W e were driving at about clicks an hour. Dark, craggy, and apart from the passing traffic it would be considered isolated. I saw a lady standing by the curbside in the sand by some trees. There was a large black plastic bag by her side. Lots of makeup, attractive, and well dressed. Something seemed not-quite-normal.
It was a strange place for such a lady to just be hanging out. Within a couple of minutes, I saw another. My mind subconsciously twigged. It was the third spotting, two ladies in matching mini-skirted uniforms, that erased any doubt in my mind. I had entered the lands โ of the Polish forest whores. Brothels, whore-houses, chicken houses, cat houses, dens of iniquity, knock shops, houses of ill repute, and bordellos are illegal in Poland.
As the old adage goes โ pimping may not be easy โ and in Poland, pimping is also illegal. However, in Poland, consensual prostitution โ selling sex โ is perfectly legal. Motivated by these laws, industrious Polish prostitutes have taken their wares and prominently displayed them along roadsides that cut through the forests surrounding many cities in Poland.
TIR is an abbreviation for Transports Internationaux Routiers โ the moniker given to the many heavy-duty truck drivers that also travel these same wooded roads. Despite the legality of prostitution, the forest prostitutes are members of the only profession that officially remains un-taxed in Poland. Unfortunately, this also means that these citizens are not entitled to any social benefits, such as health-care and other social welfare.
In a country where all efforts to promote safe sex are hindered by the dominance of the Catholic Church, this is worrisome. The Warsaw Business Journal wrote about Polish tax authorities having to instigate procedures and systems specifically to interview the vast numbers of people claiming to be prostitutes. Avoiding income tax may not be so easy. Self-proclaimed prostitutes are now being asked to provide evidence of their working life, such as photographs or client testimonials.
