Prostitution in Austria is legal and regulated. Most sex workers are migrants , mainly from the former Eastern Bloc countries. Over the Middle Ages there existed an uneasy association between those selling sex usually women on the one side, and church and state on the other. While the practice was frowned on, it thrived, and was tolerated. After all they paid their taxes two pfennigs a week. On the other hand, on Sundays and during Lent, they were obliged to stay away from the towns.