Everything about Prostitution In The Netherlands totally explained
Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and common. A majority of the women working in prostitution are foreigners, and the country is fighting against
human trafficking.
Current legal situation
Prostitution is defined as a legal profession for those persons who are citizens from a European Union Country; prostitutes/sex workers have access to the social security system, may join unions, have to pay income tax and are treated like any other self-employed tradesperson. Health and social services are readily available, but people who work in the sex industry are not required to register or undergo mandatory health checks.
Prostitutes/sex workers must be at least 18 years old, while for non-commercial sex the
age of consent is 16. Clients must be at least 18 except in the municipality of Amsterdam where they may be 16. Employing minors in the sex industry is a criminal offence. Violation of either age limit is a crime for the other party, and possibly for a
pimp. Hiring or renting to non-EU citizens may lead to revoking the operating licence of a business owner.
Brothels are licensed legal businesses which are allowed to advertise. Pimping (the use of force, coercion or deceit) and trafficking are illegal.
Forms of prostitution
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's no bar and the client isn't confronted with other clients). Approximately 20% works in window prostitution, 15% in escort services, 5% on the streets and 5% in their own homes. An estimated 10% works in other types of prostitution, like
massage parlours,
sexshops,
sex theaters and bars. (Numbers based on estimates in 1998-1999 )
Window prostitution in
red-light districts is the most visible form. Rooms with windows are rented by the women 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 can't 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 isn't 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.
Utrecht also has a large 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.
The country has numerous sex clubs. One of the most exclusive ones,
Yab Yum in Amsterdam, was closed in January 2008 after allegations of involvement of the Dutch
Hells Angels.
Several cities have instituted so-called
tippelzones for street
prostitution, mainly to remove drug-addicted streetwalkers from city
centers. Some of these zones offer social services to the women and
have places to park cars screened from view. The tippelzone in
Amsterdam was opened in 1996 in Theemsweg and was closed in 2003
amidst much discussion; problems included weapons and drug dealing and
exploitation of illegal foreigners.
Customers
According to a representative study in 1989, 13.5 percent of men reported having paid for sex at least once; 2.6 percent reported having done so in the previous year.
A recent study found that overall about 17 percent of Dutch prostitutes have
HIV/
AIDS, with most of the cases among the drug-addicted and transsexual prostitutes. Drug-addicted prostitutes are common in street prostitution.
Human trafficking
The Netherlands is a primary country of destination for victims of
human trafficking. Many of these are led to believe by organized criminals that they're being offered work in hotels or restaurants or in child care and are forced into prostitution with the threat or actual use of violence. Estimates of the number of victims vary from 1000 to 7000 on a yearly basis. 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.
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.
In an effort to crack down on forced prostitution, a campaign 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.
History
Toleration during the Middle Ages
During the
Middle Ages, prostitution wasn't 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.
Typical is the following decree from the city of Amsterdam in 1413:
» Because whores are necessary in big cities and especially in cities of commerce such as ours - indeed it's far better to have these women than not to have them - and also because the holy church tolerates whores on good grounds, for these reasons the court and sheriff of Amsterdam shan't entirely forbid the keeping of brothels.
Regulation and suppression starting in the 16th century
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.
Napoleonic mandatory registration and medical examination
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.
Abolitionists outlaw the owning of brothels
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 couldn't 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 wasn't prohibited.
20th century: toleration and eventual legalization
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.
During the second half of the twentieth century, prostitution and brothels were condoned and tolerated by many local governments. The police only interfered when public order was at stake or in cases of human trafficking. The reasoning behind this
gedoogbeleid (policy of tolerance) was harm reduction and the realization that in places where it's banned it's usually the prostitute who is the victim and, as the easiest target, the one who suffers criminal prosecution instead of the client or pimp. This genuine Dutch policy of tolerating formally illegal activities for harm reduction purposes has been and still is also applied towards illegal drugs in the Netherlands. Norwegian politicians are currently favoring the Swedish model.
Concerned about money laundering and human trafficking, Amsterdam officials denied the license renewals of about 30 brothels in the Amsterdam red light district in 2006; the brothel owners appealed. To counter negative news reports, the district organized an open house day in 2007 and a statue to an unknown sex worker was unveiled. In September 2007 it was announced that the city of Amsterdam was buying several buildings in the red light district in order to close about a third of the windows.
Economic impact
An article in the New York Times by Marlise Simons in February suggests that officials estimate that sexual transactions in
Amsterdam account for 100 million dollars of the county's income. The red light district is also a popular tourist attraction, so the revenues that Amsterdam earns in tourism can be partly linked to brothels and the unusual appeal they bring to city. Recently however the Dutch government has noticed an increase in violence centered around this irregular industry. In the same New York Times article the Dutch government blamed this increase in crime on the illegal immigration of individuals into Amsterdam to participate in the sex industry. Officials estimate that there are 142 brothels in the historical district with 500 window displays. Seventy-five percent of Amsterdam’s 8,000-11,000 prostitutes immigrated from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. When the Dutch government legalized prostitution in 2000 it was to protect the women by giving them work permits but some fear that this business can't be normalized.
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