Window prostitution is a form of prostitution that is fairly common in the Netherlands and surrounding countries. [1] The prostitute rents a window plus workspace off a window operator for a certain period of time, often per day or part of a day. [2] [3] [4] The prostitute is also independent and recruits her own customers and also negotiates the price and the services to be provided. [2] [3] [4]
Window prostitution was originally a typical Dutch form of prostitution. [1] This form arose through the ban on soliciting on the street or in doorways in the old red-light district in Amsterdam around the old church. [5] In the beginning the curtains were completely closed, as sexual morality became less strict, the curtains opened even further. When the curtains were completely open, the process continued in the form of fewer and fewer pieces of clothing that the prostitute wore. In current times, the curtains are only closed when the prostitute has a customer. [2] [3]
There are around 1,270 windows used for prostitution in the Netherlands. [6] In Amsterdam the traditional window prostitution neighbourhoods are the red-light district, the area around the Singel and the Ruysdaelkade. [5] In Rotterdam window prostitution has not been tolerated since the seventies. [1] [7] In The Hague it occurs in the Hunsestraat, the Geleenstraat and the Doubletstraat. [8] In Alkmaar there is a tolerance area for windows on the Achterdam. [9] In Arnhem the Spijkerkwartier was the red-light district, but it was closed in January 2006. [10] In Utrecht there was a special form of window prostitution from the 1960s: the women were sitting behind the windows of houseboats moored along the Zandpad, a road along the eastern bank of the Vecht river. [11] [4] In July 2013, the municipal authorities withdrew the permits. [4] [12]
Thirty percent of prostitutes in the Netherlands work behind windows. [13]
Former:
And on many through roads outside built-up areas, for example on the road from Deinze to Sint-Martens-Latem, there are about 60 windows [17]
Duisburg, [22] Cologne [18] and Frankfurt am Main [18] contain Eroscenters or Laufhäuser where the women work within a building behind a window, often large buildings of more than 6 floors. Both forms are present in Hamburg. [18]
Alkmaar is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The municipality has a population of 111,766 as of 2023.
De Wallen is the largest and best known red-light district in Amsterdam. It consists of a network of alleys containing approximately 300 one-room cabins rented by prostitutes who offer their sexual services from behind a window or glass door, typically illuminated with red lights and blacklight. Window prostitution is the most visible and typical kind of red-light district sex work in Amsterdam.
Jan van Scorel was a Dutch painter, who played a leading role in introducing aspects of Italian Renaissance painting into Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting. He was one of the early painters of the Romanist style who had spent a number of years in Italy, where he thoroughly absorbed the Italian style of painting. His trip to Italy coincided with the brief reign of the only Dutch pope in history, Adrian VI in 1522–23. The pope made him a court painter and superintendent of his collection of antiquities. His stay in Italy lasted from 1518 to 1524 and he also visited Nuremberg, Venice and Jerusalem. Venetian art had an important impact on the development of his style.
The Randstad is a roughly crescent- or arc-shaped conurbation in the Netherlands, that houses almost half the country's population. With a central-western location, it connects and comprises the Netherlands' four biggest cities, their suburbs, and many towns in between, that all grew and merged into each other. Among other things, it includes the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Amsterdam, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. With a population of approximately 8.4 million people it is one of the largest metropolitan regions in Europe,[b] comparable in population size to the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region or the San Francisco Bay Area, and covers an area of approximately 11,372 km2 (4,391 sq mi).[a] The Randstad had a gross regional domestic product of €510 billion in 2022, making it the second most productive region in the European Union, only behind the Paris metropolitan area. It encompasses both the Amsterdam metropolitan area and Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area. It is part of the larger Blue Banana megalopolis.
Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated. Operating a brothel is also legal. De Wallen, the largest and best-known Red-light district in Amsterdam, is a destination for international sex tourism.
The Achterdam is a red light district in the Dutch city of Alkmaar, 30 km North of Amsterdam. It is the only place in Alkmaar where window prostitution is permitted. It is situated about 10 minutes walk from the Alkmaar train station. It is a 150-metre-long street with window prostitution on both sides. The area has about 69 windows with rooms.
The Diocese of Haarlem–Amsterdam is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. As one of the seven suffragans in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, the diocesan territory comprises the north west of the Netherlands, including the cities of Haarlem and Amsterdam.
Cheongnyangni 588 is a now-defunct red-light district in Dongdaemun District, Seoul, South Korea. It was located near the Cheongnyangni station. By 2022, last brothels were closed, with new construction occurring in the area.
The Red Thread was an advocacy-support group for prostitutes in the Netherlands. It was formed in 1985 and declared bankrupt in 2012. The name The Red Thread was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, in which a 'sinful' woman has to put a red letter A on her clothing.
The Prostitution Information Centre is located in the heart of Amsterdam in the red light district, near Amsterdam's Old Church. The PIC serves as an educational centre and resource for providing Amsterdam's visitors with information and advice about prostitution.
Prostitution in Switzerland is legal and regulated; it has been legal since 1942. Trafficking, forcing people into prostitution and most forms of pimping are illegal. Licensed brothels, typically with a reception and leading to several studio apartments, are available. One estimate puts the number of street sex workers in Zurich at 5,000.
Heerhugowaard railway station serves the towns of Heerhugowaard and Broek op Langedijk, Netherlands. The station opened on 20 December 1865 and is located on the Den Helder–Amsterdam railway and Heerhugowaard–Hoorn railway. The train services are operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
Alkmaar Noord railway station is a suburban railway station in the town of Alkmaar, Netherlands. The station opened on 26 September 1980 and is located on the Den Helder–Amsterdam railway. The train services are operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
Castricum railway station is located in Castricum, the Netherlands.
Prostitution is legal in Belgium, but related activities such as organising prostitution and other forms of pimping are illegal. Enforcement varies, and in some areas brothels are unofficially tolerated.
Mariska Majoor is a Dutch writer, publicist, speaker, entrepreneur, and former sex worker. She founded the Prostitution Information Center (1994) and the labour union PROUD (2015) in Amsterdam to support (novice) sex workers and inform passers-by/tourists and the general public, answer questions and dispel misconceptions about everything involving sex work. Majoor gives lectures and presentations on sex work, and has written several books including Als sex werken wordt, United Under a Red Umbrella: Sex Work Around the World (2018), and Amsterdam Red Light District: The future of our past (2023). In 2017, Mariska Majoor was knighted by the Mayor of Amsterdam in recognition of her contribution to sex workers' rights in the Netherlands.
