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The Challenges of Belgian Prostitution Markets as Legal Informal Economies: An Empirical Look Behind the Scenes at the Oldest Profession in the World

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Abstract

An extensive body of literature exists on sex work and prostitution, covering a variety of topics. The relation between prostitution and the informal economy, however, has not been widely studied. This article aims to contribute to this under-researched domain. Furthermore, it empirically contributes to the current topical policy debate on prostitution by offering insights into the perceptions of prostitutes and other stakeholders in the prostitution business and policy towards it in Ghent, Belgium. The empirical results draw on a qualitative research design, using a combination of semi-structured interviews with prostitutes, policymakers and social workers, document analyses and dossier analyses. These methods indicate that although sexual exploitation exists, prostitution can certainly not, by definition, be equated with exploitation, coercion or male domination. Furthermore, in contradiction to the current mainstream European point of view, no support was offered by the respondents for the criminalisation of clients. However, no full consensus was found regarding legalisation and regularisation of prostitution and its related activities. As different stakeholders have varying interests and preferences, more broad empirical research is needed to identify all their needs.

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Notes

  1. Important exceptions are the works of Sanders (2008) and Verhoeven et al. (2013). The latter have studied the presence and extent of informal economic activities within legalised window prostitution in Amsterdam.

  2. By using the terms prostitution and prostitute, we aim to make clear what type of sex work we have focused on. However, throughout the article, the terms sex worker and prostitute are used interchangeably.

  3. By focusing on Ghent we also fill in a gap in research on prostitution in Belgium, whose empirical material has previously been drawn from only Antwerp or Brussels (e.g. Loopmans and Van den Broeck 2011; Loopmans and Vermeiren 2009; Van den Hazel et al. 2008; van San 2007, 2009; Weitzer 2012).

  4. For the purposes of this study, policy is considered as the combination of regulation and the enforcement of that regulation.

  5. Only four dossiers at the level of the Public Prosecutor could be analysed.

  6. The geographical range of the study is similar to the territory of the local police zone of Ghent.

  7. This sampling strategy lead to 17 interviews. Furthermore, to encourage participation (and as an expression of gratitude) and in keeping with other studies making use of interviews with sex workers (e.g. Agustín 2008; Lever and Dolnick 2010), prostitutes were given a financial reward (of €30).

  8. This term refers to premises where window prostitution takes place.

  9. This strategy lead to four interviews.

  10. This strategy lead to one interview.

  11. Belgian (15, one of Congolese origin), Polish (2), Dutch (1), Hungarian (2) and French (2).

  12. Window prostitution (six women), bar prostitution (five women), private prostitution (six women, of which two also worked as escorts) and escort (one man and four women).

  13. Only three of the 38 interviews were not recorded and thus not fully transcribed.

  14. In the sense of managing/running a prostitution business. In the rest of this article, exploitation refers to managing a prostitution business. The term sexual exploitation will be used to refer to (forced) prostitution in which prostitutes cannot keep their entire earnings.

  15. Among which was the law of 13 April 1995, which contained stipulations concerning the battle against human trafficking and child pornography (Bulletin of Acts, 25 April 1995). Several of its stipulations were amended by the law of 10 August 2005, with the intention of strengthening the battle against human trafficking and human smuggling and against the practices of rack-renters (Bulletin of Acts, 2 September 2005).

  16. This means that prostitution or aspects of it are illegal but nevertheless regulated by the authorities. Weitzer (2012, 79) argues that in such systems participants are allowed to operate freely as long as they do not disturb public order or violate other laws and as long as they abide by whatever rules are imposed on them by the authorities.

  17. The Bende van de Miljardair.

  18. In order to tackle feelings of insecurity and nuisance related to prostitution, several city departments and agencies are consulted, stimulated to take preventative measures and/or offer structural solutions for certain kinds of nuisance. In addition, residents and managers of windows are regularly consulted by the city, which takes their concerns and suggestions into account. In this respect, several actors have a role in the outlining of the local policy on prostitution and its related items.

  19. Art. 1 Police regulation concerning the obligatory declaration of staff employed in publically accessible establishments of consumption and amusement, approved by the city council of 16 February 1948, altered in the municipal council of 26 March 2007, published on 29 March 2007.

  20. Article 121 of this law allows municipalities to regulate prostitution insofar as the goal is to ensure public decency and public order.

  21. According to local police statistics, in 2013 the most registered nationalities were Hungarian (283), Belgian (91), French (45) and Dutch (43).

  22. Which is confirmed by statistics of the local police. The same perception (i.e. hardening of the RLD as a result of more East-European prostitutes) was also found in Antwerp (Van San 2007).

  23. Given the non-existence of window prostitution in northern France and its relatively small distance from Ghent, Ghent’s RLD is very popular with tourists from this region. With the recent criminalisation of clients in France, several respondents feared the popularity of the RLD would increase even more.

  24. The amount varies from bar to bar. In one bar, for instance, a big bottle of champagne is sold at €300. The worker who drinks the champagne with the client receives €120. The manager keeps €120 for herself and the ‘cork’ is €60, which covers the purchase of the bottle (including travel costs to the shops etc.).

  25. The contents of approximately two glasses of champagne.

  26. Massage salons were not taken up in our empirical study.

  27. To ensure anonymity, we have coded our respondents. SW stands for Sex Worker. This quote is translated by the author from French.

  28. For instance, one woman, having felt socially isolated after stopping her activities as a hairdresser, started as a telephonist for a friend who did sex work, progressed to being a manager in a private house and finally, having noticed she was popular with the clients there, started as a prostitute herself.

  29. As most prostitutes either do not wish to divulge their income or claim not to be able to do so because it varies too much, we mainly provide rates for clients.

  30. One window prostitute, working five days a week, admits to earning between €4,000–€5,000 (‘bad’ month) and €10,000–€15,000 (‘good’ month). Similarly, another, working two nights a week, earns €3,000–€4,000 a month.

  31. One has to keep in mind that sex workers receive only half of these amounts, which implies that for 15 minutes, earnings are similar in the RLD to those in bars and clubs (without taking the window money into account).

  32. One interviewed bar worker and one club worker explain a daily fee is paid to the manager (which is also the case in private houses, according to an interviewed private worker) which is used to cover the social security contributions which employers pay for their employees. This fee amounts to approximately €25–€30 a day.

  33. In order to be covered for inspections, many managers make use of documents stating that their employees are exceptionally working outside their contract hours. However, these ‘control documents’ are often thrown away when no inspections take place. Some managers also de-declare employment of prostitutes retroactively.

  34. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  35. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  36. Idem.

  37. Other prostitutes have other means of income (e.g. other work) on the basis of which their social security is built and thus do not see the point of declaring their prostitution activities.

  38. This quote is not translated but reflects the words of the respondent.

  39. This quote is translated by the author from French.

  40. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  41. One respondent working in a private house additionally explains how her manager abuses the system of temporary unemployment. This system means that if the employee does not receive his/her wages during the period of unemployment (e.g. for economic reasons) s/he can—under certain conditions—benefit from an unemployment allowance. In this way, an undeserved allowance is combined with earnings from prostitution (as the prostitutes continue working instead of being unemployed).

  42. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  43. Pimping has no legal definition. However, if pimps are prosecuted, this is usually done on the basis of art. 380, 1°, 4° of the penal code (exploitation of prostitution) or (to a lesser extent) the stipulations concerning human trafficking (art. 433quinquies §1).

  44. With regard to the police, this might be partly attributable to the finding that they have less knowledge of private and escort prostitution. In this respect, the dark number is higher for these types of prostitution.

  45. E.g. unfair competition for other prostitutes, spread of sexual transmitted diseases, clients asking for lower prices and unprotected sex. The same has been reported in Antwerp’s RLD (Van San 2007).

  46. This quote is not translated but reflects the words of the respondent.

  47. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch. See also van San and Bovenkerk (2013) for more nuanced findings on pimping in Amsterdam’s RLD.

  48. This quote is not translated but reflects the words of the respondent. It could be that the men the sex worker refers to in this quote are not the actual pimps but the helpers of the pimps (van San and Bovenkerk 2013).

  49. The amount of money victims have to hand over to their pimps is highly variable.

  50. One exception exists: in cases of emergency calls, members of intervention teams can also enter the premises.

  51. This is the title of De Stoop’s book.

  52. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  53. The unit consists of 11 police members and two social workers.

  54. This quote is not translated but reflects the exact wordings of the respondent.

  55. In the Netherlands, since 2008, the fiscal opting-in system can be applied to club, escort and private prostitution (Van Wijk et al. 2010). Although the main aim of the introduction of this condition package (meeting the established criteria is necessary for the application of the opting-in method) was to enhance the position of sex workers (Bijlagemotie Arib 32211 2011), it was also intended to enhance the fiscal transparency and fiscal compliance of the sector (Taildeman 2010). Currently, researchers are conducting an evaluation of the regulation of legal prostitution in the Netherlands, which should take account of this system. For several reasons however, we doubt that such a system would be effective in Belgium.

  56. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  57. Note: this perception does not conform to the reality as prostitution is indeed allowed. The quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  58. Relative, because horeca contracts and lack of statute do not belie the fact that many prostitutes still have to live a double-life in order for their family, friends and acquaintances not to find out about their profession.

  59. Notwithstanding this fact, Antwerp works with suitability certificates for window prostitution which could be considered as a form of self-regulation (Rijken and van Krimpen 2007). These comprise requirements regarding the premises, applicants for the certificate and managers of the premises. As such, a comparative research between Ghent and Antwerp could shed light on possibilities for Ghent in this respect.

  60. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  61. This quote is translated by the author from French.

  62. This quote is not translated and reflects the exact wordings of the respondent.

  63. This quote is translated by the author from Dutch.

  64. The National Bank of Belgium estimates that the size of drugs and prostitution amounts to 0.6 % of the GDP in Belgium (NBB 2010).

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    Dominique Boels

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Boels, D. The Challenges of Belgian Prostitution Markets as Legal Informal Economies: An Empirical Look Behind the Scenes at the Oldest Profession in the World. Eur J Crim Policy Res 21, 485–507 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-014-9260-8

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