Sex workers in The Netherlands can return to work this week when Amsterdam’s Red Light District emerges from its COVID-19 shutdown on Wednesday.
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte gave sex workers the okay to return to work this week as reported coronavirus deaths in the country dropped to single digits, according to the UK’s Sunday Telegraph.
Of course, as with any other industry reopening, sex workers and their clients will have to follow certain health and safety protocols.
“It’s a contact job like the hairdresser and masseur, and so they need to ask in advance if [clients] have any symptoms,” said Rutte.
But while he reportedly asked for more specific info “about which positions were possible and which weren’t” from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, health officials weren’t particularly forthcoming.
“There was no further explanation,” said Rutte.
According to the Daily Mail, however, the Red Light Union has advised providers to avoid kissing and oral sex, and to stick to positions that don’t involve face-to-face contact. The union also suggests wearing masks and gloves throughout the duration of the session.
These guidelines follow similar safety protocols issued by the New York City Health Department earlier this month, advising COVID-era sex-havers to “make it a little kinky” with face coverings and physical barriers, all in the name of good, clean fun.
Many sex workers worldwide have been hit hard financially by the coronavirus lockdowns, which forced many direct sex workers and performers to take their work to an already crowded online market. Meanwhile, online platforms like OnlyFans have seen a major boom in popularity as laid-off and cash-strapped employees in other industries have taken to sex work to make ends meet amid the financial strife of the pandemic.
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