AMSTERDAM’S RED-LIGHT DISTRICT
‘I often enjoy my work’ – or so a sex-worker’s statement read on a flyer from the red-light Museum of Prostitution, although the respondent didn’t say whether she enjoyed her work all the time, or with all her clients – we can only imagine on this one.
Located on Achteburgwal Street, bang in the middle of the red-light, the museum, a good starting-point makes no apologies for documenting the history and role of the infamous brothels, but also ‘windows’, i.e., the girls’ one-room cabins from where they offer their services.It’s certainly an educational place for any visitor uncomfortable with moral issues of prostitution, and far from being scandalised by the rights and wrongs of women selling themselves to the highest bidder, the Museum of Prostitution reaches out to the curious to relate just how and why there is a need for a sex-industry.
These red-light windows, by the way, along with their neon lighting and scantily-dressed girls are the more familiar sights to a visitor of which there are so many – tourist arrivals are up from 11 million to 18 million in just over a decade – that there are moves by the city council to review legislation.
Top of the list are the so-called ‘red-light excursions’ – guided walking tours organised by various companies to relate to tourists just how the industry operates.Not to say that this sex-industry is a new business.Since medieval times and because of its harbour proximity the red-light – known to the Dutch as De Wallen – has attracted both migrants and prostitutes and since the fifteenth-century there have been various interruptions to its fortunes with sex workers forced underground by successive reactionary city officials – evidently there was a relaxation of rules in the Napoleonic era when French soldiers were regular customers, only at a later date did religious organisations attempt brothel closures.
And of course, sailors made use of the brothels, although these days if sailors can get time off ship they’re more likely to be berthed fifty miles away at Rotterdam.
As an aside I didn’t ever sail with anyone who thought the red-light was a fab place. Most guys at sea probably still view the place as a tourist magnet: cold, impersonal and matter-of-fact.
Anyway, successive councillors both fought and acceded to the power of the Church for decades until finally in the year 2000 the sex industry became regulated meaning that prostitutes must, like people in any other job, have a permit, pay taxes and follow rules and regulations.And meaning of course that it is now recognised as a legal profession, this a status long overdue as decades earlier girls on the streets often worked against their will – many were from impoverished countries in Asia and South America – and some were cheated and on occasion brutally murdered.On the other hand, there were numerous reports of clients being robbed and assaulted too, another factor that legislation addressed.
So how has this legislation panned out? Is it successful or not?It’s obviously hard to quantify just how many men are seeking girls there – few guys would own up to it, would they? Or maybe they are ‘just looking.’Easier to assess however are the numbers of people signed up to guided tours around De Wallen. Such tours usually consist of upwards to twenty people accompanied by a guide who proceeds to walk his party round the windows, sex shops and brothels with a repertoire of the area’s history interspersed with various stories and anecdotes.According to Amsterdam Tourism there are approximately 1000 guided tours each week; one of the first operators evidently was blue-chip travel company Thomas Cook (now bankrupt, although possibly this misfortune not connected to its red-light tours!). In 2005 Cook Tours was so desperate to sell it even offered free tickets to accompanied children under the age of three ‘offering a fascinating insight into the oldest profession in the world.’ (1)
Of course, anyone can independently stroll around and look at the girls in the windows. It’s all part of novelty tourism, and nothing wrong with that.But at time of writing moves are afoot to ban guided tours, although it appears that it’s not so much that the moralists and wowsers are having their way, but rather that the city council states that it is ‘disrespectful to treat sex workers as a tourist attraction.’ (2)
They do have a good point for prostitution is a tough business, shrouded in secrecy and corruption, and objectifying sex workers as part of a human zoo to be mocked and laughed at is scarcely in accord with affording the girls respectability that the legislation law was supposed to uphold.The tour ban, in fact, is part of an evolving plan to give respect – an earlier rule means that photography of any of the windows and girls is strictly forbidden also.So the 2000 legislation does give protection to both sex-workers and clients but after this, assuming that the girls meet city hall criteria of being EU citizens (or permanent residents), over twenty-one years-old and medically checked, the next difficulty is to make enough money to pay the window owner his or her 150 euros daily – this of course being the rent.The property ownership of the windows isn’t always disclosed; and similarly the exact number of working prostitutes in De Wallen apparently isn’t known – a statement you may find suspicious considering the industry is now legit – but is believed to be anywhere from 1,100 to 3,400. But the ‘starting price’ to visit a girl is around 50 euros for a short visit, according to the Museum of Prostitution. For this figure however, a guy isn’t going to get much value and it’s up to him to negotiate.
Some make more money than others and the comment in the opening paragraph ( ‘I enjoy my work’) was from Eva, a Russian girl, whose ambition was to make enough money to train and qualify as a lawyer. So perhaps she was more motivated to negotiate upwards – a good basis for law work, you might say.And it seems that successful prostitutes entertain up to 16 customers per 10-hour shift. Of course there are days, too, when a prostitute will not receive a single visitor.Such successful girls will easily go through more than 2000 condoms a year – condom use itself a practice that the legislation insists upon, although it would be very unwise to for customers to neglect condom use anyway.
But outside of the windows and on the street, there is plenty more evidence that prostitution’s unrestricted tourism is having an adverse effect on the local community. On the plus side though it is reassuring to know there is a strong police presence around.However, on Achterburgwal the environment could be a lot cleaner and more liveable as signs are strung from buildings warning people not to pee in the street or drink alcohol in public places, whilst most pubs were seen to have poor hygiene standards. including lack of soap and hot water. People’s perceptions of Holland as a clean country also take a tumble as garbage accumulating on pavements and shop doorways is often still there at eight a.m. the next day. A visitor might just ask what local taxes are being used for.
But it’s not only sex-tourism which is blighting the city, but also the hordes of people interested in recreational drugs, an attraction since the 1960’s. Some of the windows and brothels are located next to the pungent ‘coffee shops’ – which of course don’t just sell coffee – but where any punter can openly buy hash cookies and magic mushrooms. Again, in principle, is there anything wrong with that?
We could argue that it isn’t a moral failing to take drugs; it’s only a moral failing to turn to illicit activities to pay for your drugs.And, of course, not to keep the streets clean.
Anyway, it’s now fairly clear that people have come to Amsterdam for years to buy sex, or drugs, or both.But in more recent times, people just come to see the sex-workers and the drug-users going about their business, just as though it’s one long movie.
This in itself, the overwhelming numbers of mass tourism, appears to be the problem and city council isn’t necessarily addressing this as a moral problem, just the temptation of all and sundry to make a fast buck.But morality is just like economics, art or anything else.That message means drawing a line somewhere.
1) www.spectator.co.uk>article>good riddance…. 21.03.2019 (accessed 12.04.2020)
2) Dutch News.nl> Amsterdam bans all tours around red-light…. 14.02.2020 (accessed 15.04.2020)