Male escorts in the windows of Amsterdam’s Red Light District? Sounds wild—and kinda hot. Well, we made it happen! On August 1st, three HUNQZ users appeared in the infamous Red Light windows in our campaign to address the working conditions of (gay and trans) sex workers.
The HUNQZ takeover
HUNQZ, part of ROMEO, is a platform for gay and trans companionship, massages, and escorting, with over 90,000 users. Despite escort services being legal in the Netherlands, male sex workers still face safety concerns and administrative issues like opening a bank account. Escorts around the world are scared to talk openly about the nature of their work, and often wouldn’t report crime to the police. Our window takeover aimed to highlight these issues right before the Amsterdam Canal Parade on August 3rd.
What happened?
From 6-10 pm, HUNQZ posed in the windows, attracting a line of spontaneous visitors and ROMEO users who were either visiting or living in Amsterdam. Guests toured the windows and back rooms where sex workers meet clients, which was a rare behind-the-scenes peek.
People were excited to see the inside spaces, but also to chat with the HUNQZ users about their lives and work, breaking the barrier between onlookers and escorts, and approaching sex work like any other profession with curiosity and respect. After all, sex work is work! As night fell, more passersby stopped to stare, and many straight women jokingly asked if the HUNQZ were really “on the job” that night. 😜 We had to explain that they were on duty, just a different kind of duty.
Meet the stars of our campaign!
Levi, Juliano, and Anim are the three unique HUNQZ who took center stage at the Red Light District
Say hi to Juliano! Juliano is a bisexual male escort from Belgium who was excited to participate in this campaign from the very beginning. “I love being able to visit Amsterdam during Pride, it’s my first Pride ever!” he tells us. Juliano clearly puts in the hard work on his physique and told us he loved the appreciation people were giving it. “When it was night time, people’s fascination was even more intense when they saw us in the windows,” he noted. He also pointed out the lack of male escorts in the Red Light District, saying, “There’s a lot of potential. Many clients would obviously be interested to see male sex workers here.”
Levi is a 30-year-old artist and escort from Amsterdam who has been in sex work since he was 19. He supports other sex workers through his office job and advocates for changing restrictive laws, like the prohibition against hosting clients at home. He hopes this campaign will raise awareness and show that male escorts are diverse. “Male escorts aren’t all cis men who look like they go to the gym a lot,” he says. “It’s good that this campaign shows men also do sex work and can be visible about it.”
This is Anim! They’ve been a musical theatre performer, social activist, writer, composer, fitness instructor, massage therapist, barista, and aspiring drag performer. “I still left out several long-term jobs,” they laugh. Anim aims to raise awareness about the challenges faced by trans and non-binary sex workers, hoping to spark conversations, reduce stigma, and improve safety and acceptance for sex workers in general.
Common threads
Earlier this year, we surveyed over 1,500 HUNQZ users, revealing many common struggles that they deal with on a day-to-day basis. One thing was for sure; most HUNQZ cite social stigma a top cause of distress, surpassing any of the sexual and mental health concerns that sex work may pose. Most HUNQZ users have also reported that they have advanced degrees, bachelor’s degrees, a high school degree, or technical training. The graphics below show the full list of results from our survey.
Throwback
Did you know that in 2019, we launched a similar campaign? It featured models and porn stars Lukas Daken and Logan Moore. Years later, the message of needing safer and better working conditions for sex workers still rings true.
A snapshot from our 2019 campaign
Support from within the community
Thanks to Red Light Office Boomsteeg for offering the display spaces! Not only are they directly involved with the community, but they are working on a plan to provide hourly room rentals for sex workers, which would be a major positive shift for escorts in Amsterdam.
Browse the photo gallery below to get a feel of the overall campaign:
