Mariska Majoor

Majoor is best known for founding the Prostitution Information Center (PIC). Its sign reads: "Study, info and action centre for sex workers' rights (as well as nice coffee...)" Mariska Majoor (Hilversum, 2 November 1968

Biography Sex worker Mariska Majoor was born 2 November 1968 in Hilversum, and grew up in Laren, North Holland. By her own account, she had a protective Catholic upbringing in which she was absolutely not allowed to do certain things.

After five years, she combined her plans for her own business with her knowledge and experience about sex work. From 1992, she published the bilingual English-Dutch magazine Pleasure Guide: informatief magazine over het betaalde liefdesleven ("informative magazine on the paid love life"), about which she was interviewed by NRC Handelsblad in August of that year. The first print run was 20,000 copies, and the issues distributed in Amsterdam sold out within two weeks. Majoor told Trouw about the course: 'I'm launching this because so often in the trade you hear people say that prostitution is a real profession (...); well, then there should be an educational programme for it as well. Because there are plenty of things to learn about.'

Over the years, the PIC has simultaneously functioned as an information desk, red-light district shop (including sex toys, books and pamphlets by Majoor on sex work-related frequently asked questions), library, mini-museum and art gallery. She pointed out that sex workers had been paying taxes since the 1950s, but that this was only now being formalised, there was a sudden crackdown on any form of prostitution that had not yet been legalised (with the aim of combating human trafficking, which everyone agreed with in principle, but not the means by which it was being implemented) and the new policy seemed to be enforced rather arbitrarily.

An open day has been held in De Wallen red-light district several times since 2006. At the open day of 31 March 2007, for the second time at the initiative of Mariska Majoor, male prostitutes were behind the windows to have sex with either women or men in exchange for payment. The same day, on her initiative, a bronze statue called Belle by artist Els Rijerse was also unveiled on the Oudekerksplein as a tribute to sex workers.

In 2012, the well-known Dutch sex workers foundation The Red Thread (De Rode Draad) went bankrupt. In response, Majoor founded the new sex workers' association PROUD as its successor in 2015. Sekswerk Nederland (SWN, "Sex Work Netherlands", active 2014–2015), a research organisation by and for sex workers founded by Yvette Luhrs, began cooperating with PROUD, and later merged into it (Luhrs later succeeded Majoor as its president). As president of PROUD, Majoor spearheaded a major demonstration of hundreds of sex workers on 9 April 2015, protesting against the plans of the Amsterdam mayor's office to close dozens of windows in De Wallen red-light district, without consulting the sex workers involved. She told the Associated Press: 'They [=the mayor's office of Amsterdam] say that they want to have more control over the sex industry because it is related often to human trafficking and abuse, but in our opinion they use that as an excuse only for the gentrification project.'

Further work and activism In 2016, Majoor was diagnosed with lymphoma, forcing her to make the difficult decision to leave the red-light district after more than 30 years. In April 2017, she was honoured by the mayor of Amsterdam as a knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau for her many years of providing information on prostitution and advocacy for sex workers. In the meantime, however, she had already set up a new company called Koekje uit Amsterdam ("Biscuit from Amsterdam"), personally delivering boxes of biscuits by bike to catering businesses across Amsterdam. In the book, they describe major differences between how sex work is viewed around the world (with varying degrees of stigma), in what situations the work takes place and how safe it is, but the interviewees (including male sex workers, who, according to Majoor, have to fight "doubly" for acceptance) were keen to "talk to someone who comes from the profession themselves. This struggle creates solidarity.'

Works Magazines Pleasure Guide: informatief magazine over het betaalde liefdesleven (from 1992). English/Dutch. Information and education for tourists and customers. De Rode Lantaarn (from 2005). Magazine for the sex trade.

Books Als sex werken wordt (1999). Later editions: Als seks werken wordt: Alles wat iedereen zou moeten weten over sekswerk. English-language edition: When Sex Becomes Work (2016). 10 jaar PIC: een overzicht. Prostitutie Informatie Centrum 1994–2004. (2004) (with co-author Robin Haurissa) United Under A Red Umbrella: Sex work around the world (2018). De Wallen: toekomst van ons verleden (2020). English-language edition: Amsterdam Red Light District: The future of our past (2023).