Safer establishments

Home: Survivors: For Sex Workers: The Power Book

Working alongside others in a licensed brothel is fairly safe. In a licensed brothel alarms and other communications systems are in place and licensees have a legal responsibility to make sure the workplace is healthy and safe. Expectations about price, length and type of service are set so there's a clear base for negotiations with clients. You have the right to refuse to see a client if you think the situation is unsafe. However, not all brothels are licensed, not all licensed brothels have a safe culture and sexual assault happens even in licensed brothels.

Where the owner is not licensed as a 'prostitution service provider' they are operating illegally and may or may not have alarms or communications systems for your safety. It can also be harder to state clearly to a client what's included in the deal when the owner of the place is not licensed. If you have doubts about whether management supports your safety, look for work elsewhere! If you're thinking of working in a new place, try to assess the way safety and support for workers is dealt with. Try to find out from someone who has worked there, or phone RhED for feedback. A good establishment, licensed or not, will encourage the staff to share information through client cards, an incident book, communications book or some other system to educate and debrief each other.

Wherever you work, try to pick a place where standards and workers are valued:

• Where there's an impression that the people working there should be respected not despite what they're doing, but because of what they're doing - and thanked for it, every time!
• Where it's easy to understand what a standard service is made up of.
• Where the message is good management, happy workers, happy customers.

It's about service and a professional approach. All that gives workers power to negotiate better knowing that 'if I walk out of this room now, the manager will stand up for me'.

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Disclaimer Copyright Updated: 24 Sep 2009