A GERMAN court has cracked the whip so to speak, overruling Berlin's decision to shutdown bondage and sadomasochism (BDSM) studios as part of its COVID-19 measures.
The court found the city's lockdown restrictions, which banned the operation of brothels should not be extended to BDSM studios, as they offer "very different services".
Outlining its decision, the court accused city officials of being ignorant and prudish in banding brothels and BDSM providers in the same bracket.
"The similarity... lies only in that the services delivered here are targeted at customers' sexual satisfaction," the court said.
"However, the ways in which this happens in the various sub-sectors shows - particularly with regard to the typical degree of associated proximity - differences that are relevant under infection protection law.
"From the point-of-view of the epidemic, which alone here is relevant, it cannot be assumed that the situation is essentially the same.
"Physical contact on the part of the [BDSM} service provider is limited to hand contact, whereby wearing protective gloves is not atypical for the sector".
The owners of one Berlin BDSM studio said they were looking forward to "having lots of fun after the rough times of the last weeks", having received crowd-funding support to survive the shutdown.
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