The Business of Pleasure

First English-language book on the history of commercial sex in Belgium

In 2022, the Belgian parliament made a landmark decision by approving the decriminalisation of sex work. This move positioned the small nation as the first country in Europe – and the second globally – to abandon the hypocrisy of tolerance. But this was not the first time paid sex in Belgium gained international notoriety. The medieval bathhouses and ‘frows of Flanders’ were well-known throughout Europe. In the nineteenth century, Belgium faced international outrage as the alleged epicentre of white slavery. Yet while Belgians were accused of forcing white women into prostitution, they were left alone when it came to the inclusion of any suspect woman in the prostitution registers of colonial Congo. Throughout the First and Second World Wars, both allied and German soldiers sought relief in Belgian brothels. The Business of Pleasure presents the compelling life stories of sex workers and their interactions with authorities, clients and pimps. Transcending stereotypes, this history of commercial sex offers a nuanced understanding of the difficulties and opportunities associated with paid sex for women, men and trans persons past and present.

Contributors: Elwin Hofman (Utrecht University), Magaly Rodríguez García (KU Leuven), Pieter Vanhees (former researcher KU Leuven), Jelle Haemers (KU Leuven), Amandine Lauro (Université libre de Bruxelles), Maarten Loopmans (KU Leuven), Ilias Loopmans (MA history student at University of Antwerp), Sonia Verstappen (former sex worker).

Introduction: Anne-Marie’s Tribulations
Elwin Hofman, Magaly Rodríguez García, and Pieter Vanhees

1. Guilty Pleasure (1200–1550)
   Jelle Haemers

2. Wantons on the Scaffold (1550–1830)
   Elwin Hofman

3. The Tyranny of Rules (1830–1918)
   Pieter Vanhees

4. Worlds Apart (Congo, 1885–1960)
   Amandine Lauro

5. Please Turn Off the Lights (1918–1970)
   Magaly Rodríguez García

6. Out of the Twilight Zone (1970–2024)
   Maarten Loopmans and Ilias Loopmans

7. ‘I Really Loved It’: A Former Sex Worker’s Testimony
   Sonia Verstappen, recorded by Pieter Vanhees

Beyond the Clichés
Magaly Rodríguez García

Sources and Bibliography
About the Authors

Elwin Hofman

Elwin Hofman is a cultural historian and writer. He teaches at Utrecht University and has (co)authored several books on cultural history, including a history of homosexuality in Belgium.

Magaly Rodríguez García

Magaly Rodríguez García is an authority on the history of international labour organisations and subaltern history. She is a professor at KU Leuven and collaborates with Belgian and foreign colleagues on projects regarding, inter alia, sex work and prostitution policy at the local, national and supranational levels. In the context of oral history projects, she became closely involved with advocacy groups for vulnerable persons such as sex workers and homeless people.

Pieter Vanhees

Pieter Vanhees is a social historian and has researched the history of prostitution in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries at KU Leuven.