Amsterdam’s Red-Light District has been a tourist attraction for years. This is a seemingly novel phenomenon given most countries’ stricter rules surrounding sex work. Amsterdam is often hailed as an extremely liberal place, with sex work and cannabis being legal. But Amsterdam’s government is starting to fear that tourists’ attraction to their liberal culture has gone too far and are trying to rid themselves of ‘nuisance tourism.’ At the top of their agenda is rebranding the red-light district by preventing sex workers from offering their services between 3 am-6 am. However, sex workers seemed to have been side-lined from the decision-making progress and these new regulations are causing more harm than good when put into practice.
Politicians, including Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, believe the Red-Light District attracts criminals and intoxicated tourists which leads to fights, harassment of workers, and damage to the streets. To combat this and re-brand the district, from 1 April window operators renting space to sex workers are unable to open for business between 3 am-6 am. Considered to be the prime hours for crime and nuisances, this change is intended to curb what Amsterdam officials consider ‘nuisance tourism’.
However, it seems sex workers themselves were left out of the conversation entirely. Sex workers are protesting the change which is having serious consequences for their livelihoods: reduced working hours, higher rent, and more dangerous work.
Reducing window operating times also reduces sex workers’ working hours. The hours between 3 am-6 am are often the busiest, therefore, the reduction in working hours is having detrimental impacts on sex workers’ income which many depend on for survival. Sex worker and coordinator for the district’s Prostitution Information Center, Phoebe, told Insider that sex workers have already “seen quite some dramatic changes.” These measures have led to higher rent for window space due to higher demands for more limited space.
Furthermore, the new working hours leave fewer and more dangerous transit options for sex workers trying to get home at 3 am as opposed to 6 am where public transit is more readily available. Especially as sex workers often operate using a cash-based income, they are at a high risk of theft when carrying around large amounts of cash at this time. It has also forced some sex workers to carry out their services in more dangerous locations, even bringing clients to their own homes, due to the shorter working hours. Whilst officials’ primary focus is to reduce tourists’ dangerous behaviours, it seems these measures have heightened the dangers posed to sex workers.
Talks are underway with the city council to introduce another measure that would move sex workers into an erotic center outside of the city center. This is in hopes of preventing it from being a tourist attraction as the red-light district has become. However, sex workers within, Red Light United, argue the erotic center would allow for more crime and dangerous activity to take place as it would be out of the public eye. Sex workers are made highly visible working behind windows in the red-light district, increasing their feeling of safety. Working in an erotic center would reduce their visibility as they would be enclosed in a building. Pushing sex workers to the sidelines merely ostracises their profession further, as many already question the morality of sex work and call for criminalisation. Creating a unique area for them outside of the city center sends the message their profession is something that should be hidden away and increases their vulnerability.
Whilst cracking down on nuisance tourism may be high on their agenda, what about the well-being of the women in question? Rather than scapegoating sex workers and questioning the morality of their profession, we should be advocating for their rights and safety.
Some sex workers told CNN that these reforms are increasing the stigma surrounding sex work and believe they are being discriminated against and used as scapegoats for the problems with mass tourism. It seems sex workers are paying the price for people who do not know how to behave properly. Prioritising sex workers’ safety and well-being should be a priority and officials should perhaps instead be looking more closely at being stricter with individuals who promote havoc. A petition signed by 266 sex workers, which called for increased police numbers in the red-light district rather than the current measures, was handed to Amsterdam. Everyone deserves to be protected at work, and sex workers lived experiences mean they understand the industry the best. Increased police numbers would enable better management of so-called ‘nuisance tourists’ instead of promoting measures that directly detriment sex workers’ careers.
Sex work has been criminalised in most countries. Whilst the selling of sex is legal in the UK, apart from in Northern Ireland, it is strictly regulated with related activities being illegal under the 2003 Sexual Offences Act. For example, soliciting sex on the street or in public is a criminal offence. Lola Olufemi believes criminalisation disempowers sex workers as it limits their rights and protection under the law. Without proper workers’ rights and safe working conditions, sex workers are put into dangerous scenarios every single day just to make ends meet.
Granting sex workers a safe, legal, public space to carry out their business is what makes the Red Light District so remarkable. It demonstrates to other countries the way forward in terms of maximising sex workers’ rights. But these new measures will mean Amsterdam takes a few steps backward. Everyone deserves the right to safe working conditions and Amsterdam officials need to be coming up with more inventive ways to curb ‘nuisance tourism’ rather than pinning the blame on sex workers.
Words by Hannah Robinson
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