Sex-ed website for migrants under criticism in Germany

A German effort to introduce a growing migrant population to European sexual ethics is receiving pushback. The German government recently launched a controversial website with graphic illustrations and diagrams aimed at educating its mostly Muslim migrant population about everything from sexual hygiene to prostitution.

The site, called “Zanzu: My body in words and images,” is available in 12 languages and is administered by Germany’s Federal Center for Health Education. In the wake of the refugee crisis, supporters say the site is needed to help doctors and counselors re-educate new migrants, especially men, on basic sexual norms in the West.

But critics disagree—with some saying the site is patronizing and others saying it is a fool’s errand to try to change deeply held cultural and religious beliefs with a website.

Zanzu includes explicit information and images about different kinds of sexual relationships—men with women, men with men, and women with women. The site normalizes certain ideals: prostitution (legal in Germany) and casual sex are fine, but participants should use safe sex practices; pornography is ok, but you should see a health professional if you need it every day; and you can end an unwanted pregnancy with an abortion if you would like. Zanzu criticizes practices such as arranged marriage, female circumcision, and sexual violence within marriage.

The site, released in February, launched after an outbreak of sexual assault in Cologne, Germany, on New Years Eve, reportedly by Arab and North African migrants. Following the attacks, Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker emphasized a need for more education.

“We need to prevent confusion here about what constitutes happy behavior and what is utterly separate from openness, especially in sexual behavior,” said Reker, according to reporting by the BBC.

Site planners insist that Zanzu was in the works before the Cologne attacks.

Some critics of the site argue it is discriminatory. Heinz-Jürgen Voss, a sex scientist at the University of Merseburg, told The Washington Post he supports “open and free sexuality,” but said it was racist to assume Syrians and Iraqis, for example, were less schooled than Germans about sex.

Other critics say the new migrant population is not concerned with Western laws and practices. “These men know exactly what is and isn’t allowed, and they just do not care because they have anyway never [been] interested the laws and culture of this country,” wrote German blogger Anabel Schunke, according to The Telegraph. “It's also terribly naive to think one could sweep away the socialization and cultural conditioning experienced since early childhood with some nice little pictures and an integration course.”

The German government anticipates spending $95 billion on costs related to the refugee crisis by 2020, according to a report released by a German magazine over the weekend, Reuters reported. The itemized costs include rent subsidies, jobless payments, and other benefits, as well as language courses and efforts to help migrants get jobs. Germany took in over a million refugees in 2015, and the report anticipates Germany will take in 600,000 this year, 400,000 next year, and 300,000 each of the following years until 2020.