Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN

A top Swiss politician has slammed the government for spending taxpayer cash on a sex website where prostitutes reportedly cater to a range of kinky fetishes including scatology – the love of poo.

The government however have defended their position saying that the website provides an information service for prostitutes and a place from them to swap views.

The website ‘Call Me To Play’, a platform on which prostitutes can offer their services, was partly subsidised by the Swiss Government which invested 350,000 CHF (276,233 GBP) in it.

Pictures Credit: CEN

Among others, the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) and the Federal Swiss Police (Fedpol) gave subsidies to the organisation Aspasie, which promotes the rights of prostitutes in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and which maintains the website.

The decision to sponsor the platform with taxpayers’ money caused outrage in Switzerland, with many MP’s criticising it, including President of the Evangelical People’s Party of Switzerland (EVP) Marianne Streiff-Feller.

Streiff-Feller said: “Individuals can choose from a wide range of practices which services they offer to their clients.

“They for example offer practices where sperm, saliva, faeces and urine are exchanged unprotected.”

Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter has however defended the support of the platform.

She said the website has the goal “to make sex workers aware of the risks posed by criminal offences and to offer them the opportunity to exchange views”.

Keller-Sutter said the website is also meant to prevent prostitutes from contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The Justice Minister explained that both Fedpol and the BAG constantly monitor the use of the platform, the former organisation with the goal of crime prevention and the latter focusing on the containment of STDs.

Keller-Sutter said: “The Federal Council sees no reason to change the processes and responsibilities.”