Why prostitutes don't talk

There's a lot of discussion on prostitution. Online, in the media, politicians, everywhere people are having discussions on prostitution. The talks generally are about what's best for the prostitutes. Some claim that making prostitution illegal is the answer, some claim that making the clients of prostitution illegal is the answer (taking away the demand as it where), and of course lot's of discussion about whether or not prostitutes are forced or not.
What's interesting is that both sides always claim things, but rarely ever talk with prostitutes themselves. And why is that? How is it possible that in a discussion about a group of people, the group of people that are being discussed is not present? Is it because they're scarred of their pimp, as so many people suggest, or is it something else?

The answer to this question is actually quite simple. Most of the girls working in the Red Light District are foreign. Most of them are Eastern European (Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian), some Asian, some South American and than some Dutch girls and the rest. And because such a large part of the prostitutes aren't from Holland, and don't speak the Dutch language, they simply don't know that this discussion is happening in the first place. And how can people enter a discussion if they don't know it's there?
Also the city government of Amsterdam hasn't approached prostitutes with their plans or ideas, or even with a reason why they close down the windows. All the prostitutes know, is that from one day to the next some windows are gone, and they're left surprised with the questions as to why this happened.

I don't think it's by chance the city government of Amsterdam hasn't informed prostitutes about what's going on in politics. I think it's part of their agenda, after all, how can you claim things about people, if those people can talk back themselves and deny things you're claiming, right? Well, that's exactly what's happening here in Amsterdam. They've said the Red Light District in Amsterdam is filled with crime, like money laundering and human trafficking, and that they wanted to get rid of those companies who are criminal. What happened was that they closed down a lot of windows stating it was 'to fight human trafficking and forced prostitution'.
The city government for years has claimed that 'more than half of the prostitutes are forced'. A very interesting claim, especially since they never did any research on it themselves. In stead they relied on a report from the police, which only talked to two prostitutes(!) who both just happened to be victims of human trafficking (read more about that here).

Fact of course is, that it's impossible that more than half of the prostitutes are forced. It's not true at all, and they know it, they just needed an excuse to close down those windows for something else.
But of course making claims like these only works if there's nobody else to prove it's not true (or at least very few). And that's why they decided not to inform the prostitutes in their own language about these claims, but in stead leave them in the dark, until they could close down the windows they wanted to close. And it worked, because almost nobody protested against it, and the few that did where easily silenced with either a slander campaign (protecting their own interest) or by simply ignoring them.

In fact, most girls in the Red Light District are still unaware of the claims people make about them, and the plans of the city government to close down more windows. I tried a couple of times to convince some of my colleagues this is what is happening, but they looked at me like I was crazy. They've never even heard of it, let alone they will protest against it.
And to be honest, if it wasn't for my boyfriend, I would be in the same situation, and I probably also wouldn't believe people if they told me these things. That's why most prostitutes their reactions are so surprised, and filled with disbelieve, when they find out their windows are being closed.

A very good example of that was recently in Utrecht, where last year the city government of Utrecht used the similar tactics to close down all the windows over there, leaving 300 women without a (safe) place to work. Their actions to safe their windows from being closed came too late, and many prostitutes where angry and didn't understand why the windows had to close down.
It's much easier to fight something, if there's nobody to fight back. And that's exactly what's happening with prostitution in Amsterdam. The city government intentionally did not inform the prostitutes about the claims they where making about them, and did not inform them about their plans, until it's too late to protest.
They are also relying on the fact that prostitutes are reluctant to protest, since they're identity could be exposed, which is everything for most prostitutes.

And this brings us to the second reason prostitutes don't talk. Prostitution is still not socially accepted as a job (even though it's the oldest job in the world). And because it's still not socially accepted, most girls hide it from their families and friends. And so, to protect their families and friends from finding out about their job, prostitutes rely on the secrecy around their identity.
Many girls are scared to talk with the media, for the very simply reason of being scared to be exposed to their family or friends. It's happened before a few times that a prostitute was willing to talk with people from the media, and they promised the girls their identity would be safe with them. Afterwards however they where clearly visible on TV for everyone to recognize. Fear of being exposed by the media, has caused the girls to be very camera shy, and not talk to people from the media, to protect their identity from their family.

On top of that, it wouldn't be the first time if a prostitute's story was twisted and turned by the media to tell a very different story than the girl told herself. By creative editing, people from the media can manipulate a story so much, it can be completely different from what you've told. Scared of their story being used by the enemies of prostitution, we prostitutes shy away from journalists and the media, who've contributed a lot to the mass hysteria that is called human trafficking.

Fortunately these days we have the internet and social media, where girls can speak for themselves without having to give up their identity. Though this of course also causes the problem of not being able to verify if a person claiming to be a prostitute is a real prostitute. Anti-prostitution people use this fact to disregard real prostitutes as fakes (as you can read here), and with that prostitutes their interest to share their stories online has been destroyed. What's the point to tell a story, when nobody's going to believe you anyway? And the only way to prove you're real, is to give up your identity, which is the last thing a prostitute wants to do.

But even with my clients I feel the same way. So many times clients ask me if I'm here by choice, or because my pimp makes me work here. I always answer honestly that I'm here by my own free choice. But even then those people still don't believe it. I always wonder what's the point to ask something, if you're not going to believe the answer anyway. It's the same reason I have shied away from speaking out for so long. What's the point to talk if nobody wants to believe you, and other people from outside the prostitution industry always know it better?

This is the reason many prostitutes don't want to talk. If they talk, people don't believe them. And if people do start to believe them, there will always be people claiming you're a fake. So what's the point? They have to risk their identity to tell people something they still won't believe in the end? And why talk to a government that doesn't want to listen, thinks they know better than us how our work and lives are like, and make up their own facts?
If people where really so interested to hear from a prostitute, than come and talk to us. If people really want to talk with us, than talk! We're not hard to find, and we don't bite (unless if that's what you're into). It's easier to find us, than for us to find you.
But if you do choose to hear from a prostitute what she has to say, than also accept the answers, and don't be ignorant and dismiss it like you know it better. Accept our words for what they are, the truth and nothing less but the truth. You don't want the truth, than don't come to talk to us like the government does, but then don't claim you're doing it in our best interest, because you're not.

Dutch version