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Topics: Life, Sex and Relationships, World News
Britt Jones
Topics: Life, Sex and Relationships, World News
There aren't many people who can say they've had hundreds of thousands of men in their beds, but the Fokkens sisters can.
The Fokkens' have been 'Fokken' for so long that the pair have reached international fame with a documentary even exploring their lives and work.
The 2011 flick on Louise and Martine Fokkens, shot when they were 69 years old, and showed the realities of being that age and working as sex workers in the red-light district in Amsterdam.
Having gotten into the business over 50 years ago, you could say they know their job like the back of their hands, but it isn't quite like you'd expect it to be. The women retired at around 70, as they said they began to find it a ‘painful’ struggle to continue with their trade.
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Mother-of-four Louise revealed that her arthritis made some positions ‘too painful’, as mother-of-three Martine revealed there were not as many customers as there used to be.
She explained that there was only one elderly man who was still a regular, and stayed for his S&M sessions.
"I couldn’t give him up. He’s been coming to me for so long it’s like going to church on a Sunday," Martine said, per MetroUK.
The twins have been able to maintain their work since brothels were legalised in the Netherlands in 2000, but it didn't make things easier.
Instead, it seemed to be selectively positive, as Martine said: "It is better for the pimps and the foreigners, but not for the Dutch girls."
At just 17, Louise was the first to get into the line of work after being introduced to it by her husband. Soon, she was in one of the Red Light District windows, where sex workers advertise themselves for passing punters.
“That is how fast it went,” she said, per The Sun. “You do not have time to think. It just happens.”
But when her family learned of her work, Martine was tasked with putting an end to it, but couldn’t sway her sister. S started working as a cleaner in a brothel instead, and said she would decline the propositions of clients.
However, when her husband lost his job in a builder’s strike, her family could no longer afford to live.
Knowing that her sister was a sex worker, according to the woman, made it easier for her to join.
“Without her I would never have done it,” she said. “But with her it felt less frightening.”
Throughout the years, they made a name for themselves, and even opened up their own brothel and Dutch eatery called De Twee Stiertjes.
Their time in the windows was not without its laughs, as they recalled a ‘filthy little gnome’.
Louise said the man was visibly excited at the prospect of his ‘dirty little gnome’ wife finally stepping in front of him.
“He looked like he was about to burst into confetti,” she said.
While they don’t do sex work anymore, they hope the royalties from their documentary helps them along.