By Liane Bissinger, gynaecologist, Munich The physical damage in prostitution. Report by a gynaecologist from street work. I am a gynaecologist with my own practice in Munich. The offer was free, voluntary, and anonymous. In my view, neither the years not the two laws have changed anything about the health damage and the physical damage the women have been suffering from, then and now. The effects on their psyche, the traumatizing, is often even deeper, longer lasting, and harder to treat in comparison to the physical damage.
So the main focus of our work was on STIs and testing was done through the usual gynaecological examinations and through blood tests. Gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomonads, genital warts were diagnosed on a regular basis. It is superfluous to point out that these diagnoses were more frequent in comparison to the rest of the population. Tearing especially of the anus and inside the rectum. Frequent cystitis was almost a daily occurrence, with some women taking anti-biotics as prophylaxis if they could afford them.
Pelvic degradation, or pelvic floor weakness. There were some cases of very young women who already had difficulty retaining urine or faeces. This is normally a phenomenon that we associate with births. But the pelvic floor is a multi-layered system of tissues and nerves and the repeated overextension and also rape situations sometimes cause irreversible damage in this area.
Inflammations of the abdomen, sometimes of the ovarian tubes with the worst pains made hospitalisation necessary we had special official insurance forms for this. Additionally, this very often leads to infertility. Unwanted pregnancies. In my experience most of the women at the time were taking the pill or had 3-Months injections.
In spite of this, there were several pregnancies. In one case I remember the pregnancy was so advanced and denied! It is inconceivable that she had to expose herself to the punters until that moment.
