Wikivoyage/Sex tourism policy
We define sex tourism as: travelling to a territory with a very liberal approach or weak practical protections against sexual exploitation, simply for the purpose of sexual interaction. This term is particularly concerned with the abuse of children and sex workers.
We have decided not to include or publish sex tourism information on Wikivoyage, especially not:
- Addresses and lists of brothels or red light districts
- Addresses and lists addressed to adults only like swinger clubs or locations that exclude children explicitly
- Price information of services offered by prostitutes
- Information about illegal street prostitution
- Evaluations or comparisons of brothels and sex services in different places
Very general descriptions of red light districts, which may be of interest to the "normal" traveller, might be included. The red light districts of Hamburg and Amsterdam are good examples of places where prostitutes are found and which are regularly frequented by a high number of "normal" tourists.
This agreement was not necessarily made because we dislike sex workers, but for a number of reasons:
- Publishing information helpful for sex tourist may give the impression that Wikivoyage aims to help this special group of users. We want to be a guide for everybody, not just those searching for sex.
- Information for sex tourist may create legal problems, especially when talking about child abuse. Sex tourists may be prosecuted in some jurisdictions, such as the UK, US and Germany, no matter if they were inside their home countries or not at the time.
It must also be said that sex tourism is often a means of exploitation of the weakest members of a society, especially in poor countries. Abetting these actions is not our goal. It can be said that Wikivoyage wants to attract a broad range of travellers, but not at all costs.