{"id":103928,"date":"2024-12-01T17:03:03","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T17:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/12\/01\/belgiums-sex-workers-get-maternity-leave-and-pensions-under-world-first-law\/"},"modified":"2024-12-01T17:03:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T17:03:03","slug":"belgiums-sex-workers-get-maternity-leave-and-pensions-under-world-first-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/belgiums-sex-workers-get-maternity-leave-and-pensions-under-world-first-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium\u2019s sex workers get maternity leave and pensions under world-first law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warning \u2013 contains descriptions of a sexual nature<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Dec 1 \u2013 \u201cI had to work while I was nine months pregnant,\u201d says Sophie, a sex worker in Belgium. \u201cI was having sex with clients one week before giving birth.\u201d<\/p>\n

She juggles her job with being a mother of five \u2013 which is \u201creally hard\u201d.<\/p>\n

When Sophie had her fifth child by Caesarean, she was told she needed bed rest for six weeks. But she says that wasn\u2019t an option, and she went back to work immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t afford to stop because I needed the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her life would have been much easier had she had a right to maternity leave, paid by her employer.<\/p>\n

Under a new law in Belgium \u2013 the first of its kind in the world \u2013 this will now be the case. Sex workers will be entitled to official employment contracts, health insurance, pensions, maternity leave and sick days. Essentially, it will be treated like any other job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for us to exist as people,\u201d Sophie says.<\/p>\n

There are tens of millions of sex workers worldwide. Sex work was decriminalised in Belgium in 2022 and is legal in several countries including Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Turkey. But establishing employment rights and contracts is a global first.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is radical, and it\u2019s the best step we have seen anywhere in the world so far,\u201d says Erin Kilbride, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cWe need every country to be moving in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protests in support for labour laws for sex workers followed the Covid pandemic<\/p>\n

Critics say the trade causes trafficking, exploitation and abuse \u2013 which this law will not prevent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is dangerous because it normalises a profession that is always violent at its core,\u201d says Julia Crumi\u00e8re, a volunteer with Isala \u2013 an NGO that helps sex workers on the streets in Belgium.<\/p>\n

For many sex workers, the job is a necessity, and the law could not come soon enough.<\/p>\n

Mel was horrified when she was forced to give a client oral sex without a condom, when she knew a sexually transmitted infection (STI) was going round the brothel. But she felt she had no option.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy choice was either to spread the disease, or make no money.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had become an escort when she was 23 \u2013 she needed money, and quickly started earning beyond expectations. She thought she had struck gold, but the experience with the STI brought her sharply back to earth.<\/p>\n

Mel will now be able to refuse any client or sexual act she feels uncomfortable with \u2013 meaning she could have handled that situation differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have pointed the finger at my madam [employer] and said: \u2018You\u2019re violating these terms and this is how you should treat me.\u2019 I would have been legally protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victoria regards sex work as a social service<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s decision to change the law was the result of months of protests in 2022, prompted by the lack of state support during the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n

One of those at the forefront was Victoria, president of the Belgian Union of Sex Workers (UTSOPI) and previously an escort for 12 years.<\/p>\n

For her, it was a personal fight. Victoria regards prostitution as a social service, with sex being only about 10% of what she does.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s giving people attention, listening to their stories, eating cake with them, dancing to waltz music,\u201d she explains. \u201cUltimately, it\u2019s about loneliness.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the illegality of her job before 2022 raised significant challenges. She worked in unsafe conditions, with no choice over her clients and her agency taking a big cut of her earnings.<\/p>\n

In fact, Victoria says she was raped by a client who had become obsessed with her.<\/p>\n

She went to a police station, where she says the female officer was \u201cso hard\u201d on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me sex workers can\u2019t be raped. She made me feel it was my fault, because I did that job.\u201d Victoria left the station crying.<\/p>\n

Every sex worker we spoke to told us that at some point they had been pressured to do something against their will.<\/p>\n

Because of that, Victoria fiercely believes this new law will improve their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is no law and your job is illegal, there are no protocols to help you. This law gives people the tools to make us safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexandra and Kris say they treat their employees well<\/p>\n

Pimps who control sex work will be allowed to operate legally under the new law \u2013 provided they follow strict rules. Anyone who has been convicted of a serious crime will not be allowed to employ sex workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think many businesses will have to shut down, because a lot of employers have a criminal record,\u201d says Kris Reekmans. He and his wife Alexandra run a massage parlour on Love Street in the small town of Bekkevoort.<\/p>\n

The massages they offer clients include \u201ctantra\u201d and \u201cdouble pleasure\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is fully booked when we visit \u2013 not what we were expecting for a Monday morning. We are shown meticulously furnished rooms with massage beds, fresh towels and robes, hot tubs and a swimming pool.<\/p>\n

Kris and his wife employ 15 sex workers, and pride themselves on treating them with respect, protecting them and paying them good salaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the bad employers will be shut out and the good people, who want to do this profession honestly, will stay \u2013 and the more the better,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Erin Kilbride from Human Rights Watch is of similar mind \u2013 and says, by putting restrictions on employers, the new law will significantly \u201ccut away at the power they have over sex workers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mel believes that bringing sex work out of the shadows can only help women<\/p>\n

But Julia Crumi\u00e8re says the majority of the women she helps just want help to leave the profession and get a \u201cnormal job\u201d \u2013 not labour rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about not being outside in the freezing weather and having sex with strangers who pay to access your body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Belgium\u2019s new law, each room where sexual services take place must be equipped with an alarm button that will connect a sex worker with their \u201creference person\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Julia believes there is no way to make sex work safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn what other job would you need a panic button? It\u2019s not the oldest profession in the world, it\u2019s the oldest exploitation in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to regulate the sex industry remains a divisive issue globally. But for Mel, bringing it out of the shadows can only help women.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very proud that Belgium is so far ahead,\u201d she says. \u201cI have a future now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some names have been changed to protect people\u2019s safety.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warning \u2013 contains descriptions of a sexual nature Dec 1 \u2013 \u201cI had to work while I was nine months pregnant,\u201d says Sophie, a sex worker in Belgium. \u201cI was having sex with clients one week before giving birth.\u201d She juggles her job with being a mother of five \u2013 which is \u201creally hard\u201d. When […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}