Unemployed actors have been asked if they’d bare more than their souls on camera after Brussels-based employment agency, Actiris, suggested those looking for work might be willing to take part in porn movies.
That prompted a frosty reaction from the communist PVDA party, which denounced the query that came in an Actiris questionnaire for performers.
The group leader of the PVDA in the Brussels Parliament, Françoise De Smedt, said it was unacceptable that government services that should help people find work had come up with what the party sees as lewd propositions and called it “an outrage”. She questioned just how far Actiris was willing to go to entice job seekers to get work.
Actiris’s saucy suggestion came to light after an unemployed female flagged it up on Wednesday. The woman, referred to as ‘Emilie’, told La Capitale newspaper that she had just moved to Brussels and registered with the employment agency. “I was very well received by a lady who prepared my file,” she said. “When the woman heard that I had an acting degree, she asked questions about potential film professions. She then asked me if I would possibly be willing to act in a pornographic film.”
After verifying Emilie’s story, an outraged De Smedt fumed: “This is a public service that should help jobseekers find decent jobs. They should not be confronted with such questions, not to mention the embarrassment this must bring to Actiris advisers.”
De Smedt also queried what the consequences would be should an unemployed actor refuse to take part in a pornographic film, given the fact that there are financial sanctions for turning down job offers.
The politician further denounced “the banal commercialisation of the body, which is totally unacceptable for a public service”.
There are now demands for the question to be immediately removed from the Actiris questionnaire. “We will also call on Bernard Clerfayt, the Brussels employment minister, to fully clarify these degrading practices,” De Smedt said.
Actiris confirmed actors are quizzed regarding porn films in the survey, but agency spokesman Romain Adam told Belgian media: “It is absolutely not the case that we are suggesting people to act in pornographic films. This is one question in a list of some 50 questions that purely aims to determine what a job seeker’s skills and interests are.”
Adam said it was the first time the agency had been criticised regarding the questionnaire. He pointed out that employment offices in the other parts of Belgium have been asking the same question since 2015, adding: “A change has to be done through political channels. We are just a service administration.”
The Flemish employment office told De Standaard that the question is part of the skills profile that actors seeking employment can create. However, it said any such profile is developed in an online environment and the question would never be posed by what it described as an intermediary. The query was, the agency said, merely a matter of indicating experience. It also said actors mainly use their own networks to find work and only seek the help of employment offices when they are looking for jobs in a different sector.
It is unclear what Actiris will do regarding the question. It said it has not received a formal complaint, although the Brussels employment ministry has indicated it is looking into the matter and will be in contact with agency.
Le PTB dénonce le fait qu’Actiris propose de jouer dans des films porno à des https://t.co/LbJvgHF2tV d’emploi. La réponse est grave « c’est une question normale ». Non @ActirisBrussels ce n’est pas normal, jusqu’où allez vous aller dans l’activation ? https://t.co/Ab62ZnNMVi
— Françoise De Smedt (@frdesmed) May 31, 2023
