Legalizing Prostitution: From Illicit Vice to Lawful Business (31 page)

TABLE 6.1
Code of Conduct, Dutch Police

• Officers’ contacts with owners and managers must remain business-like.

• Officers are sworn to secrecy where private and sensitive information is concerned.

• The registration of visits to brothels and contacts with individuals who work in the sex industry must be clear and easily accessible.

• The members of the teams or units must have received proper training.

• Site visits must be conducted by teams of officers that include female officers.

• During inspections, officers must remain in contact with their colleagues.

• Officers are strongly discouraged from taking refreshments. Drinks must always be paid for.

• Officers must not drink alcohol or accept gifts, services, or promises.

• Officers have a duty to report any corrupt behavior of their colleagues to the team management.

• Officers must be aware that feelings of affection can grow, and they should be prepared to discuss these with the team.

• Officers have a duty to report advances, rumors, or other out-of-the-ordinary developments to the team leader.

• Off-duty officers are not allowed to arrange a meeting with individuals who work in the sex industry.

• Officers are not allowed to pay private visits to a brothel in the region or district where they work.

Source:
Condensed “Code of Conduct,” Gedragscode, 2008

A different kind of service is offered by Scharlaken Koord (Scarlet Cord), which attempts to help women leave the sex industry. Founded in 1987 as an offshoot of a Christian organization (For the Salvation of the People), Scarlet Cord initially focused on helping women in the red-light district “with practical needs, instead of treating them as outcasts.” At the beginning the organization “was not taken seriously” because of its religious pedigree, but over the years it has “gained more respect, because people see that we are in there working with the girls,” according to the director. And with the influx in the 1990s of women from eastern Europe who were entangled in various migration networks, the organization shifted its efforts to helping women break free of pimps or leave prostitution entirely. To exit, the women “need to be helped, because there are so many psychological issues that have gone wrong” and because of other barriers to reintegration such as a lack of other
work experience. The director of the organization thinks it is “naive to think you can abolish prostitution”: “We are realistic knowing that prostitution will continue. We just want to give them the choice [in a context in which] there is hardly any choice. But I feel very sorry for the girls because for the majority we cannot do much, because the cause of the problem is the countries of origin.” The latter is a reference to the eastern European nations from which many of the women come, where opportunities for socioeconomic advancement are extremely limited and where third parties are actively involved in recruiting women to work in western Europe.

Volunteers working at Scarlet Cord frequently visit the windows, asking women about their needs and attempting to build a trusting relationship with them. The director told me that her outreach workers usually have no problem gaining access to the women because they have developed a “talent” for communicating with them and showing that they are genuinely interested in their welfare. The organization holds periodic group meetings with prostitutes centered around empowerment and problem solving. In 2010, 95 women left prostitution as a result of Scarlet Cord’s efforts. The organization also does prevention work in schools, to deter Dutch girls from entering prostitution.
¹¹³

Having explored the Dutch legal context and trends at both the national and city levels, I now turn to the
sexual landscape
in Amsterdam, with a focus on what sex for sale looks like on the ground and the ways in which this social geography conditions the
experiences
of those who are involved in commercial sex.

Unlike Germany’s hotel-brothels, where visitors view sex workers in their rooms, Dutch brothels and sex clubs are of the more traditional kind, where women introduce themselves to clients in a parlor or bar and later retire to a room. In Amsterdam, these brothels are located outside the traditional, windowed red-light districts. They range from modest “private houses” to luxurious “sex clubs” that offer various recreational activities in their bars and lounges. The brothels described in this section are a sampling of what Amsterdam has to offer.

The Yab Yum Club was the crown jewel until it closed a few years ago. One visitor writing in the World Sex Guide in 1997 described Yab Yum as having “a nice bar where you can look the girls over in a low pressure environment”:
“You have to request a girl to sit with you, they don’t try to hustle you. There were 21 girls in the room that night. … The rooms are real nice, with big Jacuzzi tubs, plenty of room for two to have some fun. Hey, what a great place to visit.”
¹¹⁴
Another client described the women at this brothel as “totally exquisite young women in tasteful evening gowns.” After having sex, he “came downstairs for coffee, cognac, and cultured post-coital conversation”: “Needless to say, her face and body were perfect, as were her skills as a lover and hostess. This truly was one of the golden hours of my life.”
¹¹⁵

I visited one upscale brothel in 2008, at the invitation of the owner. Like other high-class establishments, Societe Anonyme has a bar, a lounge, and fancy rooms for sexual encounters and also offers strip shows and lapdances in the lounge. Anonyme’s brochure describes its attractions:

Service to our guests is something Societe Anonyme feels strongly about. At this luxurious men’s club in the heart of Amsterdam, you will find a warm and charming welcome and absolute privacy. At the cosy bar and stylish reception room, guests can enjoy the company of educated, sophisticated, and above all very beautiful women. Most of the ladies are local; however they speak various languages fluently. You and your business acquaintances will be treated with the utmost respect and care. … The rooms have been designed to evoke special atmospheres. The Hollywood room, the Japanese room, and the Jungle room accentuate just some of the many possibilities to experience complete relaxation at Societe Anonyme.

My observations confirm the physical description of the place, but no women were present when I visited in the middle of the day (it opens at eight p.m.). A client posting an online review several years ago described Anonyme as featuring “lovely friendly girls, easy atmosphere, lots of women, someone for every taste.”
¹¹⁶

Societe Anonyme also runs an escort service staffed by the same women who work in the brothel. It has a small namesake sign on the building and a tasteful exterior (shown in
figure 6.1
). But the building itself is no match for its competitor, Club Elegance (shown in
figure 6.2
), with its beautiful, frescoed exterior and status as an official historical site. These two brothels are located in the same neighborhood, Anonyme on a mixed residential-commercial street and Elegance on an entirely residential block. Aside from two small red lanterns on Anonyme’s facade, the two buildings show no sign of being brothels.
¹¹⁷

Figure 6.1. Societe Anonyme.

The interior of one midtier club is shown in
figure 6.3
. Midrange brothels include Club Mayfair, now closed, which occupied a red brick building in an entirely residential neighborhood, a building indistinguishable from other residences in the area.
¹¹⁸
In another part of the city, the Golden Key occupies a very nice building, lacking any visible indication that it offers sex for sale, whereas, a few blocks away, Ria’s Men’s Club boldly advertises its sexual orientation with a sign featuring four silhouetted women dancing on polls (
figures 6.4
and
6.5
). Ria’s website states that 50 women are available and that the brothel offers an escort service as well.
¹¹⁹
I spoke with the manager at Ria’s one day, and he told me that an hour with a woman costs
€
200, which includes drinks. Most of the women are from eastern Europe, he said. Ria’s and Golden Key are located on Overtoom, a major street in a commercial-residential area, surrounded by well-kept neighborhoods. The two brothels fit into the landscape of other businesses on this street, including restaurants, shops, churches, and a few marijuana cafes.

Figure 6.2. Club Elegance.

Figure 6.3. Brothel interior, bar area (photo courtesy of Andre van Dorst).

Figure 6.4. The Golden Key.

The least expensive brothel, Jan Bik (see
figure 6.6
), is located on a side street off Haarlemerdijk, a commercial street running through a residential neighborhood. This brothel opened in 1969 and has nine sister clubs in other cities, including Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Haarlem. Jan Bik’s website states that the women who work there do so independently and work in a pleasant environment: “You can still taste the informal, homely atmosphere which Club Jan Bik is famous for and experience decent prices.” Jan Bik has a bar and lounge area, a whirlpool, and eight rooms. It calls itself “a proper center of love, founded on mutual respect” but also offers “topless handjob quickies between 12:00 and 8:00 pm.”
¹²⁰
When I knocked on the door one day, the receptionist stated that the prices are
€
50 for a half hour and
€
75 for an hour, and this includes entry to the place, the room, and “ordinary sex” with a woman (special requests cost extra). For a one-hour visit, the madam takes
€
30, and the provider receives
€
45. At any given time, five to ten women are present. This lower-tier brothel is much less expensive than most of the other legal brothels in Amsterdam and is also cheaper than the going rate for window workers (who charge
€
50 for 15–20 minutes). The low prices suggest that the women find other ways of making money on top of the flat rate—such as selling drinks, additional services, or more time. A client describes the place as follows: “Prices are good, girls not so much. Place is not that nice, but not terrible.”
¹²¹
A website reviewing the city’s brothels states that Jan Bik is “well known as the cheapest sex club in Amsterdam” and that “past visitors usually report [that] the quality of the girls reflects the low prices.”
¹²²
Still, some clients report very positive experiences on message boards.
¹²³