BNN "Wat verdien je" about the salary of sex workers

On September 8th 2021, the Dutch television program "Wat verdien je" (translation: how much money do you make) was shown on BNN /NPO channel, in which three people from the same industry talk about their work. In this broadcast the sex workers were discussed. Two panels consisting of entrepreneurs had to guess what the salary was of the persons working in the sex industry. The three people they had to guess the salary of were sex workers Foxy and Boann and entrepreneur Marike, the owner of this high class escort service.

Owner high class escortservice in the broadcast

View the episode at NPO Start.

At the beginning of the broadcast, the panels are asked to answer a number of questions related to sex work. Although the approach of the program is neutral, there are a number of questions that are stigmatizing and even erroneous. For example, it is indicated that a very large part of the sex workers would be forced to do sex work. However, this often involves economic coercion; the sex worker practices this work for financial reasons. The question is, however, to what extent this is 'forced', after all, the majority of people work because they need the money to provide for their livelihood.

Nevertheless, the broadcast is interesting and informative. The panels ask interesting questions to people working in the sex industry, but ultimately estimate their salary many times higher than reality. What they probably forget is that sex workers also pay taxes.