I haven't participated on Babble for a very long time due to the position taken regarding sexual work and workers.
However, having just read this article from the Independent, I thought it important to pass along. Holland has been held up as a prototype of legalized sexual work but things are changing.
Check this out: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/amsterdam-red-light-district-failing...
Thank-you that is encouraging news. I'm also encouraged by the lack of challenge to our new law.
Thanks Loretta. There have been feminists working on this issue in the Netherlands for quite a while.
If this area weren't so tawdry, it would be one of the most beautiful historic neighbourhoods in Amsterdam (which has many, in such a small city, easily walked, cycled or "trammed").
That is the other side of this story. The sex trade there is connected with a lot of other traffics, like hard drugs and arms. And a lot of the gang money ends up far from the Netherlands, and often non taxed, in the black or grey economy. Many of the former brothels are becoming other kinds of businesses that attract a "better class" of visitors.
Yes, I suppose that is gentrification, but it is not as if there are any social housing or moderately priced flats around there whose residents will be kicked out.
It is rare that I'll call law enforcement bodies "wise", but in that specific case at least here in Québec they have targeted human trafficking networks, especially those that target underage girls ... and sometimes boys... rather than actual sex workers. Those gangs target troubled youth, including those in "youth protection centres".
