Published 5 September 2025
Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands
After a long struggle, last year the ban on the registration of street workers was finally introduced for the only two remaining street working zones in the Netherlands. To celebrate this Mischa, long term advocate for the ban, presented her speech at the Red Insight Multimedia Intensive Training she wrote for for the event: The criminalization of women in poverty - a case study on sex work in the Netherlands. To celebrate, and with our next Red Insight training approaching, we're happy to share her words again.
It is a summery Saturday night. I’ve shaved my legs, painted my nails, and put on some perfume. I am completely ready for my first customer. I ring the doorbell, and a very serious looking man opens the door. As I walk into the living room, four muscular guys jump out from behind the doors. I start screaming in fear, but they turn out to be officers from the Prostitution Control Team. I have to immediately remove my advertisement from Kinky.nl and stop working as an independent escort.
This is what I do: I am an illegal prostitute - hello! I am registered with the Chamber of Commerce as a self-employed person, and I pay taxes just like any other good citizen. But I am still an illegal prostitute. I could work legally in a brothel, but I prefer to be my own boss. In an average private house, a customer pays 80 euros for half an hour, half of which goes to the brothel owner. After deducting taxes, the sex worker gets paid 22 or 29 euros, depending on which tax bracket she is in.
After deducting taxes, the sex worker gets paid 22 or 29 euros
Afterwards, the brothel owner checks with the client whether she has kissed or completed all the positions from the Kama Sutra book with every Tom, Dick and Harry he lets in - and if not, then she does not fit into the team. A brothel boss has the power to behave like this, because there are so few licensed workplaces left. I choose independent escort work because I want to determine my own prices and working hours, and select my own clients.
Sex work is work. It provides an income, independence, and freedom! Sex work offers solutions for those who are studying, for those who are caregivers, for those who support their families abroad, or who want to simply pay for their groceries. For those who are mothers, or fathers, or people who are discriminated against in the labor market because they are trans, because of their skin color, or because of being a woman.
People often think that escorting is dangerous, but this is actually a safe way of working. The client is not anonymous, after all, I have his address and other details. Moreover, customers are already panicking about the sound of clicking heels in their street, so see how they react to honking cars in front of their front door!
I am bothered by the term “illegal prostitution”
I am bothered by the term “illegal prostitution”. I prefer the term “unlicensed”, because many people think of illegal prostitution as criminality. In fact it is only an administrative matter, namely not having a special work permit for sex workers. In what other profession do police officers raid a self-employed person’s workplace to check whether they have a permit? In what other profession are self-employed people evicted from their homes because of an administrative violation? In what other profession do criminals threaten the victim, during a robbery, to call the police if they scream?
The next time you read in the newspaper that an illegal prostitution business has been closed, remember that this could also be a self-employed sex worker who has now become homeless. This also happens to sex workers who are registered with the Chamber of Commerce and pay their taxes properly. An illegal prostitute is seen by society as the most pitiful of the pitiful. Selling your body is the lowest thing you can do. “Whore” is considered the worst insult for a woman. Whores do not deserve respect but contempt and humiliation, and are therefore often the target of violence.
There is a witch hunt going on against sex workers. Since the legalization of brothels in 2000, 80% of these premises have disappeared. Municipalities are using legalization to close as many workplaces as possible. What is once closed will never open again. Mayors do not keep sex workers in their city, we spoil the appearance and their image. And the land is sold expensively to project developers.
Sex workers are evicted from their homes or from the country, they are fined and punished. Sex workers who are raped or robbed no longer dare to go to the police. Criminals know this too, and malicious people consider sex workers to be easy prey. Sex workers are being driven into illegality, to where lawlessness reigns. Far away from colleagues, aid workers and the police - alone and in the dark.
Making honest sex workers illegal means that violence against sex workers is seen as their own fault, ensuring that violence against sex workers, prostitutes, whores, sluts and hoes increases. It becomes more dangerous for everyone who does not adhere to the imposed sexual morality - stigma kills!
It becomes more dangerous for everyone who does not adhere to the imposed sexual morality - stigma kills!
We all want to live in a country where no one has to be afraid. A country where sex workers are safe, and where women, men, all genders, and all people are safe. I have an idea how… Do you really want to help us? Give us rights! This idea is not crazy, new, or impossible. In our neighbouring country Belgium, sex workers were given the same rights as other people last year. In Belgium they developed this policy together with sex workers. After all, it is about our safety. Sex workers have the most knowledge, experience and expertise about sex work.
I have good news: I have recently been allowed to work legally in the street workers zone! And not just me, also the sex workers who do not fit into the brothel owner's team. This includes trans women, men, sex workers who use drugs, sex workers who have a disability, fat sex workers, old sex workers, and activist sex workers. All sex workers present here today, can come too! It is safe, and it is fun here with us on the track.
But even some sex workers have a negative view of street work, and I don't understand why. The prices on the streets are a lot higher than in a brothel, even after paying all taxes. On the street, a customer pays an average of 25 euros for blow jobs, 50 for fucking, and 75 for both. If he wants to see tits, a different position, or if he needs more than 7 minutes, he has to pay extra. Some sex workers ask for more, and some ask for less, since sex workers on the street are their own boss!
It is very scary for me to participate in this event today. But I am here anyway, to show that we are here! Visibility of sex workers leads to normalization, and more acceptance for sexual diversity. So that all people, all of us can feel free to be open, whoever or whatever we are.
