Sind die Deutschen pervers?
Germans have a lot of international stereotypes to combat. The nation and its countrymen are perceived to be an ordered, punctual and humorless bunch with a penchant for rules, beer and sausage (or, würst). Not only do they have to contend with these assumptions but the global community also seems content to pigeonhole Germans as being kinksters. Are Germans really as kinky as their reputation suggests?!
We wanted to know if Germans really ARE a kinky bunch or whether it’s just the visibility of their legalized sex industry. So, in this feature we take a closer look at the facts and statistics about their sex industry, porn viewing trends and sex lives to get to the bottom of whether Germans really are the kinkiest nation in Europe.
Why Is Germany Considered a Kinky Country?
One of the reasons that Germany is often considered to be a kinky country is the fact that sex here isn’t a taboo like it is in many nations.
Along with just seven other European countries, Germans benefit from having a fully legalized and regulated sex industry at their disposal. You can learn more about this industry in our full German Sex Scene guide.
A nation where sex is part of the fabric of their economy, you can find BDSM clubs in most German cities and both brothels and FKK clubs cater for a diverse range of fetishists.
Widely accepted as a legitimate service and an important part of both the social and economic structure, sex work isn’t associated with the same levels of ‘shaming’ that occur in other parts of the world.
The industry thrives in urban settings where FKK clubs, brothels and sex cinemas remain popular. In fact, the country is a popular getaway for European swingers and sex tourists with the escort scene for businessmen and women also being very active.
But it is the diversity of their porn, their clubs and their cultural liberalism on the issue of sex which contribute to the idea that Germany is a kinky nation.
Quite simply, sex is very much a part of the fabric of the nation.
Yes, it’s true that in cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart you can a huge BDSM scene and bondage clubs are often open to both members and visitors.
But just because fetishes are more visible and more acceptable in Germany mean that the whole country is made up of kinksters?
The Beginning of Sexual Liberalism in Germany
When it comes to fetishes, one man’s kink is another man’s regular sex life and it’s easy to judge certain behaviours as being unusual even if they are totally normal.
And this is perhaps the first place to start in our search to answer the question “Are Germans kinky?”.
Nudity & The FKK Culture
Unlike in many parts of the world, there are few taboos in Germany when it comes to sex and nudity and the population has very much grown up with the naked body (Freikörperkultur, or FKK) being a cultural norm.
Although the nudist movement was practiced in a few European countries prior pre-twentieth century it was in Germany where FKK would find a spiritual home.
Founded in Essen in 1898, the first FKK clubs were a kind of holiday resort designed to promote ‘sexual hygiene’. Though these original clubs weren’t places you could go and take part in an orgy many FKK venues have developed into sex clubs.
Germany also has some very liberal non-sexual nudism laws which makes it possible to be naked in public places. A popular law with tourists, you can even go hiking in the nude in many parts of Germany.
As a result of their cultural liberalism in relation to nudity, Germans seem to be most frequent visitors to nudist beaches around Europe.
Some may find this ‘kinky’ but for the Germans, nudity is the most natural thing in the world.
Prostitution
Prostitution has been legal for almost a century in Germany and their adult industry has long been at the forefront of the European porn markets.
The nation accepts that sex workers are a legitimate and important part of their economy and the country doesn’t have a taboo attitude towards this kind of business.
Sex work is therefore a healthy sector which isn’t stifled by gray legal areas and social disapproval. The result is a safer working environment for service providers and clients and a less judgemental space in which to explore kinks and fetishes.
To some extent the combination of lack of taboos and the legitimization around sex work in general has helped make fetishes more of an accepted part of the general diversity of sexual behavior in Germany.
Porn
It is perhaps in the porn industry that we see the most obvious cultural differences between Germany and the rest of the world.
The modern industry was born in 1968 when a slew of adult movies were released as part of the sex wave (Sex-Welle). Despite adult content being illegal at this time, new titles were reaching audiences of millions.
Perhaps the most infamous of these was the 1970 release of Schulmädchen-Report: Was Eltern nicht für möglich halten.
Though these were mostly in mainstream genres, the sex scenes would gradually become more explicit and by the time porn was legalized in 1975, the era of hardcore German content was well established.
In reality, the content of most German porn is no more explicit or hardcore than any other country. In many ways its porn is similar to that of American glamcore but there are some exceptions to this.
Most notably is John Thompson Productions which specializes in bukkake content (German Goo Girls), golden showers (666) and gangbangs.
Launched in 1997, German Goo Girls (GGG) content has been widely distributed internationally and has probably done much for the reputation of Germany’s kinky porn tastes. The brand has won plenty of awards for its outrageous sex scenes and plenty of bans for its ‘obscene’ content.
666 also found some international acclaim but due to various laws prohibiting urolagnia and urophagnia (pissing porn) the series wasn’t as successful for John Thompson as GGG.
Beyond this popular and international studio, there are plenty of smaller German porn studios producing niche content in some pretty kinky areas including the infamous ‘scheisse porn’.
Another name for shit, scheisse (or ‘Kaviar’) porn is thought to be popular in Germany but the majority of content that is filmed here is actually made for an export market.
This demonstrates that Germany’s liberal laws on porn production and general lack of taboos on sex make fetish content more visible. But, again, does this make the German’s themselves any more kinky than the rest of the world?
Porn Viewing Trends in Germany
To try and dig deeper and find out more about current porn trends and what the Germans actually like watching, we’ve headed straight to the horse’s mouth and checked out what Pornhub has to say.
Each year this porn internet giants runs thousands of insight reports on the traffic it receives. As part of its research, Pornhub analyses WHAT people are watching in every part of the world.
Germany is one of the most regular sources of traffic to Pornhub and this European powerhouse represents the 6th most frequent nation to visit the site.
The results of the insights into WHAT Germans are watching proves to be some pretty interesting reading…..
Relative to the rest of the world, porn searches in Germany for certain categories are much higher and these do include some quite kinky search terms:
Over the last five years, compared to the rest of the world, Germans are far more likely to be watching porn from some of these kinky categories:
Category | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Pissing | 117% | 121% | 127% |
Fetish | 107% | 117% | 129% |
Feet | 103% | 108% | – |
Bondage | 86% | 88% | 97% |
Germans and Golden Showers
From the above insights, both bondage and fetish were common searches in Germany but it’s ‘Golden Showers’ that were the biggest kink being watched.
A report published by Pornhub in January 2017 revealed that Germany was the 4th most likely country where this kind of search was most popular (behind Austria, Switzerland and Czech Republic).
BDSM Porn in Germany
Another report by Pornhub undertaken in 2020 confirms that Germany is also one of the countries with a higher-than-average penchant for BDSM porn.
Their results show that viewing trends in the country were 50% higher than the global average ranking them as the 3rd most likely nation to be watching BDSM porn. With Hong Kong and Switzerland taking the first and second spot, neighboring Austria was just behind in 4th place.
Compare this to the United States where Pornhub visitors are 13% LESS likely to be watching this kind of porn.
Interestingly, a more detailed insight report into German viewing trends revealed that the taste for BDSM and bondage is more prevalent with the older population. In the top searches by age group both ‘bondage’ and ‘BDSM’ is missing in the 18-24, 25-34 and 35-44 categories but ranks in the top 10 most searched for terms in the 45-54, 55-64 and over 65 age range.
The Fetish Scene in Germany
With a population of over 83 million people, it’s not possible to categorize an entire nation of people by a single fetish. Nor is it easy to determine just how ‘kinky’ they are but we can compare just how active the fetish scene in Germany is to the rest of Europe.
As we’ve already touched upon, sex and fetish clubs in Germany are fully legal and this makes them very visible.
Clubs like KitKat and Berghan in Berlin have become infamous for their decadence and hedonism with visitors often openly engaging in sexual acts on the dancefloor.
Almost every city in the country boasts its own fetish club; Sadasia in Dortmund, Bizarre Klinik in Frankfurt, Respekt! in Hamburg, Domlust in Munich, Chains of Liberty in Dusseldorf to name but a few.
Yet, fetish clubs are also extremely popular in other parts of Europe too. The United Kingdom, France, Austria, Italy and The Netherlands all have a huge number of fetish clubs too.
So Why Are Germans Regarded As Kinky?
So, what can we discern from all of this? Are Germans really the kinkiest?
Our verdict: not necessarily. It depends how you define kinky.
Germany has a liberal and legalized sex, porn and fetish industry and an embedded culture which doesn’t demark kinks as being taboo.
Yes, they enjoy a diverse range of fetishes with a strong leaning towards golden showers and BDSM but are they any different to the rest of Europe?
We think that every country has its own biases towards certain types of sexual behavior.
According to Pornhub, the French are 76% more likely to be watching ‘lesbian scissoring’, in Italy they’re 98% more interested in ‘Feet’ and in Spain, it’s ‘smoking’ porn which gets the nation off.
What about the Dutch? Relative to the rest of the world, they search for Bondage and Fetish porn 40% more.
In Poland, it’s all about gangbangs and orgies. The Ukrainians want 197% more fisting content. So do the Swedes but here they also love a bit of pissing porn.
Unsurprisingly, over in Austria, they love almost the same content as the Germans and are 947% more likely than anywhere else in the world to be searching for ‘German’ porn. As a result, bondage, fetish, orgy and fisting scenes are popular in this East Alpine country.
Croatians love DP and feet, in Norway its bondage, fisting and pissing and in Belgium they love their orgies, outdoor sex and Arab scenes.
The bottom line is that wherever you go in the world, there are fetishes being enjoyed that are peculiar to that area. The difference in Germany is that they aren’t ashamed by their kinks.
So, as they say in the fetish scene, YKINMKBYKIOK. Your kink is not my kink, but your kink is okay. We just take our hats off to a nation who celebrates diversity and as they continue to share the spoils with their great porn, long may they continue to be as kinky as they like.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons.