The Future of Sex Work in the Balkans

Introduction

The Balkans is a space of contradictions. Simultaneously conservative and pragmatic, traditional and improvised, deeply marked by history and forced to live with the reality of survival. Sex work has been part of everyday life in this area for decades – not necessarily as a choice, often as a necessity, but almost always as a topic not spoken about publicly.

The future of sex work in the Balkans will not be shaped in parliaments or official strategies. It will be shaped where it always is: on the ground, in digital channels, in informal networks, and in people's responses to economic pressure.

Between Moral Rhetoric and Economic Reality

The official discourse of Balkan countries still treats sex work as a deviation, danger, or shame. Legislations are unclear, repressive, or selectively applied. In practice, however, the same society tolerates the existence of the market as long as it remains invisible, fragmented, and voiceless.

The economic reality of the Balkans – low wages, precarious work, migration, inequalities – creates conditions in which sex work is not an exception, but a survival strategy. Moral condemnation here does not act as protection, but as an additional burden.

The future will therefore be decided between two paths: continuing silent exploitation or gradually acknowledging reality.

Digitalization Blurs Borders, But Not Risks

Digital platforms have already included the Balkans in the global market of sexual services. State borders have become irrelevant, while differences in legislation have become even more dangerous. Workers and users move across online channels, while protection remains local, weak, or non-existent.

Digitalization has increased accessibility, but has not automatically increased security. Without appropriate structures, it means greater exposure: to blackmail, violence, financial abuse, and legal uncertainty. The Balkans does not differ from Europe here – the difference is only that the safeguards are even thinner.

Regulation as Taboo and as Necessity

The word 'regulation' triggers resistance in the Balkans. It is associated with control, corruption, or the legalization of something 'inappropriate'. But in reality, it is the absence of regulation that enables the most abuse.

Regulation does not mean imposing models from Western Europe. It means:

• clear distinction between coercion and voluntariness,

• protection of workers without stigmatization,

• minimum safety standards,

• and limiting parasitic intermediaries.

The future of sex work in the Balkans will be pragmatic or it will be dangerous. There is no third way.

Community Models as an Answer to Mistrust in Institutions

Trust in institutions is low in the Balkans – often for a reason. Therefore, future solutions will not be exclusively state-run. Community and hybrid structures combining digital tools, self-organization, and minimal formalization will develop.

Initiatives like Dobra Družba indicate the direction: platforms that are not just marketplaces, but security infrastructures; models where workers are not the object of regulation, but its co-creator. Such approaches are more realistic in the Balkans than centralized, rigid legislative reforms.

Migrations, Inequalities, and New Power Relations

The Balkans is not a closed system. Sex work is strongly linked to migration – internal and cross-border. Workers from poorer environments enter relationships where bargaining power is minimal and legal protection is almost nil.

The future will depend on whether new systems can:

• reduce power asymmetries,

• prevent economic coercion,

• and allow exit without penalty.

Without this, digitalization will only accelerate old patterns of exploitation in a new guise.