Europe
        

Odd News

Students consider prostitution to pay for school?

Updated: 2011-05-19 14:43

(Agencies)

Twitter Facebook Myspace Yahoo! Linkedin Mixx

BERLIN – One in three university students in the German capital would consider sex work as a means to finance their education, a study from the Berlin Studies Center said on Wednesday.

The figure in Berlin, where prostitution is legal, was higher than students surveyed in Paris (29.2 percent) and in Kiev (18.5 percent), the three cities the report looked at.

Students consider prostitution to pay for school?

The study found some 4 percent of the 3,200 Berlin students surveyed said they had already done some form of sex work, which includes prostitution, erotic dancing and Internet shows.

The results surprised the study's authors, who said they undertook the study because student prostitution had been often reported but little was known about its relationship to education policy.

"The main motivation of students to turn to prostitution were the financial incentives, namely the high hourly wages," Eva Blumenschein, one of the study's authors and a 26-year-old student at Berlin's Humboldt University, told Reuters.

Blumenschein said recent educational reforms aimed at speeding up students' time at university may play a role in them seeking out sex work.

"It's possible that because educational reforms have increased student workloads, they have less time to earn money," she said. "Coupled with higher student fees, in this instance, leads students into prostitution."

Thirty percent of students working in the sex industry were in debt, the study found.

That compared with 18 percent of students who said they would consider sex work who were in debt.

E-paper

Green works

Wuxi becomes 'test case' for facing country's environmental challenges

Preview of the coming issue
The global rise of Chinese brands
China-EU trade on solid ground

European Edition

Specials

The song dynasty

There are MORE THAN 300 types of Chinese operas but two POPULAR varieties are major standouts

Cut above the rest

One of the world's oldest surgeons has performed more than 14,000 operations

From the ground up

Architect of Guangzhou Opera House has many projects under way, including 2012 Olympics.

Her story is history
Sino-US Dialogue
Drunk driving