Amsterdam sex business thrives in economic crisis

By Wongai Zhanghaza & Zenaida Machado

Amidst the economic meltdown which has ravaged the world there is one industry which has managed to whither the economic storm- the commercial sex industry in the historic town of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Marcel Maarschalker-Weerd, manager of one of largest sex shop in the world, the German Beate Uhse erotic shop, boasts that sex business in Amsterdam remains the most “profitable business” which has managed to resist the global crunch.

“About 95 percent of our [Beate Uhse] clients in Amsterdam are tourists coming from cities of Netherlands, US and England,” he says.

The Beate Uhse profits
According to Beate Uhse Industry’s quarterly financial report, the company made 2.7 million euros in the first three months of this year, through selling of sex toys, lingerie and pornography.

The sex shop combines a total of ten shops around the Red Light District (RLD), one of oldest parts of the city of Amsterdam known for its charming architecture.

“The sex shops business is our response to the people’s imagination. Dutch people work hard and they need to use sex toys to relax,” claims the former bouncer.

A shop manager from Chitika who preferred anonymity said sex business was good for Amsterdam.

“Sex business is good. It belongs to Amsterdam. It has been going on for a long period. It is our history. If we make more than 2 million euro in a short period of time, is that not good?” he asked.

He also said the sex shops owe their profitability to prostitution that also makes the Red Light District so popular. “Prostitutes keep these shops (sex shops) going.”

Prostitution under God’s eye
The RLD is also prominent for being the world’s most famous prostitution centre where women and male gays almost naked gather along the river canal close to Amsterdam’s Old Church.
People visiting the area do not seem to mind.

“Amsterdam is a very liberal city. The Red Light District has been here for more than 500 years. Having a woman standing in a window shop in few clothes, just next to a church doesn’t shock anyone,’ explains Victoria, an agent from the Information Desk of a specialised hotel group Hotel Runners in the RLD.

Prostitution in the Netherlands has been legal since 1830. The new law introduced nine years ago also legalised other sex businesses, subjecting it to the municipal regulations about the location, organisation and the practice.

HIV/Aids and safety
The local authorities are also concerned about the health and safety of sex workers and the people who visit them.

The registered prostitutes are protected by the law and receive benefits like mortgages, medical care and even child welfare.

The Prostitute Information Centre (PIC) and other health organisations try to make sure that the prostitutes practice safe sex as a measure to prevent the spread of HIV and Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Did you know that:

• An estimated 30 000, prostitutes are in the Netherlands
• 80% prostitutes are foreigners, 70% do not have immigration papers suggesting they were trafficke.
• 33% come from countries outside European Union
• Most prostitutes in shop windows are migrants from Dominican Republic, Columbia, Venezuela, Ghana, Benin, Poland, Russia, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Serbia, Croatia and the Czech and Slovak Republics.
• Prostitutes work between 12 and 17 hours a day receiving 10 to 24 clients, at a charge of 50 Euros for 20 minute sessions
• Roughly seven percent of the prostitutes in Amsterdam are infected with the HIV virus (2003/ 2004)

War on Sex
In December 2008, the Amsterdam council evoked a war on commercial sex by announcing their plans to close the RLD as a major move to fight human trafficking, money laundering and drug abuse in the prostitution area.

However, the decision found a lot of resistance from local residents, sex workers and visitors, forcing the local government to reconsider its decision.

“Amsterdam is a beautiful city regardless of the prostitution or marijuana. You can visit the city without necessarily being forced to go to the Red Light District. You don’t have to get in it if you don’t want to”, Victoria says.

Sex for Charity
The profits of the sex business have benefited a number of less privileged societies in developing countries.

“Every year we go to Gambia to visit children in need at the villages, to whom we offer school material. We also support local hospitals by supplying them with condoms and family planning pills for free”, said Marcel.