Prostitution in the Netherlands
Dec. 4th, 2007 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzAs many of you out there know, prostitution, like soft drugs, is legalized in the Netherlands. I read in today's Metro (a free newspaper distributed along public transport stations throughout the major cities) that the prostitutes are ringing the alarm bell. Their customers are radicalizing, demanding more extreme things every day.
A group of prostitutes chose a spokesperson to talk to a journalist about their problems. The article was published in today's Metro. First a nice little story on the front page. It catches your eye immediately:
"Customers of prostitutes no longer with condom"1)
The prostitute issue is a precarious one, even in such a 'liberal' country as the Netherlands (and I use the term sceptically, for as liberal as we may seem to the outside world, as controversial we are within our country's borders!). The Nederlands Dagblad, a more christian newspaper, wrote an article that quotes Minister De Geus (Social Issues) saying that "prostitution is a fitting alternative for unemployed people"2).
The issue of today is, however precarious, not related to the debate on the morale of legalizing prostitution in itself. It speaks of the competition between the girls who are working in the prostitution and the problems they encounter.
"Firstly, we have a problem with pimps, they get younger all the time. Nowadays they are boys of 14, 15 years old who lounge up and down the street all day and have total control over a girl. We see it happen right in front of our noses. Cheeky teenagers that only want to see money and even force the girls to do it without a condom." 3)
You wonder whatever happened to the fact that every child up to the age of 16 has to be in school. In large cities like Den Haag where I work and Amsterdam that is known for its red light district, you would think some people working for the city are checking up on these kids, fining their parents because they are not in school.
This, however, opens up the debate on raising your children and the problems people encounter because many parents have too little time for their children, and that is not what I want to write about today.
"There is a lot of competition and you hear more often that there are girls who don't use a rubber. Forced, or just because they need the money and they think they can draw more customers to their rooms. It is incredibly dangerous, because those men will be lying next to their wives next."3)
There are police officers on the streets, checking up on girls working in the windows of red light district. They are mostly there to find the girls that were sold into prostitution from poorer countries - usually Eastern European countries. These girls are lured to come to the Netherlands to work as a waitress or a hostess, but are forced into prostitution by their pimps.
Other women work illegally in the prostitution to support their families at home. "When you don't have a job for months and no income, when your family has no food and needs medicine, what do you do as a woman? Then you sell your body." 4)
What is even more troubling, especially with recent developments, is the fact that doctor's checks are no longer required:
"Before the thing was legalized the girls were required to go to the doctor once a week to get a note, a declaration that you are healthy, as it were. This is no longer required because we are now independent businesswomen.
There used to be a lot more social control and a girl that did it without a condom was, in a manner of speaking, kicked out of the street. Now you have to watch out that you don't end up getting beat up because you say something about the issue."3)
The social pressure on the streets with the windows no longer works - the mood declines and the girls who do try to talk to eachother about not working with a rubber are in danger. The muscles have the power, and if your pimp says you need to earn more money, draw more customers, and have unsafe sex to accomplish it, there is very little you can do about it.
HIV-testing is not mandatory in the Netherlands, not even in this business. Nor is testing for STD's.
"In priciple the responsibility lies with the prostitutes, their branche organisations and the owners of the brothels to work on good work environments and health" 5)
-----
1) Metro, December 4th 2007, page 1
2) Nederlands Dagblad(Dutch), April 13th 2005 (Dutch)
3) Metro, December 4th 2007, page 10
4) De Wereldomroep (Dutch), August 22nd, 2007
5) Prostitutie.nl (Dutch), F.A.Q.
A group of prostitutes chose a spokesperson to talk to a journalist about their problems. The article was published in today's Metro. First a nice little story on the front page. It catches your eye immediately:
"Customers of prostitutes no longer with condom"1)
The prostitute issue is a precarious one, even in such a 'liberal' country as the Netherlands (and I use the term sceptically, for as liberal as we may seem to the outside world, as controversial we are within our country's borders!). The Nederlands Dagblad, a more christian newspaper, wrote an article that quotes Minister De Geus (Social Issues) saying that "prostitution is a fitting alternative for unemployed people"2).
The issue of today is, however precarious, not related to the debate on the morale of legalizing prostitution in itself. It speaks of the competition between the girls who are working in the prostitution and the problems they encounter.
"Firstly, we have a problem with pimps, they get younger all the time. Nowadays they are boys of 14, 15 years old who lounge up and down the street all day and have total control over a girl. We see it happen right in front of our noses. Cheeky teenagers that only want to see money and even force the girls to do it without a condom." 3)
You wonder whatever happened to the fact that every child up to the age of 16 has to be in school. In large cities like Den Haag where I work and Amsterdam that is known for its red light district, you would think some people working for the city are checking up on these kids, fining their parents because they are not in school.
This, however, opens up the debate on raising your children and the problems people encounter because many parents have too little time for their children, and that is not what I want to write about today.
"There is a lot of competition and you hear more often that there are girls who don't use a rubber. Forced, or just because they need the money and they think they can draw more customers to their rooms. It is incredibly dangerous, because those men will be lying next to their wives next."3)
There are police officers on the streets, checking up on girls working in the windows of red light district. They are mostly there to find the girls that were sold into prostitution from poorer countries - usually Eastern European countries. These girls are lured to come to the Netherlands to work as a waitress or a hostess, but are forced into prostitution by their pimps.
Other women work illegally in the prostitution to support their families at home. "When you don't have a job for months and no income, when your family has no food and needs medicine, what do you do as a woman? Then you sell your body." 4)
What is even more troubling, especially with recent developments, is the fact that doctor's checks are no longer required:
"Before the thing was legalized the girls were required to go to the doctor once a week to get a note, a declaration that you are healthy, as it were. This is no longer required because we are now independent businesswomen.
There used to be a lot more social control and a girl that did it without a condom was, in a manner of speaking, kicked out of the street. Now you have to watch out that you don't end up getting beat up because you say something about the issue."3)
The social pressure on the streets with the windows no longer works - the mood declines and the girls who do try to talk to eachother about not working with a rubber are in danger. The muscles have the power, and if your pimp says you need to earn more money, draw more customers, and have unsafe sex to accomplish it, there is very little you can do about it.
HIV-testing is not mandatory in the Netherlands, not even in this business. Nor is testing for STD's.
"In priciple the responsibility lies with the prostitutes, their branche organisations and the owners of the brothels to work on good work environments and health" 5)
-----
1) Metro, December 4th 2007, page 1
2) Nederlands Dagblad(Dutch), April 13th 2005 (Dutch)
3) Metro, December 4th 2007, page 10
4) De Wereldomroep (Dutch), August 22nd, 2007
5) Prostitutie.nl (Dutch), F.A.Q.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-04 09:45 am (UTC)Serieus? Passend? Ik dacht dat we in een normaal land leefden. Ik zie de reactie van het CWI al: "We hebben een mooi raampje voor u gevonden, mevrouw. Wat? Wilt u niet? Dan weigert u geschikt werk aan te nemen en dan korten we u op uw uitkering."
no subject
Date: 2007-12-04 12:43 pm (UTC)Het CWI krijgt ook vacatures binnen voor prostitutie. Het is een legale branche nu, dus ze moeten de vacatures accepteren. Maar tegenwoordig is er ook een regeling dat je dat werk mag weigeren, met behoud van je uitkering. Volgens mij mag het je zelfs niet aangeboden worden als "passend werk".
no subject
Date: 2007-12-04 01:16 pm (UTC)Het is een legale branche nu, dus ze moeten de vacatures accepteren.
Aan de ene kant logisch en aan de andere kant erg scheef...
Als legale branche valt prostitutie onder de ARBOwet en daarmee kan ook recht op een gezonde en veilige werkomgeving worden opgeëist. Maarja, probeer je "werkgever" maar aan te geven als die je in elkaar slaat.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-04 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-04 02:22 pm (UTC)Nu beweer ik niet dat achter de ramen alleen maar angstige vrouwtjes zitten die gedwongen worden.
Marktwerking aan het werk. Mensen gaan daar shoppen waar ze het goedkoopst uit zijn en als het niet goedkoper kan, dan maar daar waar je de meeste service krijgt. Zo ook blijkbaar in de prostitutie.
Toch blijf ik het vreemd vinden dat je zonder condoom met een prostitué wilt. Je weet toch niet wie er allemaal voor je zijn geweest? Als je met je broekinhoud denkt, is het misschien wel logisch.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-04 01:58 pm (UTC)Desalniettemin, scary shit!