Nina de Vries

Encyclopedia : N : NI : NIN : Nina de Vries

Nina de Vries (born 1961) is a Dutch sex worker who offers erotic massages to mentally disabled men and women in Berlin, Germany. In her spare time Nina also teaches others the skills of the trade.

De Vries is nude when she massages her clients; these massages include embracing and caressing and sometimes culminate in her masturbating her clients to orgasm. She does not offer vaginal or oral sex. When needed her clients are accompanied by a caregiver or relative; these chaperons wait next door and afterwards discuss the session with de Vries. Some of her typical clients have Down's syndrome or suffered brain damage after an accident. Some of them are so severely limited that they cannot do much more than smile or frown. These services are not covered by German health insurers, but the welfare agency has occasionally paid for destitute clients. The price (in 2003) was € 80 per hour and 110 when she visits clients in institutions for handicapped persons.

De Vries does not reject the label "prostitute"; she herself uses the term "sexual assistant" (German: Sexualbegleiterin). Prostitution is legal in Germany (see prostitution in Germany), and sexual services for physically disabled persons are accepted and readily available; since 1995 the agency Sensis in Wiesbaden has connected clients and providers. Sexual services for the severely mentally disabled are controversial, however: some think that these people should be treated as equivalent to children, and therefore cannot give valid permission, or do not need, to engage in sexual behavior. Others fear that de Vries might misinterpret the often very subtle communication attempts of her clients. She maintains that although her clients may not be able to communicate verbally they usually are very clear in their communication.

De Vries trained as a therapist in the Netherlands and has lived in Berlin since 1990. In 1994 she started to offer erotic massages to regular clients, beginning in 1997 also to the disabled. Since 1999 she has worked exclusively with mentally disabled men; she appears to be the first person in Germany to do so. German newspapers have repeatedly covered her work and several documentaries were broadcasted on German, Austrian and Swiss television. In April 2003, she was asked to train sexual assistents for the disabled in Zürich. These attempts faltered when the sponsoring organization, Pro Infirmis, encountered resistance and suffered a considerable drop in donations. In November 2003, a separate organization was founded to pursue the project. The training eventually took place from January until June 2004.

Nina de Vries

Further reading