The Czech Republic, located in Central Europe, is a small country with a population of 10.7 million and a land area of only 78,900 square kilometers. However, this country, about the size of Chongqing on the mainland, is the largest production base in Europe.
In 2021, the Czech Republic's GDP in 2021 was 282.3 billion US dollars, of which 0.2% was provided by the industry, which means that adult films can bring 2.2 billion US dollars of GDP to the Czech Republic every year.
Walking into the Czech Republic, both in the capital and in other regions, you can see outrageous pornographic advertisements and pornographic scenes filmed with equipment. At the gates of brothels of different styles stand women of different skin colors, enthusiastically beckoning tourists.
The Czech Republic online is a paradise for erotica, providing 12.88% of adult movie stars worldwide, second only to the United States and Russia. Czech National is a separate popular tag on Western adult websites, and the world's first and third largest adult websites are based in the Czech Republic, both of which have more than 700 million visitors per month.
Czech pornographic calling cards are like a secret and open consensus in the country. But it also makes us wonder why a developed country would be willing to move the industry into the public eye, and what about Czech society under sexual openness?
"Paradise" outside the World Cup
In 2006, Germany was in a binge, with men and women from all over the world watching the game and heading to Cheb, a small town on the German border.
Historically, it was a world-famous spa area, attracting celebrities for centuries. But today, it is the most famous and largest red light district in Europe.
Cheb has hundreds of sex establishments, because on the border of Germany, many German men go here because of the lax laws and lower consumption levels. Due to Cheb's geographical location, girls come from all over the world, with the largest number of girls from Eastern European countries, followed by Northern Europe and a small number of Southeast Asian and African girls. They solicit guests in different languages, and it is nicknamed the "United Nations Red Light District".
Cheb's brothel extended its hours and increased the number of women operating during the World Cup, attracting fans from all over the world under a variety of themed banners.
Day or night, Cheb is brightly lit. Here are divided into several different grades from high-end to low-end according to the price, and enjoy different treatment. The lowest-grade street women are simple skin and meat businesses, and girls are also very casual; The most upscale ones are very demanding, catering to the country's rich and those in important government positions.
In fact, Cheb is just a microcosm of the Czech Republic. The industry throughout the Czech Republic has shown unimaginable openness. From celebrities to ordinary people, almost everyone has been exposed to the industry to some extent and has made pornography.
In the Czech Republic, 7 out of every 100,000 people have participated in adult filming. 7 of the 200 most popular actors on the site Pornhub are Czech, and at least 15 Czech girls in the site XVIDEOS have more than 100,000 subscriptions.
Pornography workers come from all walks of life and age in the Czech Republic, from teachers and sex workers to 68-year-old pornographic films, and even the daughters of important members of the national government.
Gymnast Zdanka Podkapova, born in Brno, Czech Republic, is an example. She was an accomplished gymnast who won four national championships in five years, but after retiring from the game, chose to become an AV actress.
Podkapova, who has the appearance of a typical Eastern European beauty, benefited from gymnastics training, she was tall and soft, and when she was not retired in 1996, she had already taken photos for the well-known magazine "Loft", and after retiring in 2001, she became the 2001 Playmate of the Year of "Loft", and later began to develop into the AV film industry under the lobbying of film companies. The title made Podkapova quickly famous, and in 2005 she became one of the top 20 actresses in the world on well-known sites, but at the same time she also became the object of everyone's regret.
Sexual liberation that is too late
The Czech booming industry did not come into being suddenly, and its development took a long and complicated time.
After World War II, the Czech Republic suffered a heavy blow from the war, the country's economic strength fell from its peak in just a few years, coupled with the oppression of the former Soviet Union in the United States, the entire country showed a clear trend of decline, and the people's life also plummeted.
Czech nationals without jobs and security must find a way out for themselves, and for women with more obvious disadvantages, the fastest way to earn money is to sell their bodies. They turned their attention to Germany, which was economically developed at that time, for Germany, it could obtain higher profits at lower prices, why not?
In the 90s of the 20th century, Eastern Europe underwent drastic changes and the Soviet Union collapsed. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are moving towards disintegration. Under the great changes and reforms in the country, the topic of sex in the Czech Republic was thoroughly put in front of the public, and the industry also reached its peak.
As described by the street brand "Life is Prono" in Prague, the Czech capital, cheap filming costs and open sexual attitudes soon made the Czech Republic the largest adult country in Europe.
In 1990, the first adult magazine LEO appeared on the streets of Prague, and since then the magazine has sold 480,000 copies per month. At the same time, all kinds of methods are emerging, from minute-by-minute, expensive phone pornography to magazines that can satisfy different fetishes, and even weather forecasts that choose to let women dressed boldly broadcast the weather.
After the development of the streaming era, various new forms of pornography have made the industry in the whole country even crazier. Many online adult websites were born in the Czech Republic, and because of its relaxed policies, stable Internet speeds and cheap server rental business, the area quickly became the first choice for adult shooting.
In 1990, a very formal political party was established in the Czech Republic, with the promotion of sexual liberation throughout the Czech Republic as a programme of action, calling itself the Independent Pornography Initiative Party. Since its establishment, the party has held sexology seminars and distributed "weekly newspapers" full of pornographic photos and stories to the public. In the 1992 National Assembly elections, the party won more than 90,000 votes, which shows how popular it was at that time.
Behind the madness is profit
There is an unassuming building on Krakow Street in the heart of Prague, but it is home to WGCZ Holdings, one of the world's largest groups.
XVIDEOS and XNXX, the world's first and third largest adult websites with more than 700 million monthly visits, are owned by WGCZ Holdings.
In addition, it also controls the well-known American adult production company Bang Bros, the world-renowned magazine "Loft", and more than 60 other adult websites and shooting companies of different sizes, respectively responsible for the shooting and production of adult films of different themes to meet various tastes in the market.
After years of development, the Czech industry has become a game of capital and a competition for interests.
In order to attract the crowd, the local area has made a "weekend" where you can go to the filming site for only 999 pounds, and if you have a health certificate, you can also participate in the shooting "erotic weekend" in person; At the European Adult Summit in Prague, business tycoons enjoyed pornographic services while discussing advertising and business on 18+ websites; Even the industry has infiltrated the political sphere.
In 2017, Czech President Miloš Zeman was found to have child pornography videos on his computer, and various Senate politicians talked about pornography on public platforms. The sex industry is already an important part of the Czech economy, whether it is film or tourism, and the income and benefits it brings cannot shake the position of the industry even if the government knows the current situation in the country.
The shadow behind the boom
If you see Czech men and women on those adult pornography sites, having sex while telling you how they were forced to go to the sea for a living; How is he already married and has children, but he has no choice but to choose to shoot gay films. These phrases were so common that they became a model for Czech adult films.
Although the Czech Republic has long been a developed country and ranks among the top 50 in the world in terms of GDP per capita, this does not prevent them from shooting along the metro and bus stations in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.
In an abandoned hospital, in front of an old rental house, wearing a cheap coat, he told how much he needed money. In fact, these scenes are the result of the deliberate choice of the shooting director. The industry chain, which has been highly industrialized, lets Czechs know that what audiences want to see is this kind of ruined and degenerate content.
For Czech adult filmmakers, the key point of the film is not whether it is true or not, but whether their film can visualize the hidden desire in everyone's heart, and whether it can awaken the audience's strong lust for a certain group. Whether it's Japan or Germany, in these regions where the industry is mature, sex is essentially a commodity that can be sold, and they are just businessmen.
However, someone who earns hemp will sacrifice. Even in the Czech Republic, where the majority of poor young people who want to make quick money are willing to join the sex industry, they are the most vulnerable and oppressed group, and the situation of exploitation and abuse still exists, and these workers face the threat of various sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS.
In short, profit breeds human desire. Even if there are huge benefits, a country's development in this way or even a larger proportion must be a good way to detrimental to the country's long-term development. What do you think of the Czech Republic?