Managing one of Europe’s biggest legal brothels takes far more than business sense: it demands an ability to navigate clients’ wide-ranging preferences while constantly assessing risk to protect the people working there.
Catherine De Noire, 32, oversees a large and profitable establishment while also balancing academic life, pursuing a psychology PhD during the day and running the venue the rest of the time.
She’s willing to speak candidly about the realities of the job and the questions people often ask about sex work. At the same time, she has made it clear she dislikes being labelled a “pimp”, arguing that many of the women she works with operate more like independent contractors than employees.
With hundreds of customers arriving daily and some spending thousands in a single night, the pressure to run a tight, safe operation is constant. That’s also why De Noire relies on what she calls an “eight second rule” designed to get help to workers fast if anything turns threatening.
Given the volume of visitors, the brothel works with multiple women who offer different experiences, but the key point, De Noire says, is that every worker sets her own boundaries and decides what she is and isn’t willing to do.
“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.
Even in a legal setting, not every request feels comfortable or safe. De Noire says workers are encouraged to refuse anything they don’t want to do, and they are supported when they set those limits.
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.”
But turning someone down can sometimes trigger a negative reaction, which is where the “eight second rule” becomes central to how the venue operates.
De Noire says the business is built around visible, practical safeguards, a contrast to the danger many sex workers report facing elsewhere, with some estimates suggesting violence is widespread in the industry.
Her claim is that, inside her establishment, assistance is never far away — specifically, no more than 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.”
Workers are instructed that “if a situation becomes uncomfortable, threatening or escalates into an emergency,” activating the alarm will immediately bring security staff to the room within 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 because the brothel operates legally, De Noire says incidents don’t have to be handled through intimidation or violence. If something criminal occurs, she can contact police directly and make a formal report.