Living sexuality

Your Body

Your body belongs to you alone. You decide and determine who is allowed to physically touch you and who is not. This also means touching by family members or male*female friends, acquaintances and obviously strangers. Sexual violence or sexual assault can happen to both girls* and boys*. Defend yourself against this, say “no” and find someone to confide in who can help and support you. Talk to someone if you feel sexually harassed or coerced and don’t keep it to yourself.

The following acts (and generally even attempts of these acts) are an offence:

• Any sexual act between parents and their own children or grandparents and their own grandchildren. Sexual acts between siblings are also prohibited, even if both want this (§ 173 StGB).
• If you are under the age of 18 and someone is using you for sexual acts on you or in front of you because you are dependent on him*her. These can be persons such as instructors, educators, step-parents, carers, teachers etc. (§ 174 StGB).
• If you are under 14 years of age and someone is performing sexual acts on you or in front of you or telling or showing you pornographic things (§ 176 StGB).
• Any non-consensual sexual act. Here the principle “no means no” applies. This means that even if you can't scream or defend yourself physically, sexual acts against your will are punishable. This also applies, of course, in the event of an abuse of trust or the threat of violence, or if someone sexually exploits another person due to a mental or emotional illness or disability, or because someone is physically defenceless (alcohol, drugs, etc.). No matter how old you are (§ 177 StGB).

• If you are under 18 years of age and someone pays you for sexual acts or facilitates this. Doing this would be prostitution which is not allowed under 18 years of age (§ 180 StGB).
• Exhibitionism, i.e. when someone unsolicited undresses in front of you or shows you their genitals to become sexually aroused, no matter how old you are (§ 183 StGB).
• Sexual harassment – no matter how old you are – i.e. whoever physically touches another person in a sexually determined manner and thereby harasses them (e.g. “groping”) (§ 184 i StGB).
• Any violation of the intimate area by picture recordings, is the so-called "upskirting" and "downblousing",  i.e. the intentional and unauthorized filmingor photographing under skirts, or in the cleavage or neckline of girls/women*. (§ 184 k StGB).