New research on the history of legal #prostitution in Germany focussing on the murders of women in the sex trade by @manuelaschon and Anna Hoheide. I am proud to have helped with translating this work that shines a light into the darkest corners.

Key findings on the murders of women in German legal #prostitution: The daily fear of violence, potentially lethal, remains real for women, despite less fear of arrest by police. The primary perpetrators are sex buyers. The state does not care to collect official statistics.
Critics will claim the German law is a form of legalization (tight regulation forcing some women into illegal status) while one should support New Zealand's decriminalization (minimizing laws specific to prostitution). False distinction: German law on the left, NZ on the right...
Back to the study into murders of women in German #prostitution: The authors contacted the Federal Office for Criminal Investigations who said that they do not collect statistics on these murders because they don't want to contribute to stigma. Read that again!
The study has to rely on cases reported by police (searching for witnesses) or by the media (sometimes tactfully reporting, sometimes sensationalizing lethal violence against women in the sex trade). Of course, this data is incomplete. But that's a conscious choice by German gov!
A small group of volunteers, including sex trade survivors, have been working to collect this data through online and archive searches, Google alerts, and asking press offices for old publications on the subject. Their work is recorded here: https://t.co/61spoohExk
They found 272 cases between 1920 and 2017, but the real number is likely much higher. For example, an old Spiegel report found 88 murders between 1950 and 1965, while the team behind Sex Industry Kills could only identify 11 names and has no information on the other 77 women.
These 272 cases include 41 cases of attempted murder, which women survived, but which left many traumatized for life, some severely disabled. Finding old cases of murder attempts is nearly impossible, so no clear conclusions can be drawn about increases or decreases.
Over 98% of documented victims murdered in the German sex trade 1920-2017 were female. 2 victims were transwomen and there was 1 male victim. They were aged 15 to 67. In total there were 5 underage victims and four over the age of 60. Children sometimes exploited next to adults.
There is a strong increase in migrant women murdered in the legal German sex trade: In the 90s 27.5% were migrants, in the 00s 48.5% and in the 2010s it was 60.7% of identified victims. The number may be higher since the nationality of some victims couldn't be determined. @ENoMW
In the 90s most migrant victims were from Russia, Poland, and Slovakia. In the 00s murder victims in German legal #prostitution were predominantly Thai, Polish, and Ukrainian. Since 2010 victims are mostly from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Ukraine, and Poland.
Indoor #prostitution is often touted as considerably safer than street prostitution and while there is evidence to support this it's important to understand that 1) the vast majority of prostitution is indoors and 2) the risk of lethal violence remains a realistic fear there, too
While in the 90s most recorded murders did happen in a street prostitution context (50%), this trend reversed: In the 00s 77.6% occur in indoor #prostitution. 76% after 2010. Indoor means both mega #brothels with some security measures and small apartment brothels.
Germany's three biggest mega brothel chains (Paradise, Pascha, and Eros Center) were all the scenes of several murders of women in #prostitution despite panic buttons, cameras, and security. They collectively come up to 13 cases until 2017. No images of naked women, just pimps:
The murderers of women in German legal #prostitution: All cases were committed by men (with a tiny number of female accomplices), who cover all age groups, walks of life, and relationship statuses. If any relation existed to the victim, it was almost always as a #sexbuyer.
Motives for murders of women in German legal #prostitution include: Explicit #misogyny, attempts to cover up rape and/or robbery, jealousy, anger over disinclination to perform specific sex acts and fights resulting from price haggling. Some were killed over as little as 20€.
Obviously, no amount of money justifies murder. That should go without saying. However, this showcases how worthless prostituted women's lives are to these men, that they would use violence that ended up being lethal for just a few euros.
Killers of women in #prostitution do not even require a murder weapon: Preventing them from bringing knives or guns into brothels is not enough, a significant minority of women were strangled with bare hands or suffocated by pillows.
Frequency of murders of women in legal German #prostitution correlates with population density (e.g. most occur in Berlin, Hamburg, the Ruhr Basin, & the Rhine-Mine-Area). But women have been murdered in all 16 federal states and not only in big red-light districts in the cities.
Case Study on women murdered in legal German #prostitution: "Gerit" or "Linda" (stand-in photo), 25, Romanian, was murdered in front of the Paradise mega-brothel in Stuttgart by a sex buyer, 53, married with 4 kids, who wanted exclusive access to her.

More from Society

So, as the #MegaMillions jackpot reaches a record $1.6B and #Powerball reaches $620M, here's my advice about how to spend the money in a way that will truly set you, your children and their kids up for life.

Ready?

Create a private foundation and give it all away. 1/

Let's stipulate first that lottery winners often have a hard time. Being publicly identified makes you a target for "friends" and "family" who want your money, as well as for non-family grifters and con men. 2/

The stress can be damaging, even deadly, and Uncle Sam takes his huge cut. Plus, having a big pool of disposable income can be irresistible to people not accustomed to managing wealth.
https://t.co/fiHsuJyZwz 3/

Meanwhile, the private foundation is as close as we come to Downton Abbey and the landed aristocracy in this country. It's a largely untaxed pot of money that grows significantly over time, and those who control them tend to entrench their own privileges and those of their kin. 4

Here's how it works for a big lotto winner:

1. Win the prize.
2. Announce that you are donating it to the YOUR NAME HERE Family Foundation.
3. Receive massive plaudits in the press. You will be a folk hero for this decision.
4. Appoint only trusted friends/family to board. 5/
1/ A thread of comments & observations about the death of the cackling vampire Rush Limbaugh.

My first observations in the main thread are here, but this offshoot is needed because there's been so many wise & witty things I've


2/ First, re: those who in their wayward moral obtuseness feel we "can't speak ill of the dead." I've said that this is what abuse enablers say, but I hear that some religious traditions preach this. Oy.
So there's this: https://t.co/7Ky4RA3nkZ &


3/ Drucker is another great wit, and this carries the proper mood


4/ There's definitely a Jewish Tradition angle for how to treat evil people who die: the only respect is to justice, right & wrong, and above all compassion's existence necessitates condemning cruelty


5/ We're coming up on #Purim, and that's all about how to remember evil. There may be a reason, then, that I share the attitude of many other people committed to righting

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#ஆதித்தியஹ்ருதயம் ஸ்தோத்திரம்
இது சூரிய குலத்தில் உதித்த இராமபிரானுக்கு தமிழ் முனிவர் அகத்தியர் உபதேசித்ததாக வால்மீகி இராமாயணத்தில் வருகிறது. ஆதித்ய ஹ்ருதயத்தைத் தினமும் ஓதினால் பெரும் பயன் பெறலாம் என மகான்களும் ஞானிகளும் காலம் காலமாகக் கூறி வருகின்றனர். ராம-ராவண யுத்தத்தை


தேவர்களுடன் சேர்ந்து பார்க்க வந்திருந்த அகத்தியர், அப்போது போரினால் களைத்து, கவலையுடன் காணப்பட்ட ராமபிரானை அணுகி, மனிதர்களிலேயே சிறந்தவனான ராமா போரில் எந்த மந்திரத்தைப் பாராயணம் செய்தால் எல்லா பகைவர்களையும் வெல்ல முடியுமோ அந்த ரகசிய மந்திரத்தை, வேதத்தில் சொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளதை உனக்கு

நான் உபதேசிக்கிறேன், கேள் என்று கூறி உபதேசித்தார். முதல் இரு சுலோகங்கள் சூழ்நிலையை விவரிக்கின்றன. மூன்றாவது சுலோகம் அகத்தியர் இராமபிரானை விளித்துக் கூறுவதாக அமைந்திருக்கிறது. நான்காவது சுலோகம் முதல் முப்பதாம் சுலோகம் வரை ஆதித்ய ஹ்ருதயம் என்னும் நூல். முப்பத்தி ஒன்றாம் சுலோகம்

இந்தத் துதியால் மகிழ்ந்த சூரியன் இராமனை வாழ்த்துவதைக் கூறுவதாக அமைந்திருக்கிறது.
ஐந்தாவது ஸ்லோகம்:
ஸர்வ மங்கள் மாங்கல்யம் ஸர்வ பாப ப்ரநாசனம்
சிந்தா சோக ப்ரசமனம் ஆயுர் வர்த்தனம் உத்தமம்
பொருள்: இந்த அதித்ய ஹ்ருதயம் என்ற துதி மங்களங்களில் சிறந்தது, பாவங்களையும் கவலைகளையும்


குழப்பங்களையும் நீக்குவது, வாழ்நாளை நீட்டிப்பது, மிகவும் சிறந்தது. இதயத்தில் வசிக்கும் பகவானுடைய அனுக்ரகத்தை அளிப்பதாகும்.
முழு ஸ்லோக லிங்க் பொருளுடன் இங்கே உள்ளது
https://t.co/Q3qm1TfPmk
சூரியன் உலக இயக்கத்திற்கு மிக முக்கியமானவர். சூரிய சக்தியால்தான் ஜீவராசிகள், பயிர்கள்