The Workers Party of Belgium, PTB, on Wednesday called on employment agency Actiris to withdraw a question sent to job-seeking artists about their willingness to act in an erotic or pornographic film.
The PTB’s leader in the Brussels parliament, Françoise De Smedt, said her party considered it “scandalous” that such a question should appear in a questionnaire sent to people looking for employment, and wondered how far Actiris was prepared to go to activate job-seekers.
“This is a public service that must help jobseekers find decent jobs,” the parliamentarian said. “They have no business being confronted with such questions, not to mention the embarrassment this must cause Actiris advisers.”
The PTB parliamentarian made the comments after verifying the testimony of a drama graduate to whom the questionnaire was given.
She wondered whether this meant it would be possible to penalise an artist looking for work who did not agree to act in a pornographic film since, she noted, penalties can be incurred for refusing or failing to respond to a job offer.
Françoise De Smedt also denounced “a trivialisation of the commodification of the body,” which, she said, was “totally unacceptable on the part of a public service.”
