Sex workers increasingly working from home

More and more sex workers are working secretly from home, according to the Center for Crime Prevention and Security (CVV). Sex workers find it more financially lucrative to work for themselves, but it also means that they drop under the radar and run more risks, said Rodney Haan, advisor on prostitution policy at the CVV.

Sex workers who work under the radar are more at risk of ending up in a dangerous situation, Haan said. “It is difficult to measure where there is danger,” he said. “But being off the radar does not automatically mean they are victims. Many sex workers manage to protect themselves well.”

As sex workers turn to work for themselves, brothels in the Netherlands are running into trouble from staff shortages. Municipalities also often give brothels permits that last five years or less. “No entrepreneur wants to invest a lot of money with the chance of losing their business again after a few years.”

In the past two decades, the number of sex clubs in the country decreased by around 700 to approximately 300. But Haan doesn’t think they’ll disappear completely, only continue in smaller numbers.