Sexelance!!!
Michael Lodberg Olsen rests his buttocks on the board that serves as a bed in Sexelance, his mobile sanctuary for street sex workers, and begins rocking back and forth, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “We thought of putting in something to stop this,” he says, as the converted ambulance jumps up and down on its suspension. “But then we thought people might quite like it.”
Cuts to NHS services for sex workers 'disastrous' say experts Read moreLodberg Olsen, a self-described social entrepreneur, brings a dash of humour to his projects. On the back door of the Sexelance, a sticker declares: “Don’t come knocking if the car is rocking.” He clearly relishes the terminology sex workers use for the services they provide: “‘Swedish’ is a hand job, ‘French’ is a blowjob, and ‘Danish’ is the real interaction.”
Lodberg Olsen’s intentions are entirely serious. A notice inside informs prostitutes that volunteers will call the police at the first sign of violence and encourages them to make contact if they are victims of human trafficking. “If you look at sex workers on the street, 42% have faced threats of violence, but in a brothel it’s only 3%,” Lodberg Olsen says, citing statistics from the Danish National Centre for Social Research. “There’s a lot of violence against street workers, so that’s what we are trying to deal with.”
Tonight the Sexelance is parked on Istedgade, a street tucked behind Copenhagen’s central station which is known for porn shops, strip clubs and prostitutes. Passersby peer in. A drunk clutching a can of Carlsberg rolls up and is shown the lubrication dispenser and tray of condoms, which come as oral, normal or extra large.
Three Romanian women in black puffer jackets and fur-lined boots, waiting across the street for the night’s first punters, have yet to notice it, however. “Really?! Come on! The customers no come there,” says Galina, 27, when she hears what the ambulance is for. “They go in the toilet, in the car park, in the car … noooo. Are you laughing at me? Come on!”
