BBC NEWS
“Our aim is simple: to get rid of the criminal part of the Red Light District”
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Authorities announced a major crackdown on organized crime in Amsterdam’s Red Light District on Thursday, for the first time bringing national police investigators and tax authorities to bear on what had long been seen as a local problem.
With its scantily clad prostitutes posing in brothel windows and coffee shops oozing the pungent aroma of marijuana smoke, the area’s seediness has always been part of its attraction. But the district is a magnet for petty criminals and, authorities believe, human traffickers, drug lords and mobsters who take advantage of the situation to launder money.
Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, and coffee shops are licensed to sell small amounts of marijuana. But prostitutes don’t have cash registers and drug vendors don’t give receipts, making it easy for them to launder money for crime lords.
Authorities said they hope to detect and prosecute money-laundering by building a national database of tax returns and other information that would allow them to compare cafe and brothel owners’ legal income to assets they hold around the country. And local authorities promised to enforce other existing laws more strictly.
“Our aim is simple: to get rid of the criminal part of the Red Light District,” said Justice Ministry spokesman Wim van der Weegen.
Detailed accounted laws enforced
Amsterdam has been conducting its own cleanup program for nearly five years, using a 2002 law that forces business operators to disclose detailed accounting in order to have their licenses renewed.
Last year, the city used the law to order the closure of one-third of all brothels in the Red Light District that were unable to comply. But Amsterdam’s District Court blocked the closures while brothel owners fight the decision. That case is still making its way through the courts.
Amsterdam's Red Light District has always thrived on its illicit atmosphere. City spokeswoman Marga Kuperus said women, especially illegal immigrants, are often forced into prostitution, but few dare to file complaints for fear of immigration authorities or of retaliation from their pimps.
Minor drug dealers operate on the street with impunity. Drug lords and human smuggling rings are believed to control the area, and the city has witnessed a series of gangland killings in recent years.
Prostitution group praises move
The connection between the underground and the legal “is one of the things we’re trying to get a grip on,” by cooperating with national authorities, Kuperus said.
The Red Thread, a prostitutes’ rights organization, welcomed the announcement. “We’ve been pleading for something like this for years,” spokeswoman Metje Blaak said.She said Amsterdam police had agreed to respond quickly to any calls for help from prostitutes who are being harassed by criminals. If the men can’t identify themselves, they’ll be in trouble for violating the country’s national ID law, introduced in 2003; and if they are criminals, they’ll be arrested.
“The hope is just that this will chase them away from the area,” she said.
BBC
Visitors flood Amsterdam's red-light district
Reuters
AMSTERDAM: Amsterdam's sex workers came to work early yesterday to offer a free look at the city's famed red-light district.
Hundreds of wide-eyed visitors queued in the sunshine to enter the dimly-lit sex clubs and peep shows that draw thousands to the city and to snoop around prostitutes' neon-lit boudoirs.
"I think the open day is a great idea," said Love, an erotic dancer at Amsterdam's Banana Bar, who was on hand to answer questions and pose for photographs in fluorescent negligee.
"It is especially interesting for women. If they learn what we do here they will realise it is not a big deal if their husbands or boyfriends want to come here."
Organisers staged the open day to counter bad publicity surrounding the 800-year-old district after harrowing reports of forced prostitution, human trafficking and organised crime.
More than 30 brothels are fighting closure after officials revoked their licences last year over suspected links to money laundering and drug dealing.
But tourism authorities say the district - a warren of narrow alleys and canals lined with sex shops, brothels and neon signs - is as big an attraction as Amsterdam's art museums and coffee shops, where marijuana is freely smoked and sold.
Every night visitors throng the streets, agog at scantily clad women sitting behind huge red-lit windows, and who sell their services for as little as 50 euros.
"I am here because my wife was interested in coming along," said 63-year-old Evert Rijnders from Haarlem (Netherlands)
His wife Jos added: "This has been a chance to look behind the scenes, and some things have definitely surprised me."
Organiser Jacco Wanders displayed a typical prostitute's bedroom, usually concealed behind red velvet curtains and fitted with an emergency alarm bell in case a client turns violent.
He laughed as visitors posed in the tall street-facing window or bounced around on the mattress.
"This day is to help break down taboos around prostitution and to create more understanding and respect," he said.
The "open day" concludes with the unveiling of a statue to an unknown sex worker, intended to honour those employed in the industry world-wide, including those without the same protection found in the Netherlands, where prostitution is legal.
Amsterdam's window-prostitutes are self-employed tax payers, hiring their own windows at around 110 euros per night.
"People who work in the sex industry don't get enough respect," said Mariska Majoor, a former prostitute who now runs the red-light district's information centre.
"There are millions of them and many are in trouble. Some are abused by clients or pimps and it is important for them to know that they deserve respect."
NEWS ITEM: Bucharest boys muscle in on Dutch trade:
read more
Lifestyles...Lifestyles...
Straight
Guys and Prostitutes
Amsterdam
has hookers just like every city and town around the world. Unlike most
cities, here they sit in windows with red lights glowing. Not that you
were thinking about it, but the going rate starts at € 50 for what
is called a 'suck and fuck' (always with a condom). It takes about fifteen
minutes, and probably won't be the most romantic experience you've ever
had. Naturally there also are more expensive call girls who work for escort
services who will charge you a lot more for a 'date.'
The most famous
and upscale brothel in Amsterdam is Yab Yum at Single
295.
For a wider selection
Gay Rent-boys
/ Escorts / bottom
boys & Boy's clubs meet the Boys
The
boys don't sit teasing you in windows ...They are primarily available from boy escort services and "Boy's Clubs"
...a
very different "ball game" is played in the "Boy's
Clubs" of Amsterdam
What
is it like to have sex with a "rent boy"?
An
insightful report from a rent boy "customer"...
Hi Guys,
First thing
I did after getting settled into my apartment...
I
called a rent boy service you recommended and had an escort sent to
me for €
145 an hour. His
name was Steve and although he said he was Dutch, he didn't look it: black
hair, almost Eurasian features, tan skin; mid 20s, 6'4", handsome and
muscular, with a large cock. He arrived with a bag full of every possible
toy and prop,
and we had a really wild scene (he was definitely top). At one point I was
almost frantic with pleasure, when he stuck poppers under my nose and
asked
slyly what would be the most exciting thing I could think of doing, and when
I told him (never mind--it was really far out) he immediately did it.
It was
great.
I
also went to a "house of boys" called "Boys for Men" on Spuistraat
a couple of times. Each time the person running the place that night
was more attractive
than any of the available boys, who tend to be quite young and rather too
fey for my taste. I only did something once and by chance, because the
boy
I had been set up with for some reason decided he didn't want to go through
with it. (I never understood what was going on, because my Dutch isn't
too
good, but he apparently told the manager that he didn't think the personal
vibes between us were good, even though we had had a pleasant conversation
on my first visit and he was the one that they had recommended to me.)
The
manager then suggested substituting Richard, a very pretty, slender
blond who
looked about 16; he was not what I would normally consider my type, but
since it was my last night in town I decided to go ahead, for 275nlg.
He took me to a basement "dungeon", and the angelic looking child turned
out to be a wild top who needed no coaching at all to push all my buttons:
it was worth every florin, and was probably the best sex I've had all
year.
(It also reminds
me of all the commentary on tipping:
I only tip escorts
who work for a service, since I have no way of knowing how much or little
of the fee they get to keep for themselves, and I only do it if they are good,
so he got a generous tip, and Eric only got a complaint to the service about
his attitude.)
I have
never used a service anywhere else in Europe, but the next time I go
to Thailand I hope to try a service there. Once again, thanks for providing a wonderful
service to all of us.
Porn shops
No one should
be embarrassed or scared to poke their heads in a sex shop. These are legitimate
stores run by real businessmen who pay their taxes and love their kids. You
won't be ripped off or intimidated or ridiculed.
If you're looking
to spice up your relationship, the most beautiful shop in the red light district
is Absolute Danny. No dildos and blow up plastic
fuck dolls to be scene, just a mix of "underwear and outerwear where
fetish meets lingerie". Everything is very expensive. Nearby
the Casa Rosso's main theater at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 78. Open 7 days week-long
12-8, and on Sunday 12-6. Tel: 020-421-0915
Live
Sex Shows
Expect
exactly what the signs promise. After haggling about the price with the
multilingual doorman (discounts can usually be negotiated), you will be
seated in a small cabaret theater. One can expect most of the following:
a vaginal muscle demonstration that involves gripping objects or dildos,
a male stripper, a lesbian 69 number, and the grand finale: real live sex.
But set your sights right. In the long run, it will probably turn out to
be more interesting than erotic. But no matter how you slice it, a man
and a woman will come on stage, engage in mechanical foreplay, work the
gentleman to typical porno-style 3/4-erection, and have sex before your
eyes. Write about that in your postcards home!
If you
are interested in a higher-quality experience, the best show in the red
light district is at the Theater Casa Rosso (Oudezijds Actherburgwal 106).
No haggling about the price here; everybody pays the posted Ù60. But you
get a choreographed, reasonably sexy show starring attractive men and women
in a clean, well-lit theater. Lots of woman go to this show.
Not
hot enough for you?, Head
down the street to the Banana Bar (Oudezijds
Achterburgwal 37). This is a place where naked women alternate between filling
your drinks and performing erotic parlor tricks, including their famous banana
routine. The action happens on the bar right in front of your face. Ù75.nlg
includes all you can drink for an hour and an experience you may try to forget
but won't be able to unless you are seriously drunk or stoned. Best to go
when its busy when there's more action as the Banana Bar is a place where someone has to pay to start
a performance. Whether you want to be the focus of the show or near the person
who is the focus of the show is up to you. The bachelor party mentality is
most evident at the Banana Bar. Clothed women, (except lesbians) and gay boys
will most probably feel out of place.
Some
good advice
For Rent Boys & Prostitutes & their Clients
For
clients
Don't
promise anything you can't keep.
Don't
exploit a state of need.
Agree on the price, the duration and the place beforehand.
If you can't reach an agreement, quit the conversation.
Don't
insist on sexual practices that the boy didn't agree to, or doesn't
want.
Don't use violence.
Boys and Girls who offer sex for money are not merchandise.
For your money expect sex, not love.
Don't
promise love.
Don't boast around with your money or wealth.
Get informed about the boy or girl if you don't know them.
Nobody is able to be a lover, a social worker and a father all in
one. It may lead to great disappointment on both sides if you try
to.
If you have trouble with a boy or girl, visit the counseling organizations.
Condoms protect against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Always use them.
If you experience violence, ask friends for help. Have the courage
to go to the police.
For
the Boys & Girls
Don't promise anything you can't keep.
Don't exploit anybody, and don't let anybody exploit you.
Agree on the price, the duration and the place beforehand.
Keep this agreement. If you can't reach an agreement, go away.
You
and your client are not just partners in business & you're also
human beings.
Don't
use violence and don't allow others to use violence on you.
Don't do sexual practices you don't like.
Don't
insist on practices your client doesn't like.
Don't promise him love.
Always
tell somebody else where you go, and with whom.
Your
client isn't your father, nor is he your lover or your social worker.
Don't bother him with your problems.
If he is being unfair or violent, tell us. Warn the other boys.
Use condoms. Practice safe sex. If you notice something suspicious
on a client, go away from him.
Prostitution is a job, not a crime here.
|
Bucharest boys muscle in on Dutch trade:
In Amsterdam alleys...meet some of the growing numbers of young Romanians 'rented' by Western men
ADRIAN BRIDGE in Berlin and ANNIKA SAVILL in London and edited by Claudius
THE TRADE in human flesh from East Europe has begun in earnest in Amsterdam. It is conducted not through ringleaders and brothelkeepers, but over the bar counters of a dark and cobbled alley called Paardenstraat at an average of pounds 50 a trick (about € 60.). A slow but steady post-Cold War influx has enabled the rentboys from Romania to take over what was once a placid backwater of Dutch sexual laissez-faire. Never before exposed to gay sex, the Romanian boys, aged between 17 and 22, "are in it only for money" they say. Europe's belt of sleaze, stretching through the traditional centres of Amsterdam and Berlin, has also carved out new notches in Prague, Warsaw and Bucharest. read on....
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