Meet the Fokkens. Holland oldest working prostitutes
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For an aging prostitute, arthritis can be a real game changer.
So say Amsterdam's oldest 'window girls', Louise and Martine Fokkens - the identical twins who have worked the Dutch capital's infamous Red Light District for almost half a century.
And at 70, the pair are celebrating being the city's most experienced prostitutes with a tell-all film that lays bare two lifetimes in the vice trade.
Louise, however, was finally forced to hang up her fishnets two years ago after arthritis ravaged her joints making it increasingly difficult to 'do the sexual positions'. Martine is still going strong.
She relies on a flow of loyal regulars to keep her income steady.
'My regulars want to know they will get a good service,'.
Meet The Fokkens is a documentary by Gabrielle Provaas and Rob Shröder that charts the extraordinary lives of the sisters.
They began their careers in prostitution in their early 20s and have worked the city's canal walks ever since.
'We hardly ever really f****d unless they paid us well.'
Comparing the early days of the prostitution world with the present day, she recalls: 'In the old days, the local copper would tap on the window if a girl was showing too much ankle, now the girls deal coke from their cubicles.'
Louise explains how arthritis forced her to retire two years ago, because she 'couldn’t get one leg over the other' - though her sister continues to work.
The sisters tell in the film how they freed themselves from the control of their pimps, ran their own brothel, and set up the first informal trade union for prostitutes
But behind their jolly smiles and amusing anecdotes lies a lifetime of abuse, violence and exploitation.
Louise was first to walk the streets after her violent husband sent her out to bring in extra money for him and their three children.
'I was beaten on to the streets by my husband in my early 20s,' she said. 'He told me unless I earned money for him he would leave me, and I had children and loved him, so I had to do it.'
She found work at a window brothel in the heart of Amsterdam's red light district.
Martine, who had recently given birth to her fourth child, later came to work at the vice den as a cleaner
But when men began asking her for business, she joined her sister, realising they could make far more money 'doing threesomes'.
One of their main bugbears is how Amsterdam's vice trade has changed over the years.
They say the legalisation of brothels in 2000, rather than create a safe-haven for prostitutes to ply their trade without fear, it opened the flood gates to organised criminal gangs.
It also vastly reduced their daily income, the sisters claim.
'There is no point working just for tax. That is why the girls are working from the internet and from home – you are less likely to be spotted by the taxman.'
Both tell of the heartache of seeing most of their children bounce in and out of care as well as the shame she brought on her family when caught by her mother soliciting on the streets.
'I have €5 in my purse,' is Louise's answer when asked if she has any savings. 'Whores are expected to do things for nothing.'
But despite their tumultuous and chaotic lives, the pair say they 'kept each other company' throughout, admitting they as inseparable now as they were 50 years ago and still 'do everything together'.
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not sure i shd feel happy for them, or sad for them..