You still don't know my name

This project tells the stories of migrant sex workers and potential victims of human trafficking in Denmark. This is a small selection from the project.

It is not known how many migrant sex workers and potential victims of human trafficking exist in Denmark at the moment.

They often change names, phone numbers and workplaces, which means they are hard to count and follow. Their situations vary and defining whether someone has been forced into sex work is difficult. Some know that they will be doing sex work when coming to Denmark and some don't. Some can travel freely between countries and some have their passports taken away by traffickers. Some are held by threats and violence, some by debt and some because they have no other choice but to stay.

Many of the sex workers live and work in houses spread out over all of Denmark. They stay for four to fourteen days, after which they drive or are being driven to a new house. Sometimes they don’t know where.

Most of the houses have extensive surveillance that allows the sex workers to see the clients. But often these cameras also transmit directly to the ‘boss’, and thereby becomes a way of controlling the sex workers.

House or brothel sex work is believed to be the most common kind of sex work in Denmark.

The people running the brothels often buy and rent out more houses at the same time. This means that many of the houses are connected in networks spread out over all of Denmark.

The migrants and potential victims of human trafficking have explained how they often feel scared and are subjected to violence.

In their annual report 2020 the Danish Center of Human Trafficking describe that the traffickers, especially in the Eastern European environment, have become harsher and more organized.

Former sex workers describe depression, PTSD-symptoms such as dissociation, sensory disturbances, flashbacks, difficulty with relationships and trust as some of the consequences of the job. Some also describe a stronger desire to have control, the feeling of being dirty and having anxiety.

This is a small selection of a bigger project.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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In Lithuania I have a 14-year old daughter. I told her that I work with rich men. Kids are not stupid. She sees that I have underwear and robes, so I can’t tell her that I work at a bar, because I bring so much money home that they would never believe me. I bought two apartments in Lithuania, so how would they believe that I work at a restaurant? So I told them that I work with very rich men, that I sometimes have sex with. I don’t tell them that I have 10 customers a day.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - I don’t believe in love anymore
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I don’t believe in love anymore

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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When I work, I am an actress. I use music to disconnect from my body and connect to another woman. If a client speaks he breaks my concentration and the distance goes away. It’s too close for me if he touches my breasts. It’s private. Sensitive. I keep my bra on. If they don’t ask, I don’t take it off. It’s what I like, not what they like.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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It is not because I want it, it’s because I have to take care of my children. I pay 600 euro per month for their education. I don’t want my kids to know what I’m doing. There’s no future in that.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I have been in Denmark for six months. The first months I didn’t do sex work. But then I began. I can’t stay if I don’t work.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I only have one fear: that my family will find out about my job. I am not afraid of the customers or the places. Just that my family finds out.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - I don’t like the chauffeur. He scares me.
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I don’t like the chauffeur. He scares me.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - There’s nothing beautiful here.
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There’s nothing beautiful here.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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When I have time off I go on my bike to the city and buy cat food and go to the gym. My mom lives in Frederikshavn. I don’t know if she’s a sex worker too. But she knows about my job.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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My family doesn’t know what I go through. They think I am living the good life, because I can send money to them every day, butI am sad to be in this business. And very ashamed. I am ashamed if my family knows what I do – if my mother or father found out. They didn’t bring me up to do this. They are proud of me for the things I have in my country. But they don’t know where the money came from. They don’t know anything. They don’t know the real truth. Only me myself. When I think of all the men I have slept with, sometimes I just sit and cry and hate myself. Sometimes I don’t know what to do. I’m locked inside all day and I can’t go anywhere, because I’m waiting for someone to come and sleep with me. I am strong, but there’s a lot of crying at night. There was a time I wanted to kill myself because I hated myself. Many of my friends have worked in the business for six, seven, eight, ten years. I hope I will not be in this business for 10 years. I hope I will stop, but if I stop working now I go home with nothing. People will say: “You have been in Europe and you didn’t take advantage. You didn’t take the chance. They will be disappointed. But they don’t know what we go through here. They think we pick money in the trees. But it’s not easy money. They might give you 800 kr for 30 minutes. But still, it’s 30 minutes, you have to be with somebody you don’t love.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I know it’s not a good job, but it’s a job. When you hate things about yourself, you start to think other people don’t like you. I think we must think positive. I can’t all the time. But I try.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I love my mother so much. She is my inspiration. She was never giving up. Life is like a journey. Sometimes it gets rough. And when it’s rough you have to sit down and relax and think: “What do I do now?”, instead of giving up or killing yourself. Sometimes your man can be hard or violent and then you leave. And you have to think: “This is not the end. Something better is coming.” It gives me a good heart and strength to think like this. I believe that I am strong. My parents suffered so much in life, but they were strong like me. I want to give my kids what I did not get from my parents because they were poor. They could not afford the school fees. I can’t read or write. Your children are your life. You have to be hard working . You have to be strong. You have to not be afraid of nothing. If I was educated I would be a politician. That would be my job. Because I want to fight for justice.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - You ask yourself in your heart: “When will it stop?”
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You ask yourself in your heart: “When will it stop?”

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I had one customer who fell in love. He had money and was an accountant, so he could help me do my taxes. I wasn’t in love, but thought positively in that sense. We were married for four years.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I identify as a man, but I work as a transdomina. I had my breasts augmented, but I only transitioned for work. In two years I’ll throw them out with the trash. The money is better when I work as a trans. There are more customers. In my personal life I’m no domina. It’s romantic. Relaxed.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - I don’t like it. Sometimes, when I go to the toilet, I cry and wash my body.
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I don’t like it. Sometimes, when I go to the toilet, I cry and wash my body.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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How can you enjoy it when you have different customers all the time. They ask about too many things. Like why I came here from Africa. I think: “Why did YOU come here?”

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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We had to work hard. We were eight kids and a mom and dad. Vi peeled potatoes, washed clothes, raked the driveway and helped in the field with the beets, potatoes and carrots. From when I was a small child I was working hard.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I lived here before. I was cleaning in a hotel in Odense. 4 years ago. But then I lost the job. I thought: “How can I earn money to buy food?” It was hard to make this choice. But it gives me a place to put my head and food on the table. Most people don’t really want this condition in life. No one wants all men to touch them. Most women just want one man. It’s hard because you don't know the men. It’s not easy. Sometimes you don’t like this person. They are doing something wrong they are not supposed to do. It creates an imbalance. The heart will not be steady anymore. It shakes. When your heart refuses you have to go. If I had a new job now I would say goodbye.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I have to stay positive. I know there can be hard days and bad times, but good times will always come again. Whether it’s in one day, two days, one month… There will be good times again.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I have been in one place for two weeks now. We made a deal that if I don’t work, I don’t pay rent. The boss has 5 other houses in Denmark.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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We all have light inside our hearts. Every time we are bad, we try to find help outside ourselves, but we need to find the help inside the heart. I know that because I experienced it myself.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I want to stop because my head is full. When you have a guest you must remember everything. You must not forget what they like. You have to be nice to them otherwise they don’t come back.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I only work in the daytime, morning and afternoon, because it’s more safe. I don’t like working in the evening or night. People come here for an ‘afterparty’. I always tell them that there are other people in the house and I turn on the light in the other rooms. It’s more safe than being alone. The women can put the furniture where they want. The bed used to be in the other room. I liked that better. It’s more private. Now the bed is in a room that the clients have to walk through and they will see all my stuff. So I moved my luggage next door. I keep work and private life separate.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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Moving around in the bed is hard - most of them grab on to me tightly and crawl around on me - and when it’s already hurting it hurts even more. I’m so tired and I have no energy. It hurts all over. In my fingers, shoulders, hands and legs. It’s because of my illness

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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When I started I had maybe 8-10 men a day with a 30 minute break between. And then came the next, and the next and the next. But I was mentally strong.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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A friend from Uganda asked me if she should come here to help me. But I don’t want that. It would give me a bad conscience. I don’t want my friend to have the same experiences.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - The things you see in films are here. You hear about this and you think it's a film, but the film is here.
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The things you see in films are here. You hear about this and you think it's a film, but the film is here.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I have my god in my heart. I go to my knees and I pray for my family. I say: “Sorry, sorry, sorry Only you know, why I’m here Only you know, when I will finish here Please my God, I’m not angry at you.” I love my god.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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The boss doesn't work. One of my friends lived with her boss and they shared 50-50. He just sat in a chair drinking coffee. He had a wife and kids in Romania. They don’t give anything back.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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My girlfriend said “You need money? Try this work”. I thought about it all night and decided to try it. My friend gave me the money and bought my ticket. I was 40 years old when I came here.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I dream every night and talk in my sleep about old times. I hit. And I cry and laugh. I also sleepwalk. I’m afraid someone will come. When my boyfriend comes to visit, I sometimes scratch his face. Often I dream that I am in a fight. That I am angry at a woman or a man. In the dream I’m just hitting. Other times I can’t remember anything. I am scared of dreaming about older days. I feel like everyone who is dead is still alive. That’s why I dream about them. My mother is dead, my father is dead, my brother is dead, my sister is dead. In my dreams they are still alive. But when I wake up, they are all dead.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - I don’t have a choice. If I break, everything breaks.
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I don’t have a choice. If I break, everything breaks.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Last night was ugly. We yelled at each other.
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Last night was ugly. We yelled at each other.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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I work as a domina. When I am a domina, I feel like I am the boss. It’s better, because then I am in control. I have many bad experiences with customers getting rough. I feel powerful and protected when I am a domina. I feel like a queen. It’s my favourite role. When I was a kid, I dreamt of becoming an actor. And I have become exactly that. I am a professional. It feels good inside and in my dreams I am a star. The customers sometimes hit or bite me. The scar on my eyebrow I got this spring. A customer wanted to kill me. He fucked me for three hours and then he wouldn’t pay. He hit me with a big ring and I ended up in the hospital in Aarhus. When I told the ambulance driver that I worked as a prostitute he said: “Don’t touch me.” Then I went to the police. The case has been stopped because I left the country.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - I miss my mom.
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I miss my mom.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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My mom had a tough time when she was old. I don’t want that. So I am planning for my future, so that I can live well when I am old.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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There are only two channels on the television. It’s boring. It blinks and blinks and blinks. The same programmes over and over again. I am alone for a long time. I sit here looking out. I could go outside, but where should I go? I become more depressed here, because there are long periods of time where I don’t have anyone to talk to. It’s not enough to talk on the phone with people from home. Who has the time to talk to me on the phone all the time? In Africa you are never alone. There’s always people around you. But it’s not like that in Denmark. You have neighbours, but no one speaks to each other. You can’t take it personally. It’s Danish culture. It’s how they live here. I sit here for many hours and wait and wait and wait. You never know what tomorrow brings. So I just wait.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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”Why do you like to be in Denmark?”, my dad says, “Come back, come back.” I can feel in his question, that he is going to die soon. He is 94 years old. If he dies, the question will stay in my head – “Why did I not go back?” I am paying for a helper in his home .

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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Three months ago my girlfriend left me. Now she’s back in Latvia. We were in this together. But it was hard, because there are so many feelings. I met her for the first time in school 15 years ago. But it wasn’t until we met randomly at a restaurant in the airport where she worked, that we started seeing each other. When my girlfriend lost her job, I suggested that I could go to Denmark for work, and send money home. But she didn’t want that, so she came along. It is not easy being a lesbian couple in Latvia. We furnished the house we lived in together. I feel that it is more like a home than the other houses. We were only together for a year. But it was so special. She was perfect.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - No one asks how I feel.
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No one asks how I feel.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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It’s not hard on my body. It’s hard mentally. There’s no balance in my job. Every day people demand different things from you. I am tired.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - Image from the You still don't know my name photography project
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A long time ago, a man entered the house at night. When he came into my room, he took out a gun. He wanted to take my money, but I didn’t have any. Then he said, that he wanted free sex, so I had to give him that.

© Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker og Louise Herrche Serup - In Thailand I planted 200 coconut trees. In three years they will bear fruit. I have so many plans.
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In Thailand I planted 200 coconut trees. In three years they will bear fruit. I have so many plans.

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