Featured Image Credit: LADbible Stories
Topics: Sex and Relationships
William Morgan
Running one of Europe's largest brothels is not a job for the faint hearted, often requiring an incredibly open mind about each client's personal tastes, as well as a good nose for danger to keep her workers safe.
That is the difficult task faced by Catherine De Noire, the manager of a major brothel who, at the age of 32, juggles her daytime studies towards a psychology PhD with operating a highly lucrative legal sex work business.
Although De Noire enjoys talking about her work and answering some of the burning questions that people have about the oldest profession in the world, she has previously said that she does not like being called a 'pimp', as many of her employees are more like independent contractors.
But with clients dropping thousands in one night to have their desires met at her brothel, and hundreds of men visiting each day, De Noire has her work cut out for her. Which is why she uses an 'eight second rule' to keep everyone safe.
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With so many clients to turnover in a day, De Noire's brothel employs a number of women who each can facilitate different desires. But, importantly, each one gets to choose what they are comfortable doing.
"We let each of the workers decide. We have women who've worked with us for many years, and they don't do the full service," she told VT.
This does not mean that her legal sex workers don't come across things they don't feel comfortable, or safe, doing. That's why she lets them say no to anything they don't want to do, a luxury not afforded to many prostitutes around the world.
She explained: "I always tell the girls, 'Look, you need to decide, you're an independent contractor, and if the client looks weird, or if he wants to do something with you that you don't want to do with him, just tell him no."
This is where the 'eight second rule' comes in, as there is no guarantee that a client will take being turned down well.
So, there are a number of security measures in place to make sure that each of De Noire's 'contractors' are safe in their place of work. A major benefit of working in her brothel, with reports indicating that around 80 percent of sex workers experience violence.
To ensure that this doesn't happen, each of her employees knows they can get help in just eight seconds.
"All rooms are equipped with panic buttons," De Noire told the publication. “Every worker knows exactly where the panic button is located in their room, and they are trained on how and when to use it."
Each contractor knows that "if a situation becomes uncomfortable, threatening or escalates into an emergency," they can just smash this button and get security guards there in just eight seconds.
"The moment the button is pressed, a siren sounds in the security office and the room number is displayed immediately on our monitors," she added.
And if a crime is committed at her establishment, De Noire does not have to rely on bruisers to come in knock seven bells out any violent clients. She can just call the police and file a report, thanks to the legal status of her brothel.