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Dutch Prostitutes hit by economic crisis
National Turk ^ | 01 August, 2013

Posted on 08/04/2013 2:13:52 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows

Amsterdam’s famous  red-light district under threat, economic crisis on the one hand and lawmakers are proposing changes to the sex-for-hire industry following a recognition in the freewheeling Netherlands

The economic crisis is forcing prostitutes to lower their prices and to accept dubious sexual practices, according to sector organisation Geisha.

‘The trend is apparent in the main cities, with some prostitutes unable to pay the rent on their rooms’, Ilonka Stakelborough from Geisha told Algemeen Dagblad.

Until recently, the minimum price was €50, but this has now dropped as low as €20 in cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague.

Geisha is to set up a project for sex workers so they can form a co-operative. Geisha will rent a room which prostitutes only pay rent for when they are actually working.

Amsterdam Red-Light District:Holland Debates Sex Trade

This city’s famed red-light district looks much as it has for years, with bikini-clad women behind plate-glass windows fluffing their hair or beckoning to passersby, colorful beds visible in the background as an unspoken invitation.

But things could soon change for the sex-for-hire industry following a recognition in the freewheeling Netherlands that its decision in 2000 to legalize brothels has failed to stem human trafficking.

“For something as simple as the lust for sex, we are tolerating modern-day slavery,” said Myrthe Hilkens, a Labor Party legislator who supports a series of moves to tighten the rules on prostitution. “I think that cannot be.”

The proposals are far-reaching. Most contested is a bill to require all prostitutes be registered with the government—a measure that has already been approved by the lower house but is struggling in the Senate.

Also in the works: raising the minimum age to 21 from 18, and a requirement that escort services be licensed, just as brothels currently are.

A vote is expected before the summer recess on July 9.

Meanwhile, the city government in Amsterdam on Wednesday is expected to approve tougher rules, including ordering brothels to close in the early-morning hours and requiring that prostitutes speak Dutch, English, German or Spanish, to make it harder to exploit them.

These ideas reflect a consensus that regulating prostitution hasn’t deterred human trafficking, which has increased since the opening of the former Soviet bloc in the 1980s.

“A huge concern is that a lot of criminal organizations send their prostitutes to the Netherlands,” said Ard van der Steur, a legislator from the center-right Liberal Party, which rules in a coalition with the left-leaning Labor Party. “Leaving everything the way it is fuels a grave concern that we are not doing what we should to prevent human trafficking.”

A similar debate is under way in Germany, which followed the Netherlands in liberalizing prostitution in 2002.

But critics say such restrictions will hurt sex workers, not those who exploit them. “You do not have to fight sex work, you have to fight trafficking,” said Ilonka Stakelborough, a former prostitute who now runs a Dutch advocacy group called Geisha.

Under the proposed registry, Holland’s roughly 20,000 prostitutes would have to meet with government officials and show they are not being coerced in order to get a registration card.

Critics call that a violation of the privacy of prostitutes, who may want to hide their current profession from future employers. A prostitute working involuntarily, often facing threats to her family, they add, can hardly be expected to tell a government official the truth.

“You put a coerced woman in front of a civil servant, and she will say whatever she has to say,” said Flavia Dzodan, an Amsterdam-based journalist who blogs on women’s issues.

The Senate will soon vote on whether to remove the registry from the bill. Underlying the debate is the broader question of whether prostitution can truly be “cleaned up.” The city’s red-light district, which expanded in the 17th century when Amsterdam was a leading port city, remains one of Europe’s big tourist attractions., with a Sex Museum, an elaborate condom shop and the smell of marijuana wafting from the many “coffee shops” authorized to sell it.

The city for several years has been trying to reshape the neighborhood, buying up brothels it considers dangerous, like those in dimly-lighted corners, and turning them into cafes or shops.

City officials say they have managed to cut the number of prostitutes’ windows in the red-light district from 500 to 409 in about five years, and want to ultimately bring it down to 300.

“We try not to address these problems from the moral point of view,” Eberhard van der Laan, Amsterdam’s mayor, said. “We say there is abuse and we want to fight it.”

The prostitution issue erupted in February, when Ms. Hilkens and another lawmaker, Gert-Jan Segers, made a highly publicized visit to Sweden, which outlaws buying sexual services but not selling them. Ms. Hilkens and Mr. Segers discussed this different approach from Holland’s in Dutch television studios.

No one expects the Netherlands to criminalize sex-for-hire soon, though Mr. Segers, of the Christian Union Party, believes it should. “It’s immoral when a man with power and money is buying the body of a woman,” he said. Dutch officials note prostitution is widely practiced even in countries that ban it. (In the U.S., prostitution is illegal except in parts of Nevada.)

“It’s unlikely to disappear anywhere on earth,” said Willem Witteveen, a Labor Party legislator. “You should bring it into the open and see if you can prevent excesses.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Local News; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: napl
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SFW pix at source.

TL;DR: Looks like the "victimless crime" has a few victims after all.

1 posted on 08/04/2013 2:13:52 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
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To: Slings and Arrows; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; ...


2 posted on 08/04/2013 2:15:36 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Slings and Arrows

No “tips” for the prostitutes?


3 posted on 08/04/2013 2:15:48 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Democrats: Robbing Peter to buy Paul's vote.)
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To: Cowboy Bob
No “tips” for the prostitutes?

Not unless you get a slumming mohel.

4 posted on 08/04/2013 2:18:51 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Slings and Arrows

I think I will reserve comment


5 posted on 08/04/2013 2:19:22 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: Cowboy Bob

Well perhaps....if the customer has Hansen’s disease.


6 posted on 08/04/2013 2:29:41 AM PDT by nvscanman
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To: Slings and Arrows

Well since women are hooking up without pay the prostitutes have that to compete with also.


7 posted on 08/04/2013 2:30:04 AM PDT by RginTN
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To: Slings and Arrows

Things are HARD all over.

You know things are tough when the price of a Hooker drops from $50 to $20. They need to unionize or something.

So, how much is air fare, and when do we leave? ;-)


8 posted on 08/04/2013 2:30:37 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (Free goodies for all -- Freedom for none.)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Maybe the pros should just procure boyfriends and give it away to them for free, like the rest of womandom.


9 posted on 08/04/2013 2:31:58 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (I don't always vote, but when I do, I SURE AS HELL DON'T VOTE DEMOCRAT!)
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To: RginTN

Adam Smith always has the last laugh.


10 posted on 08/04/2013 2:32:32 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Maybe the pros should just procure boyfriends and give it away to them for free, like the rest of womandom.

Ummm...so, how about this weather we're having?

11 posted on 08/04/2013 2:33:45 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free

Why go to Amsterdam when DC is so much closer?


12 posted on 08/04/2013 2:34:32 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Believe me, you pay for it. You always pay.


13 posted on 08/04/2013 2:43:14 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: Slings and Arrows
dubious sexual practices

Unfortunately not defined.

14 posted on 08/04/2013 3:26:19 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Slings and Arrows
"Ilonka Stakelborough, a former prostitute who now runs a Dutch advocacy group called Geisha."

Since I know you're all dying to see what Ilonka looks like:

She's the one on the left, as you might imagine.

15 posted on 08/04/2013 3:30:06 AM PDT by DemforBush (Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!)
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To: DemforBush

The phrase “rode hard and put away wet” pops to mind.


16 posted on 08/04/2013 3:33:04 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Sherman Logan

I’m sure that OSHA would be happy to to draft some regulations.


17 posted on 08/04/2013 3:35:30 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Slings and Arrows

What a great time for a congressional fact finding trip. Hillary should go too so she can strengthen her financial and economic acumen


18 posted on 08/04/2013 3:50:43 AM PDT by Artie (We are surrounded by MORONS)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Well it’s not really a victimless activity... it hurts the people involved and they hurt other people etc.


19 posted on 08/04/2013 3:55:06 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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To: Slings and Arrows
a legislator from the center-right Liberal Party

I see the problem right there. Sounds like the GOP-e.

20 posted on 08/04/2013 4:43:29 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Howdy to all you government agents spying on me.)
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