German brothels now catering to the elderly

Facing declining business prospects due to the dramatic increase in amateur prostitution available online, Germany's largest luxury "wellness" brothel has started offering services designed to specifically cater to the elderly. Artemis, located in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg, has installed seats in showers and expanded changing rooms to accomodate wheelchairs. "Helpful personnel" will also be on hand to facilitate enjoyment by the aged and disabled guests.

This trend has become more common in the German sex industry, where about one hundred and fifty thousand officially registered, tax-paying prostitutes ply their trade, after the industry became fully legal in 2002. An estimated quarter-million sex workers continue to work on the black market however.

Stephanie Klee, a registered prostitute with twenty-five years of whoring under her belt and a spokeswoman for a sex-worker-advocacy group, said she and several colleagues were focusing on bringing their wares to senior citizens in retirement homes. "Sex work is slowly becoming more like other professions. It is becoming specialized," she said.

The need to provide sexual services for the elderly has been openly recognized by some German retirement homes. One female director of a Berlin home said recently that she was hoping to offer a "room for intimate encounters" in her establishment. Interestingly, she said she was discussing the project with the church organization that ran the home. I wonder if they get a senior discount?