Thursday, January 30, 2014

Has the liberalisation of the oldest profession gone too far?

Nov 16th 2013 | BERLIN |From the print edition
She can get health insurance and a pension
她可获得健康和养老保险哦

HOW modern and liberated Germany’s Social Democrats and Greens sounded in 2001. They were in government and wanted to raise the legal and social status of prostitutes. So they enacted a law to remove the stigma from sex work by, for example, giving prostitutes full rights to health insurance, pensions and other benefits. “Exploiting” sex workers remained criminal, but merely employing them or providing them with a venue became legal. The idea was that responsible employers running safe and clean brothels would drive pimps out of the market.
2001年德国社会民主党和绿党还是执政党的时候,就提出娼妓合法化并提高妓女社会地位,听起来很前卫。他们立法消除卖淫的耻辱,比如赋予妓女所有健康、养老保险及其它社会福利。小姐“单干”仍属违法,但雇佣小姐合法了,源于雇主正当经营安全干净的妓院,将皮条客等社会闲杂人员驱逐出市场这一理念。

Germany thus embarked on an experiment in liberalisation just as Sweden, a country culturally similar in many ways, was going in the opposite direction. In 1999 the Swedes had made it criminal to pay for sex (pimping was already a crime). By stigmatising not the prostitutes but the men who paid them, even putting them in jail, the Swedes hoped to come close to eliminating prostitution.
德国效仿瑞典,虽然两国之间有不少相似之处。然而后者业已改变初衷,1999年瑞典立法将嫖娼列为犯罪,仅将支付嫖资之嫖客定罪,甚至入狱,而妓女无罪。瑞典希望以此来涤荡卖淫现象。

The two countries’ divergent paths have become hot political fodder in Germany. The centre-right camp led by Angela Merkel, the chancellor, voted against the 2001 prostitution law. In September it won the election but fell short of a majority in parliament. Mrs Merkel is now negotiating with the Social Democrats (SPD), the co-authors of the law, to form a coalition. And although the SPD is reluctant to acknowledge that it made an outright mistake, it is conceding that changes are needed.
两国思维分歧激发德国政治口水仗,由总理默克尔带领的偏右阵营(基民盟),投票反对2001年的娼妓立法。今年9月,基民盟赢得大选但没争取到议会多数席位。默克尔与当时立此法的社民党谈判,组成联合政府,虽然社民党不愿承认当时的明显谬误,亦认为此法应当修正。

Prostitution seems to have declined in Sweden (unless it has merely gone deep underground), whereas Germany has turned into a giant brothel and even a destination for European sex tourism. The best guess is that Germany has about 400,000 prostitutes catering to 1m men a day. Mocking the spirit of the 2001 law, exactly 44 of them, including four men, have registered for welfare benefits.
卖淫在瑞典正逐步衰微、走向地下,而德国却摇身一变成了欧洲大窑子,并荣登找小姐观光旅游目的地。估计德国每天有40万妓女为1百万嫖客服务,此现象与2001年立法精神相冲,这批从业人员中仅有44人,包括4名男妓,登记了政府最低生活保障。

The details vary regionally, because the federal states and municipalities decide where and how brothels may operate. (Berlin is the only city without zoning restrictions.) In some places, streetwalkers line up along motorways with open-air booths nearby for quickies. In others, such as Saarbrücken, near the border with a stricter country like France, entrepreneurs are investing in mega-brothels that cater to cross-border demand.
各地情况不同,联邦政府和地方政府决定妓院的经营方式(柏林是唯一不设限的城市)。一些地方,站街女在高速公路旁的电话亭排队接客,而毗邻法国的Saarbrücken市,因为法国对卖淫嫖娼管控严格,德国商人则在当地投资开设超大窑子,以客人满足跨境消费。

If all these sex workers were in the business of their own free will, that would still be within the spirit of the 2001 law. Prostitutes’ associations insist that this is largely the case. But nobody denies that many women become sex workers involuntarily. Of particular concern are girls from poor villages in Romania and Bulgaria who may have been forced, tricked or seduced to come to Germany. Once there, they are trapped as Frischfleisch (fresh meat) in brothels, perhaps because they owe money to their traffickers or fear reprisals against their families at home.
如果所有从业人员均出于自愿,这就不违反2001年的法律精神。小姐团体强调其成员大部分出于自愿,但所有人都承认部分小姐被迫卖淫,尤其是来自罗马尼亚和保加利亚贫困乡村的少女,被引诱至德国,成为窑子的“鲜肉”,因为欠人蛇钱及害怕家人遭报复,于是被迫卖淫。

Extreme opponents of prostitution in Germany, such as Alice Schwarzer, a radical feminist, conflate modern slavery and sex work, arguing that they are “inextricably entangled”. (Ms Schwarzer has issued a petition, signed by celebrities, to criminalise paying for sex as Sweden has.) Barbara Kavemann and Elfriede Steffan, two social researchers, say that slavery and sex work are in fact separate phenomena, and that occurrences of forced labour by Romanians and Bulgarians in the trade, as in agriculture and other sectors, “have little to do with the prostitution law” and much more with the accession of those countries to the European Union in 2007.
德国国内激烈反对者,如女权主义者Alice Schwarzer,将现代奴隶制与卖淫相提并论,认为两者盘根错节。Schwarzer起草了请愿书,建议仿效瑞典,将嫖娼列为非法,收集到大量名人签名。Barbara Kavemann与Elfriede Steffan两位社会研究人员,则认为奴隶制与卖淫是两种不同现象,罗马利亚保加利亚妓女被迫卖淫,跟农业人口流动相关,还有其他社会因素参杂,与2001年娼妓法无关,与2007年这几个国家加入欧盟亦无关。

Known cases of human trafficking have actually decreased in Germany, from 987 in 2001 to 482 in 2011. Sceptics counter that most cases never become known because the girls are afraid to testify. The link between liberalisation of prostitution and human trafficking thus remains controversial. One study of 150 countries found that legalisation expands the market for sex work and thus increases human trafficking. Prostitutes’ associations have attacked the study as poorly sourced.
事实上德国贩卖人口已知案例也在下降,从2001年987例下降到2011年482例。怀疑论者认为多数案例受害女性不敢声张。妓女解放与贩卖人口问题相当复杂。一项针对150个国家的研究指出,娼妓合法化令卖淫市场扩张,增加贩卖人口案例,小姐团体反对指控,称其引用数据来源稀少。

In the end, the policy choice comes back to culture and ideology, argues Susanne Dodillet at the University of Göteborg. Both the Swedish and the German laws originated in the feminist and left-leaning movements in these countries. But whereas progressive Swedes view their state as able to set positive goals, Germans (the Greens, especially) mistrust the state on questions of personal morality as a hypocritical and authoritarian threat to self-expression. Only this can explain why Swedes continue overwhelmingly to support their policy, and Germans theirs.
政策制定源于民族和国家之文化和理念,哥德堡大学Susanne Dodillet争论道:瑞典和德国的法国都源自女权主义和左翼运动,尽管进步的瑞典人认为政府能做出正确判断,但德国人(尤其绿党)认为政府在审查个人道德方面的举措既伪善又独裁、钳制个人言论表达。因此两国在各自表述中越走越远。

Why does cycling have podium girls?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23159766

Magazine Monitor A collection of cultural artefacts
BBC杂志,观察、搜集社会百态

Cyclist Chris Froome being kissed by podium girls
Cyclist Chris Froome being kissed by podium girls
自行车运动员Chris Froome桃花满面

There are not many jobs that include cheek-kissing in the formal duties
包含吻脸颊这类内容的工作,往日真心不多。


Every stage of the Tour de France ends with the leading cyclists on the podium. There are always two women whose duty it is to give them their coloured jersey and kiss them on the cheek, writes Annie Flury.
环法赛每站都有一名领骑手站上颁奖台,一般有两名女性负责给选手颁发各种颜色领骑衫、并在选手脸颊附上香吻,Annie Flurry写道。

Some might view "podium girls" as a little anachronistic. But they are a feature in Europe's biggest races including the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana.
部分人觉得“颁奖女郎”似乎有点过时,她们可是欧洲大赛包括环意赛和环西赛的组成部分。

The Tour hostesses, as they are officially known, are chosen from hundreds who apply every year.
主办方从每年从数百人中挑选大家所熟知的颁奖女郎

Decades ago they were usually selected from the town hosting the stage finish and merely had to be under 30 and roughly the same height. Now hopefuls are generally put forward by modelling agencies and whittled down to just 20 by the Tour's main sponsor, French bank LCL.
几十年前,每分站选出统一高度,30岁以下的女性。如今,赛会主要赞助商里昂信贷银行,委托模特公司遴选,并将年龄降至20。

Magalie Thierry, who is studying for a PhD in biology, is working as a podium girl for the second year. "Each day working here seems like a dream."
生物博士后Magalie Thierry,做颁奖女郎2年了,“这里每天的工作恍如梦幻。”

The majority of the job is public relations, looking after VIPs and journalists, she says. "The podium is just 'a plus'. Maybe the ceremony could seem out of date but most of the public loves it. I think podium girls give a little touch of femininity to this sport."
颁奖女郎主要的工作是公关,照顾VIP和记者们,“颁奖是锦上添花”。颁奖环节颇过时,但大众似乎很受落。我想是因为颁奖女郎给自行车这项运动注入了女性的气息。

Peter Sagan pinches a podium girl's bottom at the Tour of Flanders
Peter Sagan was widely criticised for pinching a podium girl's bottom
Peter Sagan因捏颁奖女郎屁股而广受批评 

The hostesses kiss the victor on the cheek, but, curiously, actually talking to the riders is a bit of a no-no.
女郎吻胜利者脸颊,很奇怪,与选手交谈却被禁止。

In 2003, podium girl Melanie Simonneau was sacked for accepting a note from stage winner George Hincapie. The couple went on to marry. Slovakian cyclist Peter Sagan had to apologise earlier this year after pinching the bottom of a hostess at the end of the Tour de Flanders.
2003年,颁奖女郎Melanie Simonnea被辞退,因为收了分站冠军George Hincapie递的纸条,两人后来完婚。斯洛伐克选手Peter Sagan,今年为自己在环荷赛末段捏颁奖女郎屁股的行为道歉。

And there are those who think of the whole business of podium girls as a little antediluvian.
还有很多人认为颁奖女郎这类物事非常原始。

"I would like to think that by the 21st Century women would be more than just beautiful ornaments to stand beside successful men," says Laura Weislo, deputy editor of Cyclingnews.com. "The only time that you see a female presence on television in professional cycling is the models on the podium, and it only heightens the inequality in the sport."
“我想一个21世纪的女人不应只是一件拄在男人旁边的漂亮物件”,Cyclingnews.com副主编Laura Weislo说,“专业自行车赛事当中,你唯一能看见的女性就是颁奖女郎,这加剧了这项运动的性别不平等。”

Kelly "Minx" Riordan, a journalist and podium hostess in cyclo-cross, where riders tackle shorter courses over more varied terrain, says the Tour hostesses are an essential part of tradition. "It wouldn't be a proper ceremony without them," she says. "These are talented women in their own right. They shouldn't be dismissed simply as eye candy."
绰号“浪姐”的记者Kelly Riordan,同时也担任自行车公路越野赛事的颁奖女郎。公路越野赛程短,覆盖地形更广泛Kelly Riordan说,颁奖女郎是传统的重要组成部分,若缺少她们,颁奖仪式将有所欠缺,有头脑的女性腹有诗书气自华,不应该被简单视为养眼花瓶。

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