It's actually a pretty scenic section of town, they keep it nice for the tourists.
Posted on 02/19/2006 11:13:24 AM PST by wagglebee
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Amsterdam's famed red light district held its first ever "open day" Saturday as its peep-shows and brothels gave crowds of wide-eyed visitors free entry to help shed the area's increasingly negative reputation.
Armed with a list of 25 establishments opening their doors and flinging back their red curtains, hundreds of tourists and locals seized the opportunity to see a prostitute's bedroom, watch a brief live peep-show or chat to a lap dancer.
Harrowing reports of forced prostitution and human trafficking have caused a public outcry in recent months and even prompted calls from councillors for the 800-year-old red light district to be shut down, to the fury of many sex workers.
Stories of petty crime and gang violence also dominate.
"The open day is partly to promote the red light district but also to help change the image of the area because we think it is too negative," said organizer Mariska Majoor, a former prostitute who now runs an information center on the district.
"There are not just problems here," she added.
Prostitution has been fully legal in the Netherlands since 2000, and sex workers are self-employed and subject to tax.
However one rights group estimates that around 3,500 women are trafficked to the Netherlands each year from eastern Europe and Asia to work in secret brothels or illegal escort agencies, where they are often held captive and abused.
Tourist authorities admit the district -- a clutch of narrow alleys and canals lined with sex shops, brothels and neon signs -- is as big an attraction as Amsterdam's museums and coffee shops, where marijuana is freely smoked and sold.
Every night visitors throng the streets, agog at the scantily clad women sitting behind huge red-lit windows, but only a fraction venture inside.
"GOOD IDEA"
"This is a very good idea," said 28-year-old Dutchman Maarten Ritsema, grinning after experiencing his first ever lap-dance at the Bar La Vie en Proost.
"I've never been inside anywhere like this before ... it's pretty casual, not as tense or hostile as I imagined," he said.
Many of the area's sex workers also took the chance to explain more about their work and dispel myths.
Candy, a 39-year-old dancer from France, sat in her usual position behind the counter of the Banana Bar, joking with visitors and posing for photographs.
"People out today see it's fun, that this is entertainment."
There may have been less flesh on display than usual for the non-paying public, but visitors, mostly drawn by curiosity, didn't seem to mind. "It was still sexy and you can use your imagination," said 31-year-old Rob Jansen, on leaving the Casa Rosso theater.
Amsterdam resident Ina van Leyan, 49, said she hoped the area would never be closed down: "It belongs to Amsterdam. Its for the tourists, it's for the men without wives, it's a key part of the city."
"There are not just problems here," she added.
The entire industry is the problem.
I don't think the imams will like this development.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
"Stripping away the mystery (Open House in Amsterdam's red light district)"
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To be included in or removed from the MORAL ABSOLUTES PINGLIST, please FreepMail either MillerCreek or wagglebee.
The rooms probably just needed a good airing out.
Man, why did I have to get here on Sunday?!?!?
What, no golden calf?
Men without wives? Yeah, right!
It has been a profession for as long as history has been recorded. And very likely before.
It appears that the Imans and the "MORAL ABSOLUTES" have some things in common after all - except perhaps the MORAL ABSOLUTES are not quite as absolute...
On a trip to Amsterdam a number of years ago, with a chorus and orchestra, several of the men in the group actually went to this place and had sex with prostitutes there. I went to the district to look around, but I don't have sex with prostitutes and was married.
I talked later to one of the men, who I knew was married, and asked him how he justified having sex with another woman and paying for it. He just said, "Hey, it's legal."
I guess I don't get this. Either you are married and faithful or you are not. Legal or not, having sex with a prostitute is cheating.
No problems. Human flesh for rent, no one's hurt. etc etc.
Remember all the articles several weeks ago about sex slavery in Europe?
No connection, I'm sure.
In order for prostitution to flourish, there must be abortion as well, for the miserable inevitable "accident".
I call this article an illustration of "leaping off into the flaming abyss".
So let's promote it, legalize it, and encourage our wives, daughters, and sisters to become sex workers!
That's the ticket.
So let's jettison morality, shall we? Good idea. Then society will turn anarchic in two generations, then totalitariism will step in to quell the fires.
Good idea.
You know the rules. Where are the pics? LOL!
It's essentially "legal" to cheat on your spouse in the United States (adultery laws are not actually enforced), so would the same person do it here? Legality and morality are quite often at odds with each other, the left is hoping that most people don't realize this as they use the courts to "legalize" as many things as possible.
"It's essentially "legal" to cheat on your spouse in the United States (adultery laws are not actually enforced), so would the same person do it here? "
I can't say. Prostitution is legal in a couple of counties in Nevada. You're correct that adultery is essentially legal in the USA. It's literally legal in most states.
So, would this person do the same here? I suppose if he were in Nevada, he might. His point appeared to be that, since it was legal for him to use a prostitute in Amsterdam, it was OK for him to do so.
I doubt his wife would have agreed. When I got married, I promised to be faithful to my wife, and have been. This guy made the same promise, I imagine, but did not find it wrong to have sex with a prostitute in Amsterdam...because it was legal for him to do that there.
Laws do not work to keep people from doing immoral things, in my opinion. Either they honor their commitments and are faithful to their promises or they are not.
I lost my respect for this man that day. Have I ever been tempted? You bet. Have I committed adultery? Once, while married to my former wife. I never did that again. The guilt my conscience gave me made that impossible.
"So let's jettison morality, shall we? Good idea. "
Your idea, not mine ... but it IS an absolutist idea
What's your point? I don't get it.
Having NO morality is an absolute - stoning to death those who break your moral code is the other absolute.
Most Americans, even those who profess to believe in MORAL ABSOLUTES, fall somewhere in between.
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