Sex workers and activists demonstrate in Brussels. Credit: Getty
BelgiumEuropeprogressive prostitutionProstitutionSex workSociety
Belgium, long notorious for a series of child abuse cases, has now become a somewhat surprising pioneer of “progressive prostitution”. A new law, which came into effect on Sunday, has pulled pimps from the shadows, giving them the status of legitimate employers. In principle, women — and some men — who sell sex full-time in brothels are now entitled to contracts offering maternity pay, sick leave and pensions.
The legislation has been welcomed by organisations including Human Rights Watch (HRW). “This is radical, and it’s the best step we have seen anywhere in the world so far,” HRW researcher Erin Kilbride told the BBC. “We need every country to be moving in that direction.”
Despite the decriminalisation of prostitution in Belgium in 2022, conditions have remained grim for many in the country’s brothels. In the same BBC piece, Sophie, a mother of five, recalled that before the recent reform, “I had to work while nine months pregnant […] I couldn’t afford to stop because I needed the money.”
For her and many others, the right to rest and receive pay during maternity leave is life-changing. But what remains unsaid is revealing. Absent from her words is any judgement of men who would pay a broke and heavily pregnant woman for sex she didn’t want. Arguably, in a society in which selling sex is simply a job, criticism of a buyer’s habits puts your...
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