When you mention the Czech Republic, what is your first reaction? Is it the white pigeons in Prague Square, Kafka’s absurd novels, the delicate emotions in Kundera’s works, or the mellow and refreshing Czech beer?
Yes, this is a developed country with a per capita GDP exceeding US$30,000. It is a top student in the European Union and a holy land of literature and art in the hearts of countless people.
After all, this is the place where healing animations like "The Mole's Tale" were born. It has the magnificent Prague Castle and the Golden Lane full of literary and artistic atmosphere. Everywhere is hidden in the romance and heaviness of Europe.
Prague Old Town Square
But what you may not know is:
XVideos, one of the world's largest adult websites that you have browsed secretly, has its parent company WGCZ's headquarters not in the United States or Japan, but on Krakow Street in the center of Prague. 70% of Europe's adult content comes from this small country, which is smaller than Chongqing. One in every 10,000 Czechs has filmed adult films, which is six times the rate in the United States.
According to expert estimates, Czech adult content generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, accounting for approximately 0.2% of the country’s total GDP.
So the question is, why has this European country with hundreds of years of literature and art gradually become a globally recognized "land of erotica"? I checked some information and will briefly chat with you.
This is not a stereotype, it's true
Many people say that "Erotic Country" is just a media stereotype? Stop deceiving yourself—sets of data and well-documented cases are in front of you, and they are far more outrageous than you imagine.
In 1990, the Czech Republic had just liberalized social control, and the first pornographic magazine "LEO" was launched. According to industry statistics at the time, the monthly sales of this magazine reached 480,000 copies within half a year.
You must know that the total population of the Czech Republic at that time was only 10 million, which was equivalent to 1 out of every 20 Czechs purchasing pornographic content every month. Such a penetration rate would be outrageous in any country, and it directly laid the foundation for Czech society’s high acceptance of pornographic content.
And this is just the beginning. According to 2023 statistics, the Czech Republic has 86.19 adult actors per million people, ranking first in the world; the second is Hungary with 62, and the third is only 14 in the United States. Yes, you read that right, the Czech Republic’s data is six times higher than that of the United States.
Some attentive netizens even drew up a "Prague Filmmaking Holy Land Tour Map" based on the astonishing amount of film viewing, marking in detail every corner of the city where adult films have been filmed.
Maps drawn by netizens
What is even more staggering is its mature industrial chain.
The town of Cheb, only an hour's drive from the German border, was once a spa resort where aristocrats from the Austro-Hungarian Empire gathered. Now it has become a famous "erotic town" in Europe – nearly a hundred brothels gather here, forming a 60-kilometer-long "sex industry corridor". One-third of the town's GDP comes from the porn industry.
Every weekend, there is an endless stream of tourists coming from Dresden, Germany via the E55 highway. The roadside billboards even scroll with the words "Slow down, there are beauties ahead." The nightclubs on the street all have German signboards, and the waiters can skillfully use six languages to solicit business. The hotel prices double on weekends, and even German companies regard this place as the first choice for "team building".
The capital, Prague, is even worse. There are more than 200 legally registered erotic establishments in the city center, including strip clubs, filming studios, and massage parlors. Many of them are located in the tourist area next to the Charles Bridge. Tourists can see eye-catching signs when passing by, but the local police mostly turn a blind eye.
What’s even more outrageous is that Czech castles, schools, hotels, and even well-known tourist attractions in the country have all been used as shooting scenes for adult movies, without any taboos.
Krakow Street in the center of Prague
Nothing can best reflect social tolerance than the local political ecology.
In 1990, the Czech Republic established the world's first pornographic political party to formally participate in parliamentary elections – the "Independent Pornography Initiative" (NEI). The core of its party platform is to promote the comprehensive legalization of the pornographic industry.
The party had only 4,000 members in its early days. It not only gave away free "organ newspapers" full of pornographic photos and novels, but also held extensive "sex culture seminars" across the country.
In the 1992 Czech general election, the party unexpectedly won 90,000 votes, equivalent to 1 out of every 100 voters who voted for it, which was enough to show how tolerant Czech society was to the porn industry at that time.
In 2017, a local TV station in the Czech Republic launched "Bikini Weather Forecast", in which a female anchor wore a bikini to report on the weather, occasionally adding slightly sexually suggestive jokes, and the ratings increased fivefold.
Local netizens commented one after another, "This is what a weather forecast should be like." No one thought it was vulgar, but instead thought it was novel and interesting. This has also become a vivid epitome of the openness of Czech sexual concepts.
Promotional materials for the Independent Porn Initiative Party
The 2024 poll data is even more convincing – 62% of Czech young people aged 18-30 believe that "sex work is a normal occupation, no different from waiters and programmers", and only 18% think it is "degenerate".
What’s more worth mentioning is that among Czech officials, not only are senators talking about their favorite types of adult films in public interviews without scruples, but even former President Miloš Zeman was exposed to having adult videos on his computer. If officials are like this, the attitude of ordinary people can be seen.
Three dimensions, revealing the secrets of the porn industry
Seeing this, you will definitely be curious: Why? Why did the Czech Republic become the "Erotic Country"?
In fact, this is not because the Czechs are inherently "more erotic", but because the three layers of logic of culture, law, and economy are superimposed on each other, which ultimately pushed this country to the position of "a land of erotica".
First of all, the most unbelieving country in Europe has long since lost its moral shackles on sex.
The Czech Republic is one of the most secular countries in Europe. This deep-seated secularization has completely freed sex from the moral shackles of religion and has become an ordinary need that does not need to be covered up.
Survey data from Pew Research shows that 72% of Czechs have no religious beliefs and 66% do not believe in God.
Compared with Poland next door, 90% of the people believe in Catholicism. The two countries are only separated by a wall, but the religious binding force on sex is very different. Poland is influenced by Catholic teachings and is very secretive about sexual topics, while the Czech Republic has completely gotten rid of this restraint and regards sex as an innate instinctive need.
This secular tendency is even more obvious among young people – 91% of Czech young people aged 16-29 consider themselves atheists. For them, the "sexual taboos" in religion have long been in vain.
streets of prague
In the eyes of Czechs, sex is a common need like eating and sleeping. What is there to be ashamed of?
There was even a Czech adult film company that held a "Porn Weekend" event in Prague. Not only could the audience film the scene with their mobile phones, but as long as they had a health certificate, they could also directly participate in the filming. For completing two 15-minute videos, men could get 200 euros and women 400 euros. There was an endless stream of participants at the scene.
What’s even more interesting is that this openness is not new to recent decades. Kundera has long said: "The deconstruction of hypocrisy is the Czech people's way of resisting totalitarianism."
During the socialist period, although the government could control people's work, thoughts, and income, it could not interfere in the hidden corners of private life. As a result, sex has become the last place for ordinary people to escape control and release themselves. It is also like a silent but powerful resistance.
In "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", the protagonist Thomas's emotional entanglements with different women, and Theresa's tolerance and struggle. Many people think this is an artistic exaggeration of the novel, but in fact it is a true portrayal of Czech people's daily sexual attitudes.
In their eyes, sex and love are two different things. This attitude has continued into Czech society today.
Even as early as the Middle Ages, Prague was already Europe's "Free City" – businessmen, travelers, and artists gathered here. An open red light district had already appeared in the city. This open tradition has lasted for hundreds of years, laying the groundwork for the prosperity of today's erotic industry.
Prague streets
Secondly, the government does not prohibit or encourage it, but it will collect taxes.
Cultural tolerance alone is not enough. The "gray tolerance" of the law provides an excellent space for the survival and development of the pornographic industry. Czech law uses a set of "grey operations" unique to the world: individual sex trafficking is legal, while organizing prostitution and acting as a pimp are illegal.
To put it bluntly, if an individual takes orders and operates independently, the police will not interfere; but if someone hires someone to do the business and acts as a middleman to take a commission, it is illegal.
This kind of regulation not only perfectly avoids the controversy of "legalization of the porn industry", but also gives the industry enough space to survive, and also allows many underground industries to survive openly in the name of "personal business".
What is even more surprising is that the government has also recognized the legality of this profession through judicial decisions. On October 8, 2025, the Czech Supreme Court (NSS) pronounced a landmark case:
A sex worker evaded taxes by not declaring her sex trade income, and the tax department recovered about 1.8 million Czech crowns (approximately RMB 570,000).
She appealed against the verdict. The lower court supported her claim and held that "income that violates public order and good morals should not be taxed." However, the Supreme Court eventually overturned this judgment and made it clear that "income from sex work is not explicitly excluded from the scope of taxation by law and is no different from other work income. Tax evasion is illegal."
This verdict is equivalent to an official stamp of approval – sex work is a serious profession, and as long as you make money, you must pay taxes according to law.
According to estimates by Rozkoš bez rizika, a non-governmental organization that serves sex workers, there are approximately 13,000 sex workers in the Czech Republic, most of whom are single mothers. This ruling has also indirectly recognized their professional status.
This is also the core reason why XVideos parent company WGCZ is headquartered in Prague.
The office building in the doorway is WGCZ, the parent company of XVideos
In Western European countries, adult platforms have to face strict content censorship and endless copyright litigation, and operating costs remain high. In the Czech Republic, as long as the content is voluntarily shot by adults, they will not be held accountable, and operating costs are ridiculously low.
Compare Germany – although sex work is completely legalized, practitioners need to apply for licenses and pay high taxes. A sex worker has to pay several hundred euros in taxes every month. In contrast, in the Czech Republic, there are no such cumbersome requirements. Therefore, many German practitioners have moved to the Czech Republic, and operating costs have been directly reduced by 2/3.
To put it bluntly, the Czech Republic has long become a tax haven for global erotic capital and a "safe haven" for adults in the adult industry.
Third, what is the industry that will emerge from poverty after shock therapy?
The law has given living space, and culture has laid a foundation for tolerance. The economic transformation in the 1990s has become the trigger for the explosion of the pornographic industry. Many people join this industry not voluntarily, but because of poverty.
Czechs in the Velvet Revolution
In the 1990s, after the Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia split into two countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The Czech Republic immediately implemented "shock therapy", privatizing state-owned enterprises overnight, and a large number of factories closed down and went bankrupt. The main industries for female employment, mainly textile factories and garment factories, almost completely collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of women were unemployed and found it difficult to find a way to make a living.
There was a piece of news that shocked the whole country at that time and is still mentioned repeatedly by foreign media today:
Zdanka Podkapova, the former backbone of the Czech national gymnastics team, has won four national championships in her 10-year career. On the court, she is tall and has a delicate face. She is the "dream goddess" of countless people. However, after retiring, she was unable to find a suitable job, and eventually had to move to the adult film and television industry.
In fact, before retiring, she took photos for the pornographic magazine "Penthouse" and became one of the magazine's most popular Czech girls. After retiring, she joined the adult industry. In her own interview, she said: "I want to support my mother, and I have no other choice."
Zdanka’s experience is the epitome of countless Czech women at that time.
Czech traditional industries such as automobiles and electronics have long been dominated by men. Only 20% of employees in the automobile industry are female, and only 11% in the electronics industry. Most of them are low-paying assembly line positions. Many women find it difficult to find high-paying jobs and even find it difficult to maintain a basic life.
Zdanka Podkapova
What is even more distressing is that in the Gypsy community, poverty forces many girls to join the sex industry.
There is a girl named Helena who was sold by her parents at the age of 16 and forced to pick up guests in the town of Duby. The town of Duby is only 6 kilometers away from Germany and has become a gathering place for German tourists. The girls here dress coolly and even stop cars to solicit business. Everything seems "natural", but there is endless helplessness hidden.
At this time, Western capital sensed business opportunities.
They found that most Czech girls are beautiful and can speak English. The daily salary for filming adult films is only 50 US dollars, which is 1/10 of that in the United States. The cost of filming an adult film is as low as 1/10 of that in the United States.
As a result, a large number of American pornographic companies flocked to Prague, and there were temporary shooting bases all over the suburbs, which could shoot 3 or 4 films a day. Czech local filmmakers also found that making adult films was more profitable than literary films, and they joined in one after another. First-class shooting technology, beautiful natural scenes, and beautiful actors made Czech adult films quickly popular throughout Europe.
The unique geographical location has added fuel to the porn industry.
The Czech Republic is located in the center of Europe, only an hour's drive from wealthy countries such as Germany and Austria, and the price of erotic services is only 1/3 of that in Western Europe. This has given rise to popular border sex tourism, with the towns of Cheb and Duby being the most typical representatives.
During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, this kind of border sex tourism reached its peak.
After watching the game, a large number of fans drove an hour to the Czech border town. Local sex workers were booked half a month in advance. Many practitioners' income in one weekend was equivalent to their usual monthly income. This also allows more Czechs to see shortcuts to "make money quickly", further promoting the expansion of the porn industry.
The scene of the so-called "European Adult Summit"
In general, the Czech porn industry was not born – it was a combination of long-term poverty, the influx of Western capital, and a unique geographical location that spurred it on, and it became a "survival choice" for many people when they had no other choice.
Behind the prosperity is the nightmare of Eastern European girls
Of course, the Czech porn industry is by no means a "utopia". Behind its prosperity lies the darkest nightmare of human trafficking in Eastern Europe, which is also soaked in the blood, tears and despair of countless girls.
Data from Eurostat show:
The Czech Republic is the number one destination for human trafficking in Eastern Europe. More than 2,000 women are lured here every year, more than half of whom are minors. The youngest practitioner in the underground industry is only 14 years old. This data has also been reported by China News Network and other authoritative media, pointing directly to the darkness behind the glamor of the Czech porn industry.
Human traffickers' tactics are simple but deadly, and they succeed every time.
They posted false advertisements in small towns in Ukraine, Romania and other countries – "Recruiting restaurant waiters, monthly salary of 3,000 euros, including food and accommodation", accurately capturing the mentality of local girls who want to escape poverty.
Many inexperienced girls believed it and came to the Czech Republic with high hopes. However, upon arrival, their passports were taken away, their personal freedom was restricted, and they were forced to accept guests. They had to receive more than 100 guests a month. If they resisted at all, they would be beaten and threatened.
In films produced in Prague, "young men and women are forced to go to sea to make a living" has almost become a standard paradigm
In 2022, the Czech police cracked a major case that shocked Europe.
A Czech porn company lured 18 Ukrainian girls to come to the Czech Republic using "fashion photoshoots" as bait. After the girls signed the contract, they discovered that the so-called "fashion photoshoots" were actually adult films.
When they refused to film, the company immediately threatened them with the contract, requiring them to pay 100,000 euros in liquidated damages. Many girls were unable to repay and were forced to shoot dozens of films. It was not until the police destroyed this criminal den that they were able to regain their freedom.
After reading these cases, it is not difficult to understand that what many people think of as “voluntary” is nothing more than a lack of choice due to poverty.
In 2023, Czech women's rights organizations held a protest in front of Prague's erotic club, holding slogans that said "Poverty is not voluntary", bluntly stating that many sex workers do not really want to join this industry, but are forced by life. This is essentially the exploitation of women, and girls from the Gypsy community are the direct victims of this exploitation.
The older generation of Czechs hate this industry even more.
More than 70% of the elderly who have experienced the socialist period are opposed to the porn industry. They believe that this industry has turned the Czech Republic into "the brothel of Europe" and is a national shame.
In 2023, an old party member took to the streets to protest, holding a sign that read "Our country is not for sale," expressing the aspirations of countless older generation Czechs.
Prague’s “hidden corners”
In addition, public health risks are becoming increasingly prominent. Underground practitioners are not registered and do not undergo regular physical examinations, resulting in the sexually transmitted disease transmission rate in the Czech Republic being twice the European average. The HIV infection rate has continued to rise in recent years, becoming a major problem plaguing Czech society and further amplifying the negative impact of the porn industry.
How is the Czech Republic now?
In recent years, the Czech porn industry has also undergone changes, and online has become a new development trend.
During the epidemic, offline pornographic venues were forced to close, and a large number of practitioners turned to online. Today, the number of OnlyFans creators in the Czech Republic ranks third in Europe. Many girls can earn up to 50,000 euros a month, far exceeding the salary levels of local doctors and lawyers. This has also attracted more young people to actively join the online porn industry.
At the same time, XVideos parent company WGCZ has also continued to grow. Today, its Prague headquarters has more than 300 employees. It pays tens of millions of euros in taxes to the Czech government every year, becoming a major local taxpayer and even getting the acquiescence of the local government. After all, this considerable tax can also provide certain support for the economic development of the Czech Republic.
Under pressure from the European Union, the Czech government has also begun to strengthen supervision of the porn industry, closing more than 120 underground porn venues, arresting dozens of traffickers, and tightening border inspections. The number of cases of luring girls has dropped significantly compared with previous years.
But even so, the hidden danger of human trafficking still exists and has not been completely eradicated.
Czechs participating in winter swimming
Nowadays, the porn industry has long become a label that the Czech Republic cannot shake off.
More and more tourists come to the Czech Republic. In addition to visiting castles and tasting beer, many people come here for the erotic industry. Erotic tour groups in Prague have become a new tourism category. There are even travel agencies that specially launch "erotic experience tours" to attract tourists from all over Europe.
Polls in 2024 show that more than 50% of Czechs support the legalization of sex work. They believe that this is a free choice for individuals and the government should not interfere too much, while only 30% are opposed.
What’s more worth mentioning is that in 2004, when the Czech Republic joined the European Union, an adult film actress named Dolly Bust announced her candidacy for the European Parliament. She made no secret of her profession and even put forward the campaign slogan of “love each other and reproduce the next generation together.” Although she ultimately lost the election, it was enough to show Czech society’s tolerance for porn practitioners.
What a 22-year-old Czech OnlyFans creator said in an interview is very representative – I make money with my own body, I don’t steal or rob, and I make more than people who sit in offices. I feel very proud, this is my job.” Such thoughts are not uncommon among Czech young people.
Prague’s street fashion brand “life is prono”
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Many people call the Czech Republic "degenerate", saying that the country is completely ruined, and believe that the prosperity of the pornographic industry is a sign of moral decay. But if you think about it carefully, does the Czech Republic’s label of “Erotic Country” really equate to depravity?
It is just the most authentic appearance of a highly secular society after getting rid of the moral shackles of religion. Sex is no longer a taboo or an unspeakable shame. It is an ordinary need and an ordinary industry, just like eating and working, and is accepted by most Czechs.
Of course, its problems cannot be ignored – human trafficking, female exploitation, regulatory loopholes, and public health risks. These are unavoidable pain points and problems that the Czech government needs to continue to work hard to solve.
But it is undeniable that it has at least brought the industry that was originally hidden underground into the light, and reduced the possibility of more underground crimes through taxation and supervision. This may be more realistic than those countries that criminalize sex work, but have spawned more underground human trafficking and violent crimes.
Prague Old Town Square
We are always accustomed to treating sex as a scourge, avoiding it when talking about it, labeling it as "shameful" and "vulgar". But the Czechs have long understood that sex is the same instinctive need as eating and sleeping. There is nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of. Respecting everyone's choice may be the true foundation of a pluralistic society.
You may not accept this kind of Czech Republic, but you cannot deny that this is what a real and diverse society should be like – there is light, there is shadow, there is active choice, and there is also helplessness.
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