Nieuwe Revu about our transgender high class escort

On March 2nd 2022, Nieuwe Revu published a large article about the latest development in our high class escort service: a transgender escort. Owner Marike and transgender high class escort Helena have their say in the article. They tell about Helena's employability as the first transgender escort at Society Service. Other people also have their say, including people who have used the services of a transsexual sex worker. You can see and read a translation of the the original article below.

You desire what you see

A soft and sensual body with a male brain: according to some men, transgenders are the best of both worlds. It is not for nothing that people are increasingly fantasizing about having sex with this 'forbidden fruit'. Recently, transgenders can also be booked as high-class escorts and can no longer only be found on shadowy sex sites.

It is 5 p.m. on a weekday when a transgender sex worker welcomes her fourth client in her room on the Bloedstraat, together with the Barndesteeg the place in the Amsterdam Red Light District where transgenders offer their services. The trans women behind the windows are virtually indistinguishable from the female-born prostitutes a little further down the road: slim and fit, with firm breasts and round buttocks. In sexy suits, they sit on their barstools, their long legs swathed in knee-high patent boots, and stare at the men outside.

There are no hard figures, but an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 prostitutes are active in the Netherlands, most of them are women (90 percent), 5 percent are men and the other 5 percent are transgender. But there are far more transgender sex workers under the radar than are registered through legal places such as window prostitution, escort agencies or brothels, says Dinah de Riquet-Bons of Trans United Europe, the organization for transgender people with a bicultural background. Cisgender prostitutes (someone whose gender identity corresponds to the gender of birth), just like the landlords of the windows, are not waiting for the competition of trans women. And so many of these sex workers end up in the unlicensed sector. ‘There are about a hundred licensed window prostitutes in the Red Light District, about eleven of them are transgender and their working area is limited to two alleys. But the supply of transgender sex workers through advertisements on sexsites is enormous, as is the demand for it.'

In the 1990s, you mainly saw Thai transgenders in Dutch sex work; usually ladyboys or she-males (transgenders with a penis), then transgenders from Eastern Europe followed and now there are mainly transgender sex workers from Latin America. According to the Public Prosecution Service, approximately 700 Latin American transgenders advertise on sex sites, although the actual number is probably much higher. They often work seven days a week with an average of five customers a day, who pay 100 to 150 euros.

Escorts in all shapes and sizes

In the 90s it caused a lot of controversy when actor Hugh Grant was caught in Los Angeles with a transgender sex worker. In 2022 sex with a transgender is increasingly a sexual fantasy of many men and women. Marike van der Velden, owner of high-class escort agency Society Service, has also noticed that the demand for sex with transgenders is high. Recently she also added a transgender to her agency. 'I work with escorts and gigolos of all shapes and sizes, so why should I exclude someone from the LGBT group?' says Van der Velden firmly. According to her, the interest in going on a journey of discovery with a transgender grows through imaging. 'You desire what you see. Twenty years ago, clients mainly asked for busty escorts, then Kim Kardashian's buttocks became in demand. Since the coming out of former top athlete Caitlyn Jenner as a trans woman, transgender people are no longer an exception on talkshows, on social media and in Hollywood, and so the demand for sex with a transgender escort is also growing.'

Helena kicks off at Society Service and can be booked for 700 euros for two hours, the same rate as the female escorts. She (born as he) thinks it's great that Van der Velden offers her this opportunity: 'I love eroticism and sexuality.'

The work is not new for Helena, for she advertised independently for several years through various websites. That was a great adventure, but not without risks. 'Sometimes clients didn't show up for an appointment. Or they did come, but without money. Then the booking will of course not take place.' Van der Velden in turn praises Helena: 'She is a woman with beautiful breasts, with the difference that she has a small present in her panties,' she chuckles about Helena's masculine genitals. Helena: 'I've always felt like a woman, but I couldn't place this feeling at a young age. The older I got, the more I identified as a woman. What I see in the mirror now matches how I feel.'

As diverse as Van der Velden's escorts and gigolos are, so different are her clients who ask for an appointment with a transgender. What do they have in common? The fantasy of having sex with someone who has had sex surgery, or who still has a penis. 'Many men see transgender people as the forbidden sex: it is extra exciting, the fulfillment of a special fantasy.'

Booking a transgender escort or sex worker

Thrillseeker David* (35) knows all about this. Years ago he met with a transgender: 'I wanted to try something new, because I had already experienced just about everything in the sexual field. Via an online advertising website I came into contact with a beautiful Spanish lady with male genitals. We first texted and then arranged to meet at a hotel. At that moment I felt like a 16-year-old virgin again: the nerves were screaming through my body. We chatted at first, until I discovered that her full lips and supple tongue also had completely different qualities. Would I ever have sex with a transgender again? I do not know. It was exciting to experiment with her, but actually I'm not really attracted to the male genitals. The "forbidden" aspect makes it horny, I sometimes masturbate to this little adventure. Transgenders especially fascinate me; they dare to transform into the person they want to be, that takes courage.'

Johan* (50) has also (s)experimented. He occasionally meets with transgender people: 'You don't eat kale with sausage every day, do you? I like the variety, I've done it with everything around 37 degrees. In addition, a transgender often understands a man's body better than a woman: they know how to give a good blowjob or jerk off, because they were born as a man themselves. If you ask a woman if she wants to massage your prostate, she will look at you with surprise nine times out of ten. A transgender usually understands immediately what is good about that. And prostate massage also reduces the risks of prostate cancer, in short: a win-win situation.'

Men who meet up with a transgender sex worker are not likely to share this. There is still a lot of shame about it, says Camiel Welling, GGD doctor and Medical Supervisor at the Transkliniek, a collaboration between the GGD Amsterdam and Trans United Europe. According to the doctor, this is because transgenders are portrayed on social media and in certain TV programs as an eccentric or a cabinet of curiosities. 'Someone who likes trans people is often pushed into the fetish corner. There is still a stigma attached to being attracted to transgender identities, both sexually and romantically. That is why the contact mainly takes place in secret, including through sex work.' The reasons why men and women are attracted to transgender people are diverse, he explains. ‘For example because of a sexual fantasy, because of the tension of the unknown, or the power relations that can be involved. Or simply because they fall in love with a person, not a gender.'

Transgenders, on the other hand, are increasingly daring to come out with their identity, according to the doctor. That shift has everything to do with the greater visibility of the transcommunity, says Welling. By seeing more role models in public, such as D66 member Lisa van Ginneken, model Loiza Lamers, reporter Mounir Samuel or YouTube sensation Nikki de Jager, transgenders feel more empowered to be themselves. Yet there is still often confusion about what exactly transidentity is. There is no single type: 'The wishes and care needs are very diverse: trans people can identify themselves as women, but do not want surgery and may or may not opt for hormone treatment. Healthcare must take these differences into account. That was controversial for years, transition was only possible if you wanted a full trajectory with gender surgery, but this is finally starting to change.'

The transgender sex workers are a vulnerable group, says Welling. 'Some do sex work to finance expensive cosmetic surgery, hormone care or operations. Many trans people I see at the office hours get started with hormone injections themselves, often without any medical supervision. They order hormones from dealers or online or share with friends, which is not without risks for their health.'

Transgender escortservice

The coming-out of transgenders was not so obvious decades ago. One of the first transgender champions was Aaicha Bergamin from Amsterdam. In the 1950s and 1960s she worked in the Red Light District as a sex worker and artist. Another way to make money was not an option for a transgender at the time. 'Aaicha passed away in 2014 and is an inspiration for sex workers to this day,' says De Riquet-Bons of Trans United Europe. Although transgenders will be more accepted in 2022, especially due to the woke Gen-Z generation that thinks less and less in traditional gender boxes, this does not mean that the whole world is ready for it. 'Every day a transgender person is murdered somewhere in the world, the number of transgender murders is highest in Brazil and Mexico.'

Many Latin American transgenders flee to the Netherlands because of the more tolerant climate and the chance of affordable surgery. Sabrina (41) also fled from Mexico to Spain sixteen years ago, and she recently moved to Amsterdam. In her native country, she was unsure of her life as a transgender. She worked for years as a sex worker, and now she is coordinator of the European Sexworkers Rights Alliance, an organization that stands up for the rights of sex workers. 'I've never had a problem with sex work myself. It is a problem for transgender people who would rather do other work, but are not accepted anywhere else. My mission is to decriminalize sex work so that it can be done legally by transgender people and they have the same rights as other sex workers.'

Transgenders all over the world still often end up in prostitution because there are simply no other workplaces where they are accepted. They face discrimination in the labor market. Research by Statistics Netherlands shows that transgender people are more often unemployed, have a low income and are dependent on benefits than cisgenders. Many go to work in prostitution because they have nowhere else to go. There are too few legal workplaces for transgender people, which means that they have to deal with human trafficking, exploitation and unsafe situations.

The Justice Department sees that many Latin American transgender sex workers move through Europe and are put to work in different places, so that they do not build a social network and remain dependent on people who exploit them financially behind the scenes. It would help transgenders if there was more room for them in the licensed sector, because now they work at home, on the street or in hotels, and abuses are difficult to detect, says De Riquet-Bons. Sexualizing transgender people does not contribute to acceptance, says Sabrina. 'Many people are interested in transgender people, but don't dare to admit it because society condemns it. People need to realize that we belong to society, just like everyone else. We also deserve to be loved and respected.'