The demand for more sexual freedom may surprise some residents of liberal metropolises. Wasn't there a sexual revolution as early as the late 1960s? Didn't sex shops spread across the world in the 1970s and hasn’t the BDSM and fetish scene been an established part of society since the 1980s? Isn't the LGBTQI+ community more accepted these days than ever before? That may all be true, but there are still big differences from city to city and country to country when it comes to inclusivity. We are therefore introducing you to the 25 most sexually permissive cities in the world in a ranking based on our research.

In order to achieve reliable results, we have incorporated extensive data from a range of categories into our list of the most sexually liberal cities in the world. We looked in detail at each city and their particular strengths and weaknesses regarding sexual permissiveness.

This includes the number of gay bars and whether homosexual marriages are allowed, permission for gender reassignment, the number of annual LGBTQI+ events such as gay pride parades, access to contraceptives and PrEP medication, whether there are anti-discrimination and sex worker protection laws in place and whether sex work is legalised.

We awarded points for each parameter and the higher the value, the higher the placement in our ranking. As such, some interesting results have emerged. You can find out more about each city in our Top 25 by clicking on the map or in the list.

In considering this study, of course, the question arises as to why sexual permissiveness is an important value to investigate. Quite simply: sexual permissiveness, also known as sex positivity, is a factor in which the state of development of many areas of society coincides. Because it says a lot about a society in general when minorities such as the LGBTQI community or women are restricted in their development opportunities. Such restrictions can be justified both with so-called traditional values ​​and also with political arguments. As the feminist movements of the 20th century have shown, the emancipation of genders or minority orientations is always connected with the acceptance of sexual permissiveness.

Just by looking at recent German history, it quickly becomes clear how beneficial a liberal attitude of both the state and society is to the sexual freedom of movement of an individual. If you look at the history of the legal recognition of homosexuality in Germany over the past few decades, it is noticeable that until 1968 homosexual acts were considered criminal and punishable by law in both the FRG and the GDR. It was not until 2001 that homosexual partners were allowed to have so-called registered civil partnerships, which corresponded to a certain legal recognition. Furthermore, same-sex couples have only been allowed to marry in Germany since 2017.

The situation is similar when it comes to the sexual self-determination of women: until 1970 homosexual or sexually active girls and women were admitted to so-called educational homes, where they were often mistreated. Abortion has only been decriminalized since 1974, but is still fundamentally illegal to this day. Until 1986, mentally handicapped people in Germany were also sterilized as a matter of course without their consent. And horrifyingly, up until 1997, rape within a marriage was still legal and until 2016 rape was generally only considered as such if the victim had resisted violently, which experience has shown is often not the case when victims are paralysed with fear. So, what can we conclude from this?

Based on the developments we have seen in German law and society, it is easy to see how closely sexual freedom and the general freedom of the individual are related. Only when consensual sexuality is not demonised or classed as illegal can the individual enjoy freedom in a society. Anyone who conforms to typical social norms - for example as a heterosexual, white man without unusual erotic desires - may not be particularly affected by restrictions on sexual freedom. However, this does not necessarily apply to the female population of Germany, which makes up 51% of the total population, nor the 7.4% of people who feel part of the LGBTQI+ community in the country. At this point you can already clearly see that a majority of the German population benefits from laws that guarantee a relatively high degree of sexual freedom and self-determination. We hope that our ranking can be a decision-making aid for all those who are looking for a place to live, where they can find their happiness and live as free from discrimination as possible.

Taking the top spot in the Sexually Liberal City Index 2023 - perhaps unsurprisingly - is the German city of Cologne. Known far and wide for its sexual tolerance and openness, even Höhner knew that this Rhenish metropolis was one to watch, describing the city and its inhabitants as “up-to-date in every respect – including sexually.”

The small town of West Hollywood, California, also made it very high in this year's rankings, coming in at #2. Measured by the number of inhabitants, there is a particularly large amount of sex-positive venues (think sex shops, gay bars, etc) to be discovered here. The Dutch metropolis Amsterdam takes a somewhat unsurprising third place in our rankings.

Berlin ends up in fifth place. In fact, two German cities were able to achieve top 10 rankings at the same time. In addition to a large number of sex shops and LGBTIQ events, both Cologne and Berlin benefit above all from a comparatively stable legal situation for sexual minorities and sex workers. Perhaps no surprise thsat the first's first sex shop originated in Germany then!

When we conducted the Sexually Liberal City Index for the first time last year, the American metropolis New York landed in first place. Two years later, the city that never sleeps is "only" good enough for eleventh place. However, this is not because there is less sex-positive life locally - but much more because the competition has become stronger worldwide. While sex-positivity used to be only a marginal topic, today it is impossible to imagine many areas without it. As an example, the Austrian capital Vienna has made a giant leap forward; from 19th place in 2021 to 7th place in our 2023 leaderboard.

Would you have expected these results or do you feel that there is a city missing from the ranking? Then please let us know via https://twitter.com/LustMagOfficial

Curious as to how we calculated these results? Click here to see our full methodology (opens a PDF, German)