In this issue of Witness, Dimitri Korczak takes you to Belgium, to meet sex workers and associations, who share their perceptions of the legislative developments implemented since 2022.
In this issue of Witness, Dimitri Korczak visited Belgium, where, since 2022, sex work is in the process of being decriminalized. Prostitutes now have access to social rights and can even sign employment contracts with employers. A unique system of its kind. For years, places where this type of service is offered have been tolerated, but not legally authorized. So what are the consequences for those directly affected?
Along the Bekkevoort road, an hour east of Brussels, bars and other establishments offering sexual services. First stop: a massage parlor run by a couple, Kris and Alexandra.
In Belgium, offering or purchasing sexual services has been authorized for a long time. But, this type of place has until now operated in legal limbo with sex workers paid under the table, or employed as hairdressers or masseuses.
Alexandra, a former palliative care assistant, decided 20 years ago to launch into erotic massage, with the aim of opening a salon. For her, it is important to know that from now on, her activity will be considered legal.
“I think the taboo is broken more than thirty or forty years ago,” said Alexandra Moreels, co-owner of an erotic massage parlor. “I’m 100% sure of that. The way we work hasn’t really changed. It’s good to know what’s legally allowed, because the question has always been whether we’re doing things right or not”.
Before this new law, the situation was a headache for the authorities: because without a legal framework, it was impossible to regulate and control the sector.
The objective of this text is therefore to set clear rules, by creating labor law adapted to prostitutes, allowing them to sign a contract or to work as self-employed, and thus, to access the same social and social rights. protections than other workers.
Likewise, the law creates an employer status: a decriminalization of certain forms of pimping with the objective, according to the authorities, of better combating abuse. And on this point, Kris, Alexandra’s husband, assures that they are already on track.
“We have no problem with that, everything is legal here,” says Kris Reekmans, co-owner of an erotic massage parlor, “it complies with what is described in the law that has just passed. The employees will have to being able to choose the client they want. This is already the case here. Each woman chooses. “I want to do this client, or I don’t want to, so I refuse this one.” “emergency in each room We have had them for about three years. We already meet many of the points set out in the law and the guidelines provided to be able to operate or keep open such establishments.
Not all sex workers work in salons. Some work on the internet, in the street, or at home independently. And even if not everyone will want contracts, all are affected by this law, which frames and regulates the sector, and recognizes it as part of society.
In the surroundings of Liège, Manon has worked as a sex worker since she was 19. During this interview, she preferred to remain anonymous, proof that prostitutes are still extremely stigmatized and victims of much discrimination, particularly in housing, banking and medical care.
Manon has already worked in bars, outside of any legal framework. She supports the new law, but does not plan to benefit from these new contracts.
“For me, it will never be a job like any other,” says Manon, a sex worker. “Never. It must be a job that offers us the same rights as someone else. On the other hand, is it a job like any other? Of course not. We must not forget that our job remains sex and that, no, it’s not a job like any other. I’ll be completely honest, when I read what the new law said, I didn’t have the impression that there was. had had changes, because, personally, I had a fairly privileged experience where I had the right to refuse clients, the right to refuse practices, the right to end a sexual relationship in progress, the fact to practice the way I wanted to practice.”
“So my little experience in bars – I had three or four – had always been very positive. My first look was really (the following): “What is this law going to be for?” And the thought that came just after that was to tell me: “But in fact, if it has to be legislated, it’s because it’s not applied everywhere. Obviously, some are forced to accept clients they do not want to accept, etc. And so for these people, it’s super important that this law is passed.”
And in the face of the debate, Manon has a message to convey to all those interested in prostitution, whether supporters or opponents of the reform.
“It might be time to stop asking ourselves the question of choice. “Did I choose it? Didn’t I choose it? Did life push me? And was there an external influence?” In fact, sex workers present so many different profiles that we cannot answer this question absolutely. The only common bridge that we have binds everyone, it is the right and whether it is the abolitionists or the allies, in fact, it might be time to look at the question of rights and help us win them.
Between prohibition, the abolitionist model which focuses on penalizing the client, and the different forms of regulation, the supervision of prostitution is very contrasting in Europe.
ADVERTISEMENTIn 2022, Belgium became the second country in the world, after New Zealand, to decriminalize the organization of sex work, with a particularly flexible system.
The country has between 3,000 and 20,000 prostitutes according to estimates. They appear to be mostly foreigners, coming from Eastern EU countries, but are also sometimes undocumented, being mainly from Nigeria or South America, often being passed through human trafficking networks. Human being.
Not having a work permit, they will not be affected by the law, and could be even more marginalized.
Mireia Crespo, from the ISALA association, supports prostitutes in very precarious situations. For her, this law is completely out of step with the real needs of these women, and does not offer them any alternative to exit prostitution.
“What is very worrying is that it will favor pimps, traffickers who already exist in Belgium, and who already benefit from enormous impunity,” indicates Mireia Crespo, director of ISALA.
ADVERTISEMENT“We have heard that one thing since these laws were passed is prostitution. So it’s normal. “Prostitution is an industry like any other”, “it’s a job like any other “, and we have to ask ourselves what effect this will have on society as a whole, on all women, on society already. There is a survivor of prostitution who says that from the moment prostitution is normal, well all women are prostituted, because women constitute the commodity in the prostitution system and then, obviously, what effect will it have on the younger generations? We know that? prostitution of minors is exploding in Belgium, as it is everywhere in Europe. We know that student prostitution is also increasing, and therefore these laws, for us, will have the effect of reinforcing this increase in terms of prostitutes. .
Direction Antwerp. 20 years ago, the Flemish city chose to organize prostitution in an ultra-secure way, well before decriminalization. A model based on close collaboration between the city, the police, associations and the prostitution sector.
Karin Van der Elst is the boss of Villa Tinto, a complex comprising around fifty storefronts rented by prostitutes for the day. A very supervised business with surveillance cameras, an integrated police station, alarm buttons in the rooms, and systematic biometric control of the identity of the tenants.
But if her business has been regulated for a long time, the new law allows her to decriminalize her activity, and for Karin, regulating the sector remains the most realistic solution.
ADVERTISEMENT“It exists. And if it doesn’t come out in the open, it will exist underground,” assures Karin Van Der Elst, owner of Villa Tinto. “And I think that then, more negative people or, let’s say, ‘mafiosos’ will go to work in this underground. And I think that the situation will get worse for sex workers. Today, it’s “It’s regulated. There are a lot of controls. So I think it’s one of the best ways to operate.”
“Our intention was always to rent work space to sex workers. But what they do inside is none of our business. We check the regulations and everything else. And have a contract with them and employ them , for me it becomes, it becomes too personal Because sex is a very personal thing, I think. And I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that. that sex workers are very free-minded They have a more independent spirit and want to decide when they work. They also want to decide where they go. they go and work there if they make a lot of money, they take a vacation and enjoy their money, then when there’s more, they come back. So I think it’s difficult to register. this in a contract or to make it something that works under good conditions”.
There are therefore many questions surrounding the new law. According to experts, it will be necessary to wait several years before we can estimate the effects on the living conditions of sex workers, as well as on trafficking and pimping.
