You have full access to this open access article. For many sex workers, money is the most important reason to engage in sex work. Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands and aims to regulate its sex industry by distinguishing licensed, unlicensed, and illegal sex work; the latter in this article is referred to as unlawful sex work.
This article focuses on female unlawfully working sex workers in Rotterdam and examines the financial advantages and disadvantages of working unlawfully, their consideration to pay taxes or not and their ways to increase their income.
From November to March , 38 qualitative in-depth interviews and 17 qualitative observations were carried out with sex workers, social workers and authorities. The results indicate that the income is higher when working unlawfully but has disadvantages. Sex workers differ in whether they pay taxes. Moreover, there are different ways in which a sex worker can increase her income, including competition and mobility. Though the Municipality of Rotterdam aimed for a regulated, lawful sex industry, unlawful sex work can still be an important means of income.
There are different aspects these sex workers need to consider, and sex workers can do this in different ways for different reasons. The Netherlands is well-known for its sex industry. There are many different definitions of sex work.
Footnote 1 Auguston and George , p. Furthermore, Weitzer describes the variety of types of sex work and focuses on direct, offline sex work. He distinguishes call girls, escorts, brothel workers, massage parlour workers, bar or casino workers, and streetwalkers.
