Turn Out the Red Light?

Is there no place on earth where freedom can exist? Prostitution is perhaps the best example of "free trade." There is a willing buyer and a willing seller. The price is agreeable to both parties. Where is the crime in that? The reason unsavory characters and pimps get involved is because righteous religious zealots who want to control other people's behavior have enacted laws making prostitution illegal and, where it is legal, stigmatized.

Is there no place on earth where freedom can exist? Prostitution is perhaps the best example of "free trade." There is a willing buyer and a willing seller. The price is agreeable to both parties. Where is the crime in that? The reason unsavory characters and pimps get involved is because righteous religious zealots who want to control other people's behavior have enacted laws making prostitution illegal and, where it is legal, stigmatized.

My friend and I were attacked after leaving the red liught district, while on vacation in Amsterdam . I think the police there need to station more units nearby and keep a better view on the numerous young guys - supposedly from Morocco- who are causing fights and tautning and terrorizing people as they leave the district. I have alot of respect for your police- they did a great job- butthis area needs more patrollling !@

My

$100 million a year business!!!!!!!! And this guy wants to shut ir down. I didn't realize that Amsterdam was so wealthy, it could throw away the money they make from that. Too bad the US is not smart enough to legalize and tax sex. The oldest profession in the world, one of the most profitable and in a controlled area. What more could they want? So now the girls and their newly " certified" pimps willbe on the streets all over town. Think about it Amsterdam.

I live in Amsterdam, and I absolutely disagree with the plans of the government.
It's impossible to bann prostitution, and if the Wallen (RDL) will disappear, somewhere else it will come up.
In the way it used to be, they could control it, and the women wouldn't appear on the streets.
For me as a citizen, it was no issue, no problem.
I'm affraid that there will come an huge problem, if they continue with the plans.

Thanks as always for the posting, as well as the opportunity to communicate. A REAL !st ammendment venue. I'm sure Amsterdam is not the only environment with these types of problems. What were we to expect after years of "the cat being out of the bag?" Furthermore, my folks tried to teach me that you can't teach someone to say no to something, without an alternative to say yes to. The implications are staggering, for prostitution isn't the only "unsavory" activity there. One has to see the "ripple" effect.....More later...

I saw a documentary on 1800's LEGAL prostitution in the USA, on The History Channel. Much like Nevada today:

* Very little violence was associated with the business;
* LEGAL prostitution also uses zoning to usually keep prostitution away from children, as Nevada does, and as the Dutch RLD does --
. . . but in contrast, in the other 49 USA states where prostitution is banned, there is a PROBLEM (and even in Las Vegas, the one city where NV ironically bans prostitution), something urban dwellers complain about in every US city: the lowest class of prostitute, streetwalkers, in residentially-zoned areas...and they are often underaged themselves because you cannot check their ages when they work in a black-market business, NV and the Dutch RLD have a MUCH better record at avoiding underage/pedophilia/human-traffic than the other 49 USA states;
* 1800's workers were checked for VD by real M.D.'s and complied with laws requiring them not to spread disease;
* Taxes were collected, instead of all the money feeding the Al Capones of the world so they can buy more GUNS, etc. to fund their other, more violent crimes.

When Americans banned prostitution, they traded the above, comparatively mild situation for today's gun-toting pimps who abuse women and quiet neighborhoods MORE THAN THEY EVER COULD if legal brothels dominated the business, just as legal alcohol makers today dominate the alcohol business.

Prohibition created Al Capone, but with liquor legal today, the Al Capones were deprived of that as a revenue source to fund their SERIOUS (violent) crimes. Similarly, banning prostitution will put sex workers on the streets into the hands of violent pimps, instead of Amsterdam's mostly non-violent businessmen. Put most taxes collected from brothels into enforcement and disease-reduction -- the same way that alcohol is legal today and taxes on it fund the BATF to keep moonshiners from producing bad-quality liquor that can blind those who drink it -- and you'll reduce the number of disease-spreading, property-value-lowering hookers in residential areas...just as the BATF reduced the blindness-inducing moonshine.

Keeping prostitution above-ground and well-regulated -- just like alcohol is well-regulated today, as opposed to when Al Capone ran the business -- protects the sex workers, their customers, AND children, and would be the hallmark of a government interested in PROTECTING all its people instead of political leaders who are forcing their religious morals on The People in a way that will backfire.
THOSE WHO REFUSE TO LEARN FROM HISTORY ARE COMDEMNED TO REPEAT IT. e.g. The 2004 re-election of a moralist like GWB has the average American is a real swell state, huh? ;-) The religious-right will never learn, they are too stupid like GWB, my dog learns faster than some of these backwards neanderthals.

I saw a documentary on 1800's LEGAL prostitution in the USA, on The History Channel. Much like Nevada today:

* Very little violence was associated with the business;
* LEGAL prostitution also uses zoning to usually keep prostitution away from children, as Nevada does, and as the Dutch RLD does --
. . . but in contrast, in the other 49 USA states where prostitution is banned, there is a PROBLEM (and even in Las Vegas, the one city where NV ironically bans prostitution), something urban dwellers complain about in every US city: the lowest class of prostitute, streetwalkers, in residentially-zoned areas...and they are often underaged themselves because you cannot check their ages when they work in a black-market business, NV and the Dutch RLD have a MUCH better record at avoiding underage/pedophilia/human-traffic than the other 49 USA states;
* 1800's workers were checked for VD by real M.D.'s and complied with laws requiring them not to spread disease;
* Taxes were collected, instead of all the money feeding the Al Capones of the world so they can buy more GUNS, etc. to fund their other, more violent crimes.

When Americans banned prostitution, they traded the above, comparatively mild situation for today's gun-toting pimps who abuse women and quiet neighborhoods MORE THAN THEY EVER COULD if legal brothels dominated the business, just as legal alcohol makers today dominate the alcohol business.

Prohibition created Al Capone, but with liquor legal today, the Al Capones were deprived of that as a revenue source to fund their SERIOUS (violent) crimes. Similarly, banning prostitution will put sex workers on the streets into the hands of violent pimps, instead of Amsterdam's mostly non-violent businessmen. Put most taxes collected from brothels into enforcement and disease-reduction -- the same way that alcohol is legal today and taxes on it fund the BATF to keep moonshiners from producing bad-quality liquor that can blind those who drink it -- and you'll reduce the number of disease-spreading, property-value-lowering hookers in residential areas...just as the BATF reduced the blindness-inducing moonshine.

Keeping prostitution above-ground and well-regulated -- just like alcohol is well-regulated today, as opposed to when Al Capone ran the business -- protects the sex workers, their customers, AND children, and would be the hallmark of a government interested in PROTECTING all its people instead of political leaders who are forcing their religious morals on The People in a way that will backfire.
THOSE WHO REFUSE TO LEARN FROM HISTORY ARE COMDEMNED TO REPEAT IT. e.g. The 2004 re-election of a moralist like GWB has the average American is a real swell state, huh? ;-) The religious-right will never learn, they are too stupid like GWB, my dog lerns faster than some of these backwards neanderthals.

Keep the Red Light District, and keep your own misgivings about others out of politics. This area is historic, extremely successful, and one of the only reasons millions visit Amsterdam every year! Losing it will be losing the entire city.

67% of the population wants to get rid of the red light district... I'm sure!!! Did anyone bother to ask how many people were polled, who was polled, who ran the poll, or age range of those polled. Let be real Politicians will always poll an appropriate demographic in order to get the result they are looking for to back there cause.

If Amsterdam gets rid of the Red Light District....It would be like the United States back in the days of Prohibition. I believe there will be a whole new wave of underground crime and prostitution. NOT A GOOD IDEA AMSTERDAM! You should consider other areas of the city to have a revitalization!

I think if they get rid of the Red Light District........it would be like prohibition in the United States. It would breed a whole new underground world of crime and prostitution. As a true american, I always looked up to Amsterdam for their liberal views.........NOT A GOOD IDEA TO DO THIS AMSTERDAM!

If one thinks that closing The Red Light District will stop sex trafficking than I wonder why we have so much sex trafficking in the USA. I am a Dutch native and am against prostitution and I can understand that there are people who like to see the area cleaned up, but prostitution will be around, so it makes more sense to have it controlled. In the USA it is not controlled and we have tons of prostitution crime.

If one thinks that closing The Red Light District will stop sex trafficking than I wonder why we have so much sex trafficking in the USA. I am a Dutch native and am against prostitution and I can understand that there are people who like to see the area cleaned up, but prostitution will be around, so it makes more sense to have it controlled. In the USA it is not controlled and we have tons of prostitution crime.