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June 2014 back issue
by Sasha Achilli
Waiting is unbearable. They watch television, check Facebook and call their boyfriends. In times of distress, they look
for comfort in the wise words of their Madame.
Thirty percent of the working girls in London’s flats are Romanian. Young and naïve, they conceal their identity in fear
of being discovered by their families. Back home mothers, brothers, siblings rely on their wages.
The sex industry is all they know. Most feel all they do is fuck. And, in the end it’s just business as usual.
I spent four months photographing sex workers in different flats around central London. Most of the women knew what
they were coming to do when they moved to the UK and although some have tried to “do normal job” they often resort
back to the only way they thought they could make a living.
Christina works as a Madame in one of the walk up flats of central London. She’s from Russia and has been working in
the sex industry for over 15 years; first as a working girl and now as a Madame. Christina is a like a mother figure and
the girls look to her for advice, guidance and protection.
Alice is 21 and from Romania. She had just seen a client after the 8th hour of being in the flat. In between clients she
watches television and sends text messages to her boyfriend.
Girls working in flats can’t go outside during work hours and they shouldn’t stand at the window because they could
get in trouble for publicising themselves.
Jessica, also from Romania, chats with her Madame as they smoke. Business is unpredictable and sometimes the
girls spend hours waiting for a customer.
While Jessica waits for customers to come she spends her time adding layers of make-up to her already made up face.
In the heart of China town, Jasmine offers her services as a “young Italian model”. Jasmine is also from Romania and
presents herself as an actress; customers ask her to behave in a certain way and she provides them with what they
pay for.
Jasmine, China Town.
Soho, the red light district of central London is filled with walk up flats. Some of the rooms are very bare, simply
functional for the job. Some of the girls would not let me photograph them but took me to the rooms and talked me
through how the transaction with a customer would take place.
Bare, functional room. Soho, central London.
Alicia is in her early thirties. She’s from Romania and has been a working girl for a long time. When I met Alicia she
was working in a Soho flat that was about to close down. She wasn’t too concerned however because she had saved
enough money to purchase a tapas bar in Spain where she has now relocated.
Rachel is in her sixties. Unlike the other women I met she is British and has been a sex worker for over 30 years.
She’s now a Madame in a walk up flat however there are days that she works and reserves for her loyal clients.
I photographed Petra after she turned the television on playing some of her favourite porn. Petra is from the Czech
Republic. Unlike many of the women I came across, Petra really enjoys her job. Before becoming a full time sex
worker she was involved in pornography.
Some apartments are decorated like 1930s cabaret bars. Sex workers spend over 12 hours a day in flats sometimes
waiting idle for hours so they often pass time decorating and re-decorating the apartments.
Customers enjoy sex with prostitutes for all different reasons including role-play. When I asked who all the costumes
were for, Petra replied “the men of course, they like to dress up as women.”
Customers enjoy role-play.
