The challenges of regulating the porn industry in Belgium

An ultra-liberalized sector

The Last Hour then spoke with Utsopi, a collective of sex workers. “In Belgium, porn is not developed at all, it’s really minimal, says Daan Bauwens, the director of the collective. There are small LGBTQIA+ groups that make their films independently. Regarding mainstream production companies, I have two in mind.” In reality, Daan Bauwens does not know any porn actors or actresses who work under contract, all of them are freelancers. This therefore pulls the rug out from under Actiris, responsible for linking an employer and a job seeker via an employment contract.

No legal framework

For Françoise De Smedt (PTB) who believes that “the profession of porn actor is not a profession like any other and that the public service must advocate decent jobs”, it is also at the level of working conditions in the porn that the question is problematic. She wants for reference the French case where many actresses have deplored cases of rape on the set. “Criminalization has made conditions dire for sex workers in France. It only made their lives worse, says Daan Bauwens. If a state denies the existence of a sector, that logically creates problems.” However, for porn, nothing governs the conditions of filming on the set, the new Penal Code obviously applies but, in the street or on a pornographic film set, the text makes no difference.

Utsopi is working precisely on a framework as requested by the actors but, in view of the liberalization of these, a legal framework looks more complex. The director of Utsopi does not fail to recall that the professions of actors and porn actors remain “completely different”.