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Agence France-Presse

Bathed in red neon light, hundreds of prostitutes ply their trade from behind windows in the narrow canalside streets of Amsterdam – and that is how they want it to stay.
The Dutch capital’s first female mayor has vowed to clean up the notorious red light district and possibly even close some of the famed window booths, but sex workers say they will not move.
“I have one thing to say to all these people who call us vulnerable, and that is that they do not know us at all,” said Felicia Anna, chairwoman of Red Light United, a newly formed union for window-frame sex workers.
“All it shows to me and to all my colleagues here is that these people who talk about us this way, really do not know us,” the 33-year-old, who declined to give her real name, said.
Sex workers angry about Amsterdam red light district tour ban
The area is one of the biggest tourist draws in a city that attracted around 18 million visitors last year.
But rising crime and the sheer number of visitors have contributed to huge problems in the area, once called a “square kilometre of misery” by police.

Mayor Femke Halsema listed “disruptive behaviour and a disrespectful attitude to the sex workers in the windows” as key problems, along with a “major increase in unlicensed, underground prostitution.”
The green-left mayor has put forward four options to change the red light district, in what she says is a bid to curb crime and human trafficking, and to make life more pleasant for people who live there.
The first is to literally draw curtains over the window booths so people cannot see the sex workers from the street.
The second option is to move some window booths to other areas of the city, while the more radical option three is to close down and move all of them.
However, the fourth option is to actually increase the number of window brothels in the red light district from the current level of 330, and possibly also create a “sex hotel”, on the grounds that it will help sex workers trapped in the unlicensed sector to move to the licensed industry.
Amsterdam’s red-light district without a condom? ‘Not for a million!’
People who live in the area broadly back the changes. One resident of the Wallen neighbourhood, more commonly known as the Red Light district, said “the women are treated worse than circus animals.”
“Many residents would rather see the window frames closed and moved elsewhere,” he said.
But those in the industry are not so keen.
“Our research among 170 sex workers behind the windows showed clearly that 93 per cent of them do not want to move away from the red light district,” said Anna.
“From the four scenarios for sex workers, only number four is in our benefit,” she said. “We do not support the first three.”
She disputed the mayor’s claims that many women working in the red light district are vulnerable.
“Calling us victims and vulnerable to trafficking is not in our benefit. This creates a stigma around us … stop talking about us this way.”
The women are treated worse than circus animals
Amsterdam resident
People involved in the sex trade admit there are problems, particularly with the sheer number of tourists, but say that shutting the red light district windows or moving are not the answer.
“Of the scenarios, we think the fourth one is of course the best,” said Masten Stavast, who owns some 27 of the windows and rooms, which he rents out to sex workers.
“Amsterdam is a small place and lately it has been way too busy here in the streets,” his son and business partner Dave Kroeke agreed.
“Something has to change,” he said.
Recently, residents, business owners and off-duty sex workers met city officials, including Halsema, to discuss and exchange ideas on her proposals, which are slated for further talks in the city council in September.

Many said that a previous plan by the council to concentrate window prostitution in a small area around the Wallen’s two canals failed.
But residents also said that mass tourism in the Wallen caused great inconvenience – and in at least one case, physical harm.
In a scene all too familiar with locals, Gijs, a 47-year-old academic, who asked to be identified only by his first name, said he was assaulted by a British tourist near his front door.
“The guy stumbled in front of my bicycle and I crashed into his leg,” after which he was surrounded by a group of drunken tourists on a canal bridge.
“The last thing I saw was the man wrapping a jersey around his fist like a boxing glove, before punching me in the jaw,” he said.
“I’m still traumatised.”


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The Netherlands

Bringing the curtains down on Amsterdam red light district? Not so fast, sex workers say

Amsterdam’s mayor has vowed to clean up the notorious red light district. Photo: AFP

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 12, 2011 people walk through the red-light district, known as De Wallen, in Amsterdam. - Bathed in red neon light, hundreds of prostitutes ply their trade from behind windows in the narrow canalside streets of Amsterdam – and that's how they want it to stay. The Dutch capital's first female mayor has vowed to clean up the notorious red light district and possibly even close some of the famed window booths, but sex workers say they won’t move. "I have one thing to say to all these people who call us vulnerable, and that is that they don't know us at all," said 'Felicia Anna', chairwoman of Red Light United, a newly-formed union for window-frame sex workers. (Photo by Koen van Weel / ANP / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 08, 2008 (FILES) a prostitute waits for clients behind her window in the red light district of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Photo by ANOEK DE GROOT / AFP)

Sex workers angry about Amsterdam red light district tour ban

Three video's of women posing as sex workers are projected behind three doors at the Red Light Secrets Museum of Prostitution in Amsterdam's red light district, Netherlands, Monday, April 1, 2019. The capital's latest attempt to rein in the nuisance of over-tourism, by banning guided tours of the red light district, has run into opposition from some of the people it is intended to protect, sex workers. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Tourists crowded the narrow canal-side streets in Amsterdam's red light district, Netherlands, Friday evening, March 29, 2019. The Dutch capital plans to ban guided tours of the red light district, saying they are disrespectful and contribute to congestion in the narrow, canal-side streets where scantily-clad sex workers sit behind windows to attract customers.(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Tourists bathing in a red glow emanating from the windows and peep shows' neon lights are packed shoulder to shoulder as they shuffle through the alleys in Amsterdam's red light district, Netherlands, Friday evening, March 29, 2019. The capital's latest attempt to rein in the nuisance of over-tourism, banning guided tours of the red light district, has run into opposition from some of the people it is intended to protect, the sex workers. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A sex worker's room is seen in the Red Light Secrets Museum of Prostitution in Amsterdam's red light district, Netherlands, Monday, April 1, 2019. The capital's latest attempt to rein in the nuisance of over-tourism, banning guided tours of the red light district, has run into opposition from some of the people it is intended to protect, sex workers. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A sex worker who goes by the name of Velvet and who is the advocacy coordinator for sex worker's union Proud talks during an interview in Amsterdam's red light district, Netherlands, Monday, April 1, 2019. Velvet declined to give her real name, saying that because of the stigma attached to sex work, most sex workers use a pseudonym to protect their privacy and safety.(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Museum manager Natascha Flipsen of the Red Light Secrets Museum of Prostitution, right, is interviewed in front of a video projection portraying people passing the window of a sex worker in Amsterdam's red light district, Netherlands, Monday, April 1, 2019. Flipsen says that guided tours help educate the visitors not just about the history of the centuries-old red light district, but also about how to treat the women who work there with respect.(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Tourists shuffle shoulder to shoulder through the narrow alleys of Amsterdam’s red light district. Photo: AP

Amsterdam’s red-light district without a condom? Not for a million, says Foxxy Angel

A a prostitute waits for clients behind her window in the red light district of Amsterdam, in this file photo. Photo: Agence France-Presse

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 15, 2012 customers walk around the red-light-district windows in the 'wallen' red-light district of Amsterdam. From behind their glass walls, at the bends of dark corridors and dark rooms, sex workers have not waited for the arrival of the world's best science and medicine to become aware of the risk they face by practising the "oldest profession of the world". Emblematic of the Dutch city of Amsterdam, these dens of prostitution come out of the shadows this week while the city hosts the International AIDS Conference from July 23 until July 27, 2018. "When we chose Amsterdam to host the conference, it was with the idea of highlighting the people that are the most vulnerable and exposed to HIV," says Linda-Gail Bekker, President of the International AIDS Society (IAS). / AFP PHOTO / ANOEK DE GROOT

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The Dutch capital’s mayor has vowed to close some of the window booths, but sex workers say they will not move
Femke Halsema listed ‘disruptive behaviour and a disrespectful attitude to the sex workers in the windows’ as key problems


The Dutch capital’s mayor has vowed to close some of the window booths, but sex workers say they will not move.


Tourism

Bringing the curtains down on Amsterdam red light district? Not so fast, sex workers say

The Dutch capital’s mayor has vowed to close some of the window booths, but sex workers say they will not move Femke Halsema listed ‘disruptive behaviour and a disrespectful attitude to the sex workers in the windows’ as key problems

The Dutch capital’s mayor has vowed to close some of the window booths, but sex workers say they will not move

Femke Halsema listed ‘disruptive behaviour and a disrespectful attitude to the sex workers in the windows’ as key problems