Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. My guess is that there are about 200 to 400 little windows that have women sitting in them along and between three streets in Amsterdam near Centraal Station.
The women are all dressed in lingerie and encourage people to come visit. Most windows are at ground level and as you walk by the will often open their doors and invite you to come in. From the street you can see that behind the sitting area they have a small bed and mirror where they bring their clients after closing the curtains.
What surprised me was that there was no nudity or particularily explicit gestures at all. I expect that they are required to conform to some sort of standardized practices.
By reading my guidebook and by also visiting the prostitution information centre I found out that:
* the women rent the rooms for about 200 Euros per shift. The going rate is 50 euros for 20 minutes for a standard service. Extra charges are levied for anything else.
* the rooms normally have alarm systems equipped. Because it is legal, prostitutes will call the police if there is trouble and not a pimp.
* one of Peter's friends apparently was going crazy one night and visited 4 prostitutes (180 euros. He got a discount from one). At the end he was apparently wanting to go and "get one so I can punch her in the face".
This was pretty shocking. I wondered if violence was a big issue in the Red Light District. I am not sure it is anymore. When I asked the lady in the Prostitution Information Centre about it she said violence was not a big issue.
She pointed out that:
1. it is all done in a very public way, so there is less opportunity
2. there is high security in the Red Light District, patrolled by police and video cameras
3. Consider "The Pickton situation you have in Vancouver. That would not happen here." She was originally from Toronto, but I was still surprised that she had heard about the Pickton pig farm.
The mention about the Pickton pig farm is pretty shocking. Is she right?
* Amsterdam is not opening up any more windows in the Red Light District. The windows currently there are in some strange places. Flanking a daycare centre, going around the back of a big church.
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I forgot to mention, I asked the woman at the Prostitution information centre why there were no men in the windows... Amsterdam, like many other cities seem to advertise themselves as the Gay capital of Europe (so do Berlin and Paris I think).
She said that there are other 'cruising' venues for the gay crowd and that the transvestites in the windows don't consider themselves as men - so they count as women too. She also then mentioned that 99.9 percent of the men seeking transexuals don't identify themselves as gay, but that it was something they found erotic.
We then talked a bit about identity versus sexuality.
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