La Muchacha is run by Doña Carmen e. V. and is, according to its own statement, currently the only bilingual (German, Spanish) prostitute newspaper in Germany (as of 2012). The circulation is between 1000 and 2000 copies, which are distributed in Frankfurt brothels as well as nationwide. Doña Carmen attaches importance to the statement that La Muchacha is a political newspaper in the first place and no glamor -Szeneblatt. The magazine advocates the rights of prostitutes, especially foreign women who work illegally. One of the main concerns is the social dialogue between Germans and migrants as well as the population. La Muchacha does not publish “spectacular cases” such as “international pimp gangs” or “trafficking in women”.

reception

• Doña Carmen achieved partial success in a conflict with the ARD magazine Panorama . The association had lodged a complaint about the prostitution-critical reporting on the prostitution law of the ARD magazine, whereupon the deputy director of the NDR, Arno Beyer, demanded a renewed statement on the criticism of Doña Carmen.
• In a debate, the Austrian feminist magazine AEP came to the conclusion that prostitution should be decriminalized and pointed out that these positions were not supported by the "Sex-Workers Rights Movement", the whore movement and aid and self-help organizations such as " Hydra " or " Doña Carmen ”in Germany or“ Sophie ”as well as“ Lefö ”and“ Maiz ”in Austria. They fought in different ways towards the same goal of having sex work recognized as a normal trade, with equal rights and duties. “They (the self-help organizations) are fighting in different ways towards the same goal, that sex work is recognized as a normal trade, with equal rights and obligations (also through legal regulations). They point out that the discussions about sex work are dominated by people who speak for others - and rarely integrate the people - the sex workers who do not feel like victims, but who want to decide for themselves about their lives and their work. "
• " WikiLeaks reveals: German police officers inform US government about prostitution surveillance - Doña Carmen calls for clarification of Frankfurt's police chief Thiel. A cable report from the American embassy in Berlin, recently published on the Internet by Wikileaks, shows: The American government has the German authorities keep it informed in detail about prostitution surveillance practices. (...) Doña Carmen calls for such secret contacts with American agencies to be stopped. In a letter to the Frankfurt Police President Dr. Achim Thiel has asked Doña Carmen for clarification on the process that has now become known. "
• The Doña Carmen association has described plans by the city of Frankfurt to cut financial support for a night bus to look after prostitutes as unacceptable. A restriction would be "a blow against the women affected," said the prostitute aid organization. "Anyone who cuts the night bus in the hot summer will shed crocodile tears over the 'poor women' on the street in the cold winter and demand the abolition of street prostitution as the next step."
• In 2002 the Prostitution Act came into force. This should enable prostitutes to insure themselves and receive more rights. Doña Carmen called for a second attempt at legalization. “The association is committed to the social and political rights of prostitutes. And it's true: the trade is not on an equal footing with other professions. There are special regulations in criminal, regulatory and residence law. Freelance prostitution is not a trade in the sense of the trade regulations. There are restricted areas. "
• The Emma sees Doña Carmen as an organization that Bordellbetreiber- and pimps interests under the guise of prostitutes interests are represented. They attribute this, among other things, to the fact that the association campaigned for the image of flat-rate brothels in 2009 with costly newspaper campaigns and categorically refused to cooperate with the police. The Stuttgart social worker Sabine Constabel said of the association: "These people negate the prostitutes' experiences, deny their reality, fight every help and protection that women so urgently need." Doña Carmen sued the magazine for misrepresentation and defamation and won the Process. According to the judgment of November 25, 2013, the Frankfurt Regional Court found that such defamatory information in the second edition of the book "Prostitution - a German Scandal" may no longer be reissued and may no longer be shown on the Emma homepage.

literature

• Juanita Henning: Colombian prostitute in Frankfurt. A contribution to the criticism of popular views on trafficking in women and prostitution. Lambertus Verlag , Freiburg / Br. 1997. ISBN 3-7841-0990-X

Web links

• Main page of Doña Carmen (German, English, Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Doña Carmen's self-image
2. ^ In the magazine AEP (Arbeitskreis Emanzipation und Partnerschaft), Feminist magazine for politics and society. No. 82. "Prostitution - Sex Work - The Feminist Debate."
3. ^ Quote from: Focus from August 19, 2011
4. ^ Art about prostitution - The art of prostitution
5. ↑ Schwarzer's "Appeal Against Prostitution" - A reply from Doña Carmen eV , contribution from October 30, 2013
6. ↑ Doña Carmen: Legal steps against Alice Schwarzer , press release of November 14, 2013.
7. ^ Declaration by Doña Carmen eV of November 26, 2013
8. ↑ Doña Carmen: The Dignity of Sex Workers. In: taz . August 17, 2013, accessed November 15, 2013 . 
9. ↑ What can you read in a whore newspaper? ( Memento of November 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). Brief information about the La Muchacha newspaper in PM magazine . Retrieved November 24, 2012
10. ↑ Reply from the deputy director of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk ( memento of the original dated February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 3.7 MB). To Doña Carmen e. V. regarding the panorama broadcast on September 29, 2011. Accessed on October 19, 2012 
11. ↑ Liberal Prostitution Act: How Germany became Europe's pouf . Panorama from September 29, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2012
12. ↑ Prostitution - Sex Work - The Feminist Debate ( Memento of the original from November 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: aep , feminist magazine for politics and society. No. 82. “Prostitution - Sex Work - The Feminist Debate.” Retrieved November 22, 2012 
13. ↑ Wikileaks reveals: German police officers inform US government about prostitution surveillance ( memento of the original from April 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In “Frankfurter Info” of November 8, 2011. Retrieved on November 23, 2012 
14. ↑ Wikileaks reveals: German police officers inform US government about prostitution surveillance - Doña Carmen calls for clarification from Frankfurt's police chief Thiel
15. ↑ Strike against women . In: Frankfurter Rundschau, August 21, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2012
16. ↑ Press release - Plans to cut night buses on the Frankfurt street line are unacceptable and bold
17. ↑ Legal prostitution is a question of perspective . In Badische Zeitung of October 3, 2012. Retrieved on November 22, 2012
18. ↑ Press release - 10 years of the Prostitution Act: An unsuitable basis for the legalization of prostitution
19. ^ Silke Janovsky: Flatrate im Freudenhaus , Berliner Zeitung, July 22, 2009
20. ↑ Sabine Constabel: Where is the conscience put down? In: EMMAonline , August 21, 2013, accessed September 10, 2013.
21. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
22. ↑ http://www.donacarmen.de/?p=440

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 34.2 ″  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 0.1 ″  E