History of sexbars

Prostitution has been an existing phenomenon for thousands of years. There were public brothels back in the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman Empires.

Solon established state brothels and taxed prostitutes around the 5th century BC. In the ancient Roman Empire there were taverns where the waitresses offered sexual services for clients. Official brothels were also regulated by the state and the sexworkers were registered. The ruins áof Pompeii give evidence to the existence of public whorehouses too.

Later in the medieval era it didn’t changed and prostitution was kept on tolerated as they thought that it could prevent serious sexual crimes, such as rape. Prostitutes were allowerd to pursue their trade in special houses outside the town walls. For example, in some European countries including the territory of the present Austria, prostitution had begun to be legalized as many cities started to build public brothels. In England, in the 16th century during Elizabeth I. prostitution could be found even between the walls of theatres.

In the 18th century Maria Theresa banned prostitution during her reign and when a woman was caught on giving sexual service she was imprisoned and tortured. A bit later in Russia, the tsarina did the same and ordered to catch all the prostitutes and in many cases they were exiled to Siberia.

At the beginning of the 20th century, prostitution was illegal in several countries including the USA. Despite of this fact, women always found the way to offer their services and they often worked in disguised ways, for instance as chorus girls. In other parts of the world, for example in Japan, there were public brothels operated by the state, where women were forced to serve soldiers.

Nowadays the trend goes on and there are different attitudes whether a government tolerates public sexual services or not. Anyway, whatever the view is, prostitution exists everywhere. In those countries, where lawmakers have realized that prostitution can make serious state income, sexworkers are allowed to work legally and obliged to go to regular medical checkups. This is the way it goes for example in Austria, where sexual services can be found and got in many forms, from streetwalkers, through saunaclubs or unique laufhauses to high-class sexbars.