A legal brothel owner has lifted the lid on some of the craziest things she has encountered in her line of work.
At 32, Catherine De Noire’s career has taken a rather unlikely turn.
While she is studying for a PhD in psychology, with her topic being sex work and its management, Catherine also manages one of the largest legal brothels in Europe.
Having built up a following of 455,000 on Instagram, she often shares insights into her NSFW job – including some of the wildest requests she has encountered.
In her near-decade experience in the role, Catherine recalled family dramas, including seeing a mother and daughter working together at the brothel, as well as the husband of one of the sex workers finding out about his wife’s work and booking in as her client.
The brothel manager also recounted some strange client visits – including one who played to roleplay as a plumber, only to “spend the entire session fixing the bathtub and toilet”, and the time one of the sex workers accidentally set a room on fire during a session with a client
“When I started to work at that club and learned that a mother and daughter were working there together – literally in neighbouring rooms – it shocked me,” Catherine told Need To Know.
“My first reaction was to imagine myself and my own mother in that situation, which felt extremely awkward.
“But one thing I have learned in this business is not to judge other people’s life choices and lifestyles by my own standards.
“Just because I would not want that situation does not mean others should be forbidden from it.
“They were doing nothing illegal, and if both were comfortable with it, it was not my place to interfere.
“I have known them for 10 years now, and I have come to see that they genuinely have a very trusting relationship – almost like best friends, with no secrets between them.”
Another tale with a surprisingly “nice” outcome was that of the husband and wife – with Catherine noting that they had a “genuinely good relationship” but that their sex life had dwindled.
While she kept her sex work hidden from him, he visited the brothel by chance while with friends and spotted his spouse.
While they initially argued and she agreed to stop working, she eventually returned to the brothel and said it had led to an “honest conversation” about their relationship.
The husband later came back and became an occasional customer, finding her work “arousing”.
Catherine added: “Some stories simply have unexpectedly positive endings.”
While the manager doesn’t hide her work from her friends or family, she says her appearance as a “normal woman” often comes as a surprise to customers.
She said: “Many people expect brothel managers to be guys in fake furs, covered in gold, carrying a cane, smoking cigars, and surrounded by weapons and drugs.
“Or they imagine a female version – a ‘Madam,’ an older woman who smokes constantly and used to be a sex worker.
“When people meet me, a normal woman in her 30s who also studies sex work, they are very surprised.
“They usually say something like: “Oh… I expected a brothel manager to be really dodgy, but you’re actually completely normal.”
Catherine first started her unusual work during her bachelor’s degree in psychology at the age of 22.
She said: “It was really a coincidence – one evening I came across an article with a manager of a legal brothel, and it fascinated me.
“He talked about how this business can be done ethically – that in their brothel, women decide for themselves what they will do, with whom, and for how much; they set their own schedules, and the club takes no percentage of their earnings.
“They simply pay room rent, and that is the only payment to the club.
“The manager also had a degree in psychology.
“When I finished the article, I knew I wanted to do this job too.”
Sharing her insights with Erobella, Catherine added: “There are many misconceptions about this business in general – people imagine beaten women on drugs standing by the roadside, disgusting, creepy clients, and managers with arsenals of weapons who abuse the workers.
“Such cases do exist, because sex work is not a single uniform phenomenon, but they are more extreme situations typically found where sex work is illegal.
“In Europe, where I work, the business is legal, and clubs like ours are subject to quite strict inspections – hygiene, fire safety, regular police visits.
“We cooperate with NGOs, sex workers pay taxes, and they have legal protection.”
