Prostitution in the Netherlands
Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal. However, prostitutes must be at least 18, while for non-commercial sex the age of consent is 16. Clients must be at least 16. Violation of either age limit is a crime for the other party, and possibly for a pimp. Prostitutes pay taxes and are otherwise treated like any other self-employed tradesperson. Advertising their services is likewise tolerated. Health and social services are readily available, but the women are not required to undergo regular health checks. A recent study found that despite health rules, about 7 percent of Dutch prostitutes have HIV/AIDS
Current situation
The red light district in Amsterdam
Prostitution has long been tolerated in the Netherlands under the gedoogbeleid (policy of tolerance) with the reasoning that the world's 'oldest profession' has proven impossible to ban by any government. Indeed in places where it is banned it is usually the prostitute who is the victim and, as the easiest target, the one who suffers criminal prosecution instead of the client or pimp. In an effort to stop the exploitation of sex workers, prostitution in brothels was legalised in the Netherlands in October 2000. This also gave the government the opportunity to tax prostitution and for prostitutes to pay social security and receive benefits and pensions. By legitimising prostitutes as workers, it is viewed that this will help remove control from the criminal element and make it easier to clamp down on exploitation.
Window prostitution is the most visible form, though it only takes up about 20% of the entire sex industry in the Netherlands. Windows are rented for 8 hour shifts for some 60–150 euro (depending on the time and place), which includes closed-circuit security. Fifteen to twenty minutes of sex cost about 40 to 50 euro (though prices can go both higher and lower according to the service). Despite the legalization, some of the working women are still illegal immigrants. These prostitutes cannot work in the windows, since a European Union passport is required to rent one.
Some municipalities in the Netherlands would like a "zero-tolerance policy" for brothels on moral grounds, but by law this is not possible. However, regulations, including restrictions in number and location, are common. Whether a zero-tolerance policy on urban planning grounds is allowed is still unclear.
There are twelve red-light districts with window prostitution in the Netherlands. A thirteenth (Spijkerkwartier in Arnhem) was closed down in 2005.
The largest and best-known is De Wallen in Amsterdam, also known as Walletjes or Rosse Buurt.
Not to be outdone, Utrecht also boasts an impressive red light district, centered around the area north of the famous Rode Brug (red bridge), containing more than one hundred canal boats and also a smaller city center street called Hardebollenstraat.
An article in Le Monde in 1997 found that 80% of prostitutes in the Netherlands were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers, suggesting that at least some were victims of sex trafficking, forced prostitution. [4][5] The Netherlands is one of a number of destination countries in Europe for trafficked women (many of whom are led to believe by organised criminals that they are being offered work in hotels or restaurants or in child care and are forced into prostitution with the threat or actual use of violence).
In an effort to crack down on forced prostitution, a campaign [6] was launched in 2005 in magazines through posters put up around the red-light districts encouraging clients to report signs of coercion. The poster has an eyecatching silhouette of a spike-heeled prostitute with long hair leaning back, but on closer inspection another picture reveals a gun being held to the female's head. The caption reads "Have you seen the signals? Fear, bruises, no 'pleasure' in the job." It then goes on to offer a phone number which clients can call anonymously.
In 2004 the Norwegian government published a report comparing two opposite choices in dealing with prostitution, the Dutch one and the (prohibitionist and criminalizing) Swedish choice. It turned out that, although there are still some unsatisfactory issues, the Dutch approach seems to be much more effective than the Swedish one in ruling prostitution and fighting crime.[7]
[edit] Prostitution population
A study by the Dutch Ministery of Foreign Affairs in 2000 estimated that there are a total of between twenty thousand and twenty-five thousand prostitutes in the Netherlands on a yearly basis. Approximately 32% are Dutch, 22% are Latin American, 19% are Eastern European, 13% are African (south of the Sahara), 6% come from other countries from the European Union (aside from the Netherlands), 5% come from Northern Africa and 3% are Asian. Approximately 5% of the prostitutes are male, and another 5% are transsexual. However with new legislation from 2001 that prohibits migrants from outside the European Union to work legally, demographics most likely have shifted.
Prostitutes in the Netherlands work in several types of prostitution. The most common form is in sex clubs and private houses. Approximately 45% of the prostitutes work in this type of prostitution (private houses are brothels where prostitutes are directly introduced to the clients in a separate room, there is no bar and the client is not confronted with other clients). Approximately 20% works in window prostitution, 15% in the escort, 5% on the streets and 5% in their own homes. An estimated 10% works in other types of prostitutes, like massage parlours, sexshops, sex theaters and bars. (Numbers based on estimates in 1998-1999 [8])
[edit] Human trafficking in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is a primary country of destination for victims of human trafficking. Estimates of the number of victims vary from 1000 to 7000 on a yearly basis.[9] The victims mainly originate from the Netherlands, Africa and Eastern Europe, particularly from the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. Most police investigations on human trafficking concern legal sex businesses. All sectors of prostitution are well represented in these investigations, but particularly the window brothels are overrepresented.[10][11]
Over the years there has been a significant increase of registered Dutch victims of human trafficking. In 2005 23% of the persons registered at the Dutch Foundation Against Trafficking in Women were Dutch citizens.[12]
[edit] History
During the Middle Ages, prostitution was not prohibited. The attitude of worldly and religious authorities towards prostitution was pragmatic. Many cities tolerated prostitution to protect chaste female citizens from rape and defilement. There were, however, a number of conditions imposed on prostitutes and their clients. Prostitutes were not allowed to be married. Married men and Jewish men were prohibited from hiring prostitutes.
Still, prostitution was considered a dishonorable profession. Prostitutes were not expected to conform to sexual rules, but prostitutes were not protected by the law. The concept of “honor” was very important in early modern Dutch society. Honor had social significance, but it also had legal ramifications. "Honorable" people had more rights. Until the late sixteenth century honor, aside from citizenship, was the most important criterion for the stratification of society.
Despite the fact that prostitution was seen as indispensable, city governments tried to separate "dishonorable" prostitution from the honorable world. Until the fifteenth century, Dutch cities tried to keep prostitution outside of the city walls. Later, city governments tried to reserve certain areas of the city for prostitution. Prostitution businesses were driven to the streets and alleys near the city walls.
During the sixteenth century, attitudes about sexuality changed under the influence of the Spanish occupation and rising Protestantism. Sexual relations were only tolerated within marriage. Church and state were not separated, and what was defined by the church as a sin was defined as a crime by the government. Prostitution and procurement were viewed as a sin and therefore prohibited. However, during this century the city of Amsterdam started to regulate prostitution. Only the police and the bailiff and his servants could keep a brothel in the Pijl and Halsteeg (currently the Damstraat). Prostitutes who practiced their trade in other parts of the city were arrested and their clients fined. Prostitution was a lucrative trade for the bailiff’s servants as well as for the city treasury. In 1578, the city of Amsterdam left the Spanish side during the Netherlands uprising and converted from Catholicism to Calvinism. The city then stopped regulating prostitution.
Calvinistic morals were mirrored in the government policies of the seventeenth century. Titillating activities like dancing, fairs and prostitution were sometimes outlawed. This morality didn’t, however, always correspond with the views and customs of the people. During the Golden seventeenth century sexuality was openly displayed in paintings and in literature. The image of the prostitute in literature was very negative. Prostitutes were portrayed as unreliable, impudent, lazy and often ugly and dirty. In paintings, the image of the prostitute was more positive. Brothel-scenes were an important subject and prostitutes were painted as beautiful young women. The clients, however, were portrayed as fools who allowed themselves to be deceived. In both literature and paintings the madams were portrayed as evil profiteers. The authorities couldn’t uphold the laws against prostitution and tended to leave brothels alone if they didn’t cause trouble.
During the eighteenth century the morals preached by the church and government became more in line with certain developments within Dutch society. There was a growing middle class which tried to distinguish itself by a strong work ethic and self-control. By restrained sexual behavior, the middle class could separate itself from the 'loose' lower class as well as the indecent nobility. Rich and poor also began to separate geographically. Prior to this period different social classes lived side by side, but they now lived in separate neighborhoods. The image of women also changed. Bourgeois women were seen by men of their class as faithful and chaste, but working-class women were viewed by middle class men as potential whores.
The working conditions of prostitutes were very poor. There was no proper birth control, condoms were not widely available and there were no effective cures against venereal diseases. Prostitutes often became pregnant and, because of venereal diseases they eventually became infertile. This situation only improved during the twentieth century.
Prostitutes allowed very little sexual variation. The only sexual positions which were tolerated were the missionary position and standing upright, face to face. Anal sex, kissing and oral sex were strictly taboo.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century the armies of Napoleon started to regulate prostitution in the Netherlands (in 1810) to protect soldiers against venereal diseases. Prostitutes were forced to register and were subjected to mandatory medical examinations. Registered prostitutes were handed a red card which was a sort of work permit. If they were found to be infected, their red card was taken and they were given a white card instead while they were prohibited from working and were only allowed to work when declared fit. After the French occupation the Dutch government stopped regulating prostitution, but during several decades slowly began to regulate prostitutes again in the same style as under the French occupation. Many scientists during the nineteenth century believed that sexual abstinence for men was unhealthy. In their eyes it was unavoidable that a number of women had to sacrifice themselves to protect the rest of the women from destruction of an even more revolting kind. The women who had to sacrifice themselves were supposed to be lower class. Prostitutes themselves, however, were still despised and portrayed as disgusting creatures. Lower class people themselves detested prostitutes. Prostitutes stood outside society.
During this period, sexual morals became stricter and a counter movement arose against regulated prostitution. In the beginning, this movement consisted of wealthy orthodox-protestant Christians, but it later got support from other movements like Catholics, socialists, feminists and progressive liberals. They attacked the idea that men could not abstain from sex. Clients were viewed as low, dirty lechers, and the clients were not the young unmarried men prostitution was meant for, but were often well-off middle-aged married men. They also attacked the mandatory medical examinations which were deemed degrading and ineffective to stop the spread of venereal diseases. Many prostitutes lived in the brothels and were bound to the madams by debts to pay off expensive working clothes. Prostitutes were often sold among madams, were subjected to fines, and could only leave the brothel under supervision. Medical expenses were added to their debt. Brothel keepers throughout Europe sold women among each other. The abolitionist movement (as the opponents of prostitution were called) in the Netherlands was largely connected to the international abolitionist movement. The movement slowly gained more influence and during the last decades of the nineteenth century city governments slowly started to abolish regulated prostitution. At first, the abolitionist movement mainly targeted mandatory health checks for prostitutes, but when the movement became more successful the focus shifted towards the people who profited from prostitution. In 1911 living on the avails of prostitution and owning a brothel were prohibited by law. Prostitution itself was not prohibited.
[edit] Present situation
During the second half of the twentieth century, prostitution was condoned by many local governments. The police only interfered when public order was at stake or in cases of human trafficking. Brothel prohibition made it difficult to set out rules for the sex industry. During the eighties many municipalities urged the national government to lift the ban on brothels. In 1983 Minister Korthals Altes presented an amendment to the law on prostitution. It took until October 1, 2000 for prostitution to be fully legalized.
Dutch attitudes regarding prostitution support legalization and normalization. Public opinion polls conducted in the late 1990s show that the Dutch public overwhelmingly rejects the notion that prostitution is unacceptable, deviant behavior. In a 1997 survey, 73 percent of Dutch citizens favored legalization of brothels, 74 percent said that prostitution was an "acceptable job," and in a 1999 poll 78 percent felt that prostitution is a job like any other job (polls cited in Weitzer 2000, p. 178).
Until the 1970s, prostitutes in the Netherlands were predominantly white lower-class women from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Northern Germany. During the seventies, in the wake of the sex trips to South-East Asia by Dutch men, the sex operators brought in women from Thailand and the Philippines. In the eighties there was a second wave from Latin America and Africa. In the nineties, after the fall of the Soviet Union, women came from Eastern Europe. Foreign prostitutes are economically motivated to come to The Netherlands, and they tend to travel to engage in sex work between Holland, Germany, Belgium, and other European societies.
In early 2007, the Netherlands government refused to renew the licenses of 33 licenses brothels, possibly signaling the end of the famed windowed brothels of Amsterdam.[13]
Amsterdam Red Light District
From brothels to sex shops to museums, the Red Light District leaves nothing to the imagination. It is very likely that you will have heard about this neighbourhood and to be frank, everything you will have heard is probably true , but to really put rumours to rest, you have got to check it out for yourself. The Rossebuurt, as the locals know it, is unlike any other place. Guaranteed. Certainly, the Red Light District that everyone knows about is the one where women, of all nationalities, parade their wares in red-fringed window parlours, many ready to offer more than a school boy peep-show in a private cabin. Another familiar image of the Red Light District is of packs of men, young and old , couples holding hands and pointing in shock of it all, giggling groups of women celebrating a hen night , and busloads of Japanese tourists toting cameras (except not in the direction of the female entertainers! Strictly banned!). This is proof enough that the RLD deserves a visit, if not a little look in.
Perhaps what few really notice is that the Rossebuurt (Dutch for ‘pink’ or ‘red’ neighbourhood) is in fact one of the oldest and most beautiful parts of the city with its long winding narrow, cobbled streets and utterly charming 14 th century architecture, 
such as the gothic Oudekerk, or Old Church. The Red Light District simply oozes charm and one cannot help but admire the old buildings that lean at odd-angles, and the tree-enshrouded canals. Music, especially during the summer season, invites you to linger just that little bit longer while the arrival of new classier eateries and great authentic restaurants such as Café Pacifico, one of Europe 's first Mexican restaurants, make it so appealing. Recently resurfaced streets, restored façades and trendier clientele to the area are now transforming what was once a dark and seedy part of town.
Amsterdam prides itself, and rightly so, on its wholly liberal and tolerant attitude, embracing the fact that people may be into prostitution, soft drugs and pornography-and this is only human. So instead of criminalizing everything, this very upfront city wears its heart on its sleeve-what you see is generally what you get. Enjoy the honesty of it all, as you won’t find it anywhere else. So how do you get to it? It depends which RLD you are looking for as t here are in fact three Red Light Districts in Amsterdam: the main area is in the Walletjes area (between Centraal Station and Nieuwenmarkt), and the other two, in Singel (between Raadhuistraat and Centraal Station) and de Pijp (behind the Rijksmuseum).
Prostitution
Prostitution is legal in Holland, and in Amsterdam most of it is concentrated in the Red Light District where it has enjoyed a long tradition of tolerance. Since October 2000, window prostitutes have been allowed to legally ply their trade. Today, prostitutes in the Netherlands are also taxpayers. Unfortunately, discrimination is still very much part and parcel in this trade as many prostitutes report that some banks even refuse to grant mortgages for example. However, now as a legal profession, the government ensures that all prostitutes are able to access medical care and work in better conditions by regulating and monitoring working practices and standards. Help is also at hand in the district itself thanks to the Prostitution Information Center (Enge Kerksteeg 3, http://www.pic-amsterdam.com/). Also, contrary to popular belief, the RLD is actually the safest area in Amsterdam as clusters of policemen, and private bodyguards employed by the girls themselves are always on duty.
Did you know?
Window prostitution is distinct to the Netherlands. Until recently, there was also a tipple -zone (pick-up area) servicing the needs of clientele on the move. Utrecht, 30 minutes east of Amsterdam, has its own canal-based RLD, Rotterdam has a number of sex clubs or private houses (privenhuizen) and smaller cities like Groningen and Alkmaar have also jumped on the red light bandwagon.
So where to go? Well, if curiosity does get the better of you, come down at night when the district really comes to life. During the day, the district is less lively and even less attractive as the more sordid aspects reveal themselves in natural daylight. Although there are women forever tapping on the windows even during the light hours, most of the action takes place around 11pm , when the district is swarming with crowds and the red neon lights illuminate the inky canals. The atmosphere pretty much thrives until around 2 or 3am when the crowds die down and businesses shut up shop.
Whether you are window-shopping, Amsterdam style, or actually wanting to buy something, there is likely to be a place, window, or even two, that cater to your every whim. For those not easily offended, there are plenty of live sex shows and the most notorious of these go on at the theatres Casa Rosa (OZ Achterburgwal) and the infamous Moulin Rouge (Oudezijds Achterburgwal 5-7). For the merely curious, there are numerous peep shows that may come with video booths. But of course, for the more adventurous among us, there are more interactive shows, for example at de Bananenbar (Oudezijds Achterburgwal 37). Exactly what goes on in these places is up to you to discover, if you so wish. For goods, there is a somewhat eclectic mix of videos, magazines, sex aids and toys. The RLD is also home to many gay bars and cinemas which can be found on the very busy Warmoesstraat. If the Red light alleyways are not your cup of tea, there are a number of brothels and private houses that offer a more traditional form of prostitution.
For culture, you don’t need to look very far as the very picturesque Zeedijk, the Jewish quarter, Waterloo Square and Nieuwmarkt Square lie just around the corner. RLD also boasts a string of unusual shops and pubs, so be sure to visit. And restaurants? Try the stylish Mediterranean kitchen , the Blauw aan de Wal ( Oudezijds Achterburgwal 99), the French brasserie Café Roux (Oudezijds Voorburgwal 197 or head down to Chinatown.
To make sure you get the best out of the Red Light District and that it doesn’t get the worse out of you, stick to these tips closely.
- Do not take photos of the occupied windows - this is strictly prohibited and any attempt will be quickly stamped out (it could get messy, you have been warned!). Enjoy some discrete Red Light District pictures that are also available for free download, see our copyright license.
- Watch out for pick-pocketers, as this is almost always an extremely overcrowded area.
- Try and go in a group or at least go in twos to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.
- Do not buy from dealers -whether its drugs or bikes- or else you will find yourself on the other side of the law!
- Don’t visit the Red Light District first otherwise you may get the wrong idea about the Dutch and Amsterdam as this is not all we are about! Enjoy yourself, as a trip down the RLD will leave a lasting impression.
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Hotels directly in the Red Light District:
Hotels near the Red Light District:
