A Note from Nick

Not quite a week and a half yet, but today we visited the Prostitution Information Center (PIC) in Amsterdam's Red Light District. A former prostitute named Mariska Majoor founded the Center in 1994. The center provides information about prostitution to anyone who has questions, including prostitutes and clients. The woman that spoke with us today was, surprisingly, from Canada. She was a sex worker there for nine years and now works here, but not as a sex worker. Apparently you must be from the European Union in order to work as a prostitute here and if caught prostituting without residency you can be deported. She basically answered any questions we had and explained how regulated prostitution works under Dutch law. Compared to the U.S. this is much different, of course, and in the end, is much more pragmatic.

Having previously volunteered at Breaking Free in St. Paul – an organization aimed at helping people leave prostitution - the attitude towards regulation is quite different here. In St. Paul, and much of the U.S., there seems to be this impossible dream that the supply will dry up if the demand for prostitution is decreased. Also noteworthy is how St. Paul puts pictures of convicted prostitutes on-line, which only makes it harder for women to get off the streets. By regulating, Amsterdam has been able to get rid of streetwalking, as it is illegal here, and with the exception of window prostitutes, most of it happens behind doors.

It was interesting to compare our speaker today, a former sex worker, to the former sex workers I have met with in the States. Here, she seemed eager to return to this line of work when she establishes residency. In St. Paul everyone refers to themselves as survivors. The difference could be the stigma, which still exists here, but the recognized validity of this type of work makes that less so. But also, the regulation makes prostitutes seem less like victims and more like professionals who have control over their careers and their bodies.

The rest of the day has yet to come and in the words of Oscar Wilde,
"Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future," so Good Night and Good Luck.