Amsterdam: Red Light District

At sundown, on the evening of our final night in Amsterdam, we headed for the most happening spot in town, the Red Light District. As we passed through a narrow street, assuming we were getting close, I caught a glimpse of a neon red glow from the corner of my eye. We had arrived.

On the ground floor of the old brick building we were passing, were three large windows bordered with glowing red lights. Inside each window stood a young, sexy woman dressed in skimpy underwear, her body and the room she stood in illuminated in black-light (the kind that makes anything white glow). There were no signs advertising you were now in the Red Light District, no big spectacles being made of it, just three prostitutes standing in their windows, in an otherwise ordinary building.

As we moved into the more bustling part of town, a more exciting, racy atmosphere emerged. The serene canal in the center of the area captured the contradictory images of reflected neon lights, and gracefully floating white swans. Fast paced beats pulsated out of the pubs, clubs, and restaurants. The streets were congested with people, many of them tourists, and plenty of rowdy young boys, either high on the weed they had just smoked in a coffee shop, or high on the hope that that would be the night they could afford one of the Red Light Ladies. Countless more windows were lit up in red, highlighting the gorgeous, sex-pot, attainable-but-it's-gonna-cost-you women.

You are not allowed to take pictures of the women in the windows, so finding a good one online is not too easy. Picture from: www.travelpod.com

Some of the girls do a little shake and twirl, some sit there with bored expressions chatting away on their cell phones. Some shoot their sexy come-hither stare at the dumbfounded men on the streets, most of whom seem to have no idea what to do with themselves in such glorious circumstances. Sometimes they beat on the window angrily, glaring at street people who are behaving inappropriately, and other times they pay no attention whatsoever to the street people, instead chatting with girls in neighboring windows. Of course, there are the times that the curtains are closed, meaning business is taking place behind them.

Picture from: www.janediva.blogspot.com

It is all so fascinating to look at. I was particularly interested in observing the interactions between the women, after they had opened their windows a crack, talking business with the anxiously awaiting men. But honestly, I was never really quite sure where to look, as we walked around the Red Light District.

Picture from: www.regiomagazin.ro

I felt like it was rude to look at the women, even though they are selling themselves willingly, and make careers out of being looked at. I tried to maintain a business as usual facade while exploring the Red Light area, but what I really wanted to do was gawk and stare, and knock on their windows to ask them how much their services were. Ok, that probably came out wrong.

I did not want their services personally, I just have a curious mind, and was dying to know more details, like why they do it, how much money they make, how many customers they take a night, do they have boyfriends, and if so, do they mind that their girlfriends work the Red Light District, etc. I contemplated sending Henry in to do the research for me, but since we had been cheaping out this trip by sleeping in the back of the van, and contemplating eating butter sandwiches, I highly doubted we would have been able to afford a Red Light Prostitute.

The Sex Palace

To my surprise, I did not find the Red Light District the least bit trashy. Regardless of the fact that they were practically naked, these prostitutes seemed to have a lot more class than the ones I saw working the street corners of Copenhagen, accepting customers who drove up to them in their rusty, old clunkers.

The Red Light women seem to be more powerful and in control. You get the impression that it is a professional business, which they excel at, and it appears that they are free to pick and choose which ever customer suits them best. In Copenhagen, I got the impression that the prostitutes were weak, destitute, possible victims of sex trafficking, who out of pure desperation, would take on any customer that showed up, just to make a buck.

Aside from the prostitutes, you will find a few small theater type places, like the Sex Palace, Moulin Rouge, or Casa Rosa, where for around 30 Euros, you can watch live sex shows and other erotic demonstrations. Just on the outskirts of the area, you will also find the Sex Museum.

Picture from: www.travelpod.com

*Warning: The following paragraphs are not exactly family friendly, please feel free to stop reading here, especially if you are my grandmother.

Part raunchy, part history, the sex museum is a rather amusing, albeit a tad distasteful, place to explore. After you pay 4 Euros, you enter the main hallway, where you will find nipple pierced mannequins, scantily clad in leather costumes and face masks, holding whips and hand cuffs. There is also a collection of pornographic artwork, and a display of the olden day Red Light District, where you can look in the windows and find life sized mannequins engaged in various acts of sex.

You will walk by several mechanical mannequins equipped with motion detectors, that come to life and either start masturbating, or flash open their trench coats to show you their private areas, once your motion is detected on their radar. There is a gallery of raunchy pornographic photos involving fetishes and freaky behaviours, and you can even pick up a telephone and listen to a recording of a couple having phone sex.

This lovely, indecent mannequin, greets you on your way into the museum. Picture from: www.flickr.com

On the upper level of the museum are the more historical, tasteful displays of sex through the ages, and sex in different cultures. There was a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, and copies of Playboy magazines dating back to the 1950's. You can also take a look inside an old view finder from the 1800's, that people had to put one cent into, so that they could see pictures of women in dresses baring a shoulder, or a bit of cleavage. They also had a display of personal pornographic photos from the 60s and 70s, that people had kindly donated to the museum.

The Red Light District, ironically enough which is centered around an old church, is a place like no other, with an endless amount of things to see and do (no pun intended). A visit to Amsterdam would not be complete without gawking at the X Rated sights found here.

PS: For some people, it may be a good idea to stop by the Condomerie in the Red Light District. It is a store that sells condoms, hence the term condomerie. It sells more that your average Trojan, however. Here you can find condoms shaped as elephants, mushrooms, and world famous landmarks.

Picture from: www.travelpod.com

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