1012 MAGAZINE

OCTOBER 2015

1012

Table of contents 04

INTRODUCTION

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FACTS

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PROJECT1012

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COLUMN: STREETS DESIGNED FOR THE MALE GLAZE

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PHOTO ESSAY: SINGEL DISTRICT

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COLUMN: FILMING THROUGH A SCARF

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THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT

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COLUMN: NEON COLOURS FROM NINE TO FIVE

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VIDEO: TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

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COLUMN: WINDOW SHOPPING FOR 18 AND OLDER

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ELEPHANTS, BANANAS AND CHEEKY STRIPPERS

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THE TEAM BEHIND 1012 MAGAZINE

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INTRODUCTION

1012 MAGAZINE A brief introduction The 1012 magazine is about one of the most famous places in the city of Amsterdam. You’ve probably guessed it already, and you’re right; The Red Light District. Actually, Amsterdam has three of these districts, but the most famous one is called De Wallen, and that’s the district we’re focusing on here. De Wallen is placed in the heart of the oldest part of the city, as you can see on the map. It’s famous for its red lights, as known by the name, and it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city. In De Wallen, it’s about 300 different windows where prostitutes work. The prostitutes rent the windows themselves, and the price varies after day and time. But, there are more than red windows in the district. There are also different sex museums, bars, porn shops, clubs and the famous coffeeshops.

In this short magazine, we try to look at different point of views of the famous district, not just the sex part.

Did you know that the government have had a project called 1012 ongoing since 2007? The government want to make the area friendlier by motivating serious businesses to open up in the streets. Since the start of the project, businesses like nice restaurants and cafes have opened. We talked to some young people in the neighbourhood of the Red Light District who says they can feel the changes already. Both stories you will find in the magazine.

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The magazine also concludes our own views of the district, and you can read our small impression stories on different pages in the magazine. Maybe you agree with some of our perspectives, maybe not. You can make up your own mind. We also filmed a girl while she was walking through the “red streets”, which gives another perspective showing how girls might feel in situations like that. The discussion about girls, sex and pressure is always a highlight issue, and the district has definitely an impact on that.

We hope that this magazine will give you a brief introduction in one of the most famous parts of Amsterdam, and that you’ll think of other things than just prostitutes and sex after reading this.

Enjoy!

Linn Christoffersen

Photo: Saga Mannila

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Did you know that?...

Text: Dilara Tigli • Both prostitutes and their clients do their thing legally since 1811.

However, prostitution became a legal way of generating income in 2000 when the ban on brothels ended.

• 21 is the the minimum age for working as a prostitute.

• The prostitutes have to be have a valid identity document.

• The prostitutes have to have a sufficient knowledge (A2 level) of the Dutch, English, Spanish or German language.

• Between 5,000 and 8,000 people work as prostitutes in Amsterdam.

• 50 euros is the typical charge for 15-20 minutes of oral sex and intercourse.

• 85 euros is the average rent for a small window-room during the day shift.

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•115 euros is the average rent for the night shift.

•Amsterdam has about 400 window brothels. Most of them are located at De Wallen in the Red Light District.

• The gross income of a prostitute varies between 200 and 1500 euros per day.

• There’s no difference between the red and purple lights but usually, transgender prostitues use blue lights to offer themselves.

•Visitors are not allowed to take pictures of the prostitutes.

Sources: Iamsterdam, Amsterdam advisor & The Red Light District tours

PROJECT 1012 Changes in the Red Light District Text: Saga Mannila

Forty per cent of the window brothels in the Red light district will vanish due to the City of Amsterdam’s and the Centre District of Amsterdam’s ten-year project called 1012. The idea is to clean up Amsterdam’s image of being the place to be if you’re into buying sex and marijuana.

Project 1012, a cooperation between the Centre District of Amsterdam and the City of Amsterdam, started in 2007 in order to tackle crime, launch an economic upswing and to clean up the streets of Damrak, Rokin and the Red light district. The name refers to the postal code of the area.

One of the key elements in the project’s mission to make the area safer and more liveable is to close down window brothels and coffee shops near Singel and the Red light district. According to the project’s website, 192 of 482 window brothels will be closed down, which means that the windows will reduce by forty per cent.

109 of the windows have already been purchased by the city or by private investors.

So here is our list of demands signed by sex workers.

We want project 1012 to stop. We don’t want more windows to close down”, a Romanian sex worker who goes by the name Felicia Anna, wrote on her Behind the red light district-blog short after the demonstration.

Up to this date at least twenty-six coffee shops in the area have closed their doors to improve the public order and safety in the area. According to the City of Amsterdam this plays a crucial role in the upgrading of the downtown area. The City of Amsterdam has developed an incentive for businesses and entrepreneurs located in the area to upgrade their businesses. This means that the City will support an entrepreneur who wants to change his/her company from a coffee shop, massage parlor, prostitution establishment or souvenir shop to something more desirable for the area. The idea behind this is to tackle networks of organized crime, money laundry and to create variation on the streets of the Red light district.

Sources: Municipality of Amsterdam, Vice News & Behind the Red Light District blog

Vice News wrote about over 200 prostitutes demonstrating against the closing of the windows in April this year. The prostitutes want to have a voice and to be consulted in the process of changing the Red light district.

“People are always talking about us, but never with us.

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PROJECT 1012 Examples of initiatives Text & Photos: Saga Mannila

There are several on going developments in the Red light district. Many new restaurants and other businesses have open with support of the Centre District and City of Amsterdam as part of the project 1012. Here are some of them.

Mata Hari The building at the Oudezijdsachterburgwal was completed in March 2011 after a renovation made by Ymere Housing.

A restaurant called Mata Hari opened there in May 2012.d on the ground floor.

Red Light Fashion Red light Fashion and is an initiative that started in 2008 After that several former prostitute’s windows in the Red light District, especially the former window brothels on Oudekerksplein and Oudezijdsachterburgwal, have been repurposed as exhibition spaces and studios for clothing and shoe designers.

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Oudezijdsvoorburgwal 30-34 Brewery De Prael has opened its doors here.

The Prael is a small craft brewery where people with disabilities who otherwise have difficulties finding work, get hired. When the brewery was established in 2002 it was the first Dutch brewery with a social function.

The brewery shop is located in front of the historic 17th century canal house.

Coffee Quartier Putain The Quartier Putain cafÊ opened in June 2013 after Ymere Housing redeveloped the building. It’s located next to the Oude kerk and next to window brothels on Oudekerksplein.

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COLUMN

Streets designed for the male glaze Text: Saga Mannila Drunken tourists, men groping half-naked women inside red-lighted windows. Women’s bodies altered with plastic surgery, latex and tiny underwear. My first memory of the Red light district is filled with all these elements. The image in my head is so strong that it’s hard to shake off, even months later.

I live quite close to the Red light district and sometimes I have to pass it on my way home. This was the case the first time I visited the area. It was a Friday night and it was late. I felt unsecure to walk in the direction of the red windows, but since I hadn’t seen it before I chose to wander through one of the streets with lots of red windows and prostitutes.

The first thought that run through my head was that there were only men on the streets. All kinds of men, actually: tall, short, blond, brunette, light-skinned, darkskinned, young and old. Some of them were clearly high or drunk. Some seemed eager to buy a woman for the night and some were only trespassing out of curiosity, a little like me.

But the fact that I was the only woman not half-naked in a red window, made me uncomfortable and also a little bit confused. Why is there streets clearly made and created only for satisfying the male glaze?

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There is no such thing for women, so why should there be on for men then, I asked myself while walking further down the street.

But there is also another side of the area. A side that I’ve learned by talking to locals who live next to the red windows and who walk the streets there every single day.

The Red light district is just a normal neighbourhood for many, it seems. A neighbourhood where people work, live and do their day-to-day activities. There are cafés, restaurants and even a church nearby. Also the area has a lot of history, being one of the oldest parts of the town.

Even though I’m still a bit sceptical about the idea of putting prostitution and striptease right where everyone can see it, I’ve now started to think maybe it’s better than hiding it under the mat.

SINGEL DISTRICT The Red Light District in the Wallen is probably the most famous one in the world but it’s not the only one in Amsterdam. It’s so common for tourists to get confused when they see a red light window while they are walking around Singel.

Singel Red Light District, Singelgebied is the second largest red light district in Amsterdam with it’s 64 red light windows and three adult shops.

Photo essay: Dilara Tigli

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COLUMN

Filming through a scarf Text: Dilara Tigli Visiting Red Light District is one of the most popular touristy things to do in Amsterdam. But it’s not as easy as smoking a joint in a coffeeshop, especially for women.

When I first visited the Red Light District, I was with a huge group of friends and we were just having fun at first. But after the fifth or sixth window the reality kicked in and I started the question prostitution being legal and that easy in Amsterdam. I started to imagine myself in the other side of the window and believe me it was so irritating. Even just walking there with a lot of groups of mostly drunk men around was horrible enough. I couldn’t take it more and left the district after 15 minutes.

I just put the gopro in my scarf, pretended like it’s too cold and just hold my scarf all the time. And actually people there didn’t give any attention to me because they were all paying all their attention to the prostitutes in the windows. Not even one person came to me and said “You can’t film there”. I knew that I shouldn’t be filming the prostitutes and I “mostly” didn’t break this rule.

The feelings that I felt when we were filming there was pity for the prostitutes and discomfort because of the groups of drunk men.

For the magazine we picked the Red Light District as our topic and I had to shoot a video there. At first I though it was going to be too hard so I exercised at home to hide the gopro. However it wasn’t that hard to shoot a video there.w

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The neighbourhood of the Red Light District Kareem Sherif

27, waiter and International business and languages student.

5 Have you experienced people being surprised if you tell them you live there?

1 How long have you been living here?

2 Why did you choose to live in this neighbourhood?

People are always surprised when they hear about the location. The first question everyone asks me is how did I get here and the second is what it’s like to live here. But for me it’s normal to live here. I don’t mind the windows where the half-naked women work because I see them everyday and I’ve gotten used to it.

First I lived on Geldersekade, but when one year later this building was about to get demolished my housemate and myself found a place on Oudezijds Voorburgwaal by chance.

6 Do you think the neighbourhood has changed in any way while you’ve been living here?

3 How is it like to live here?

I’ve seen some changes in other parts of the Red light district, but not on the street where I live. I think the street I live on has looked the same for many years now.

In some parts they’re closing some of the windows, but I haven’t really seen so much changing in the whole area.

I’m also quite neutral in this matter and for me it’s OK if they close windows or if they keep them as they’re now.

I’ve lived in this part of town since 2011.

For me it’s quite normal to live in the Red light district.

It’s a normal neighborhood and people work and/or live here, doing their day-to-day activities. Lots of visitors, come and go, but you easily get used to big groups of people walking around with their eyes wide-open, not knowing which way to look next. I find the tourists quite funny actually. But when I’m in a rush it’s not as funny that the streets are so crowded. Next door from my house there is a café, and in front of the house there is a meeting place for rickshaw-like bicycles, so in general there is a lot of sounds in the early stages of the night, so I never feel lonely or desolate.

4 Do you think it’s different from other neighbourhoods?

I know it’s completely different for all other areas in town. I live in the middle of the city where things are happening. And I find it quite interesting. The Red light district is not alike any other place in town and it has it’s own specific vibe as other parts of the city also have.

There are a lot of specific areas with completely different inhabitants, habits, mentalities etc.

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7 Have you experienced anything funny or weird while living there because it’s so close to a big prostitute attraction?

When I first moved in to the place at the Oudezijds Voorburgwaal it was a bit strange since we shared the door with a lady who was working as a prostitute. I think it was a bit strange since this was a very special lady: slightly intimidating, tall, big, with a huge cup-size and hands twice the size of mine. She was born a boy I think. But we got along and so to say I had a personal bouncer at the door. After a year she found another spot to work at, and. Another woman occupies the window to the cellar apartment five days a week. But I hardly even notice her. For me it’s like seeing a bicycle by the window. It has become normal for me.

8 What do you think about the government plans to make some of the prostitute windows into offices or other shops?

I’m rather neutral as to if the Red light district remains the same or changes, honestly. I don’t enjoy the red windows or get a kick out of seeing the women working there, but neither does it bother me to see them. One thing that I think is good with the government trying to clean up the place is the closing times. Nowadays the windows have an open and closing time, I don’t know what exact times they are, but the windows are open until 5am to the latest. By that time the lights have to be switched off and the rooms have to be empty. When I first moved in and I got up early to take the metro to work I could see men wandering on the streets: some well-dressed with suitcases maybe going to work after a detour in the Red light district and others who were still drunk from partying all night and still roamed the streets for fun and sex maybe. Also the streets were more alive at night before. Nowadays it’s emptier, especially during mornings.

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Marjolein With 20, Media and Communication student

1 How long have you been living here?

Almost for two years, I first moved in December 2013.

2 Why did you choose to live in this neighbourhood?

It was a coincidence. I was looking for a place in Amsterdam because I really wanted to move out from my parents’ house. My parents are from Amsterdam, so they had an old friend who actually owns a lot of places in the city and especially in this area where Red Light District is. So my parents asked him if he had a place available for me, and after one or two months he said there was an apartment available. I lived there for ten months, and then I had to move out. Now they are renovating it, while I live here, but I will go back there when it’s finished.

3 How is it like to live here?

I really like it. I live on my own, and therefore it’s nice that it’s always busy outside. I can look outside my window, or go to the supermarket and get all these impressions so that I never feel alone. I like to have all the people around, and also all the funny tourists. But it can also be annoying, because whenever friends come to visit me, they say “oh my God, how can you live here when there are so many tourists?” But I’m used to it, so for me it’s fine. Even though, the people outside can be noisy at night. In the weekends I can feel that it’s much more busy around, and people are often yelling at each other. For example, this other day two guys were fighting right outside my window. They were yelling things like: “I’m gonna kill your mother”. Still, I believe that happens in every neighbourhood. The thing is, there’s police everywhere, and also cameras everywhere. So to me this neighbourhood feels like the safest place in Amsterdam. I think if two people start a fight the police are going to be here in like two minutes. It can also feel weird to walk around here sometimes, because there are many guys looking at me. Sometimes they say things to me.

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One time a guy said “how much how much?” But then again I’m used to it, so I just don’t pay attention to them.

What’s also weird is that everybody knows that people are looking at the girls in the windows, but even more the girls are looking at people passing by. So when I’m walking to school in the morning, there are already windows open with girls. I try to smile at them, wave or say hi, because I almost feel guilty that I can walk to school while they have to sit in a window selling sex for money.

4 Do you think it’s different from other neighbourhoods?

Definitely. First of all because it’s way busier compared to other places. I believe it’s the place with most tourists during the day and night in Amsterdam. It’s also different because it has a lot of history. This was one of the first areas in Amsterdam back in time, and you can recognize that by the buildings here. Also, people that lived in this area 70 years ago, still live here. That makes it a typical Dutch area. I think you can feel the history in this area more than in other parts of Amsterdam.

It’s also a nice neighbourhood because a lot of people know each other here, more than you would expect.

5 Have you experienced people being surprised if you tell them you live there?

Yes sometimes. They say “do you work there as well?”

They think they are being funny, but I’m so used to it now, so when someone says it I not even react anymore.

I’m just like: “Really, you can’t think of something better?” But some people are like “wow that’s so nice”.

I think the people that say that has really been here and seen all the cosy cafes and historic atmosphere. While the people who never come here are more like “oh my God, for real? Do you live there alone?”

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6 Do you think the neighbourhood has changed in any way while you’ve been living here?

Yes. I can notice that they are cleaning it up. It was very nice when I moved here, and I also heard from other neighbours, that has been living here for a longer time, that is has become better and better over the years. It’s cleaner in the streets and the way it looks. When I wake up early, like six in the morning, they are cleaning everything. But at night it’s a mess because the tourists throw food and everything you can imagine in the streets. Well, I can also see that there are fewer windows, but I don’t think that’s a good thing, because that’s a part of this area and why people come here.

7 Have you experienced anything funny or weird while living there because it’s so close to a big prostitute attraction?

I felt unsafe once. I was with my best friend, so at least I was not alone. I was holding my bike, and just walking when I ringed my bell to walk pass some people in front of us. There was this guy with crutches, and he turned around and started yelling at me.

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He picked up the crutches, and he really wanted to hit me.

But luckily one of his friends jumped in front of him, or else he would have smashed my head I think. I got so mad after that, because I always say it’s a safe neighbourhood.

8 What do you think about the government plans to make some of the prostitute windows into offices or other shops (A strategy to make the Red light district a less famous tourist attraction in Amsterdam)?

I really love the project. I think they are doing great stuff.

You can see all the nice shops, restaurants and cafés that are now here because of the project. Earlier you didn’t really want to come here, but now people do because of the changes. It’s also good that they’ve been closing some of the windows, but they have to stop now. I hear people in the neighbourhood saying it’s not what it used to be anymore. The Red Light District is what makes Amsterdam to Amsterdam. I think it always have to be here.

Text and photos: Saga Mannila and Linn Christoffersen

COLUMN

Neon colours from nine to five Text:: Linn Christoffersen “Once is enough” I thought. I had just seen the famous Red Light District that everyone talks about for the first time. With two Australian girls and three boys I just met, I walked through the streets with all the electrical red lights in the windows by the canal. It took two minutes, and then we were out in the “normal” streets again.

Even though I thought seeing it once was enough, I later had to experience the same streets over and over.

Because? All my visitors from back home wanted to see it of course, and I was the guide, because well, I live here.

What I felt while walking pass the red-lighted windows where girls in neon coloured underwear tried to seduce anyone walking by? Sad. Except that, it really didn’t impress me on many levels. I thought my reaction would be stronger. It just had me thinking. The girls were acting like they were just doing a normal nine to five job in an office. But why did I feel sad?

There are always reasons. It’s a fact that there are pimps behind these girls. They have a sad life, and I feel bad. Well wait, I had one other reaction as well: disgusting. And that feeling does not go to the prostitutes, but to the men who are going in there. Why on earth do they want that? I just don’t get that.

People say that the Red Light District is an important part of Amsterdam. What would Amsterdam do without the Red Light District? To be honest, Red Light District was the first thing I knew about Amsterdam. I don’t really have an opinion about what should happen with the red streets in the future, but I sure know that it’s not my favourite attraction in Amsterdam.

People say that these girls do it because they love it. I don’t believe that. No human being loves to sell his or her body like a bar of chocolate.

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VIDEO

TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Video: Dilara Tigli & Saeeda Hugiale Being a women is a tough thing on its own but imagine being an Iranian women walking in the Red Light District. Ceren Acar is a 22 years old Iranian woman living in Istanbul. She took a tour with a hidden camera in the Red Light District in an evening when the district is most crowded.

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COLUMN

Window shopping for 18 and older Text: Saeeda Hugiale When I was younger not growing up in Amsterdam I always heard the elders talk about an area where girls stand in front of a window with red lights on, making money. I never really understood that concept, so I never questioned it, or think of it in a bad way. As I got older I find out they were talking about prostitutes. Some where there by force, others did it for a living.

My mother had a friend living near the Red Light district, and this was the first time I witnessed this so called ‘spectacle’. I instantly felt some sort of fear. Being at this dark place where the women were looking at you with no emotion. It was as if they had no soul, and the look in their eyes was empty. I was really fascinated at the same time, being at this famous place, with all these drunk tourists, and men looking at these girls, as if they were window shopping. The windows are rimmed in rose-colored lights, glowing signs where females with charming bodies advertise their services. It’s nearly impossible not to stare. It felt like a sort of theme park to me.

Selling her body for a living, or often forced. Surrounded by thirsty man. Whether it is a business man in suit, or a married man seeking for love with no strings attached. It doesn’t really surprise me anymore. Still don’t feel comfortable walking there, or looking at the females. They watch you pass by, while they give you a dead stare. I feel like it is an insult staring at them, questioning how many clients she had today. I like to relate to how a person must be feeling. I can guarantee that not one girl is standing there for her own pleasure. Somehow I have my hopes up for all these women. Young, and old. In my imagination they will unite, and refuse to stop selling their bodies, but sell high heels instead.

When I look back to the first time, and how I feel about it now, my thoughts really changed. As I am getting older, and I’m getting more aware of my femininity and capabilities, it saddens me seeing a female standing there.

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Elephants, Bananas, and Cheeky Strippers Text: Saeeda Hugiale Amsterdam is the most erotic capital of the world.

Apart from the famous district where you can actually have physical contact with prostitutes, there are other forms of entertainment at the Red Light District as well.

Amsterdam’s infamously wicked Red Light District has three notorious spots for live sex shows: The Banana Bar The Moulin Rouge, and Casa Rosso. All three are situated around 100 feet from each other on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal street in the heart of De Wallen.

But there a ladies serving as waitresses who will sensually serve your drinks. These girls move from table to table to serve drinks that are free of charge. The extra tables serving drinks free of charge.

Casa Rosso

The Moulin Rouge

The club is the oldest and most famous of Amsterdam’s live sex shows. It’s the easiest of the theatres to spot with a massive neon-pink elephant dancing above it.

With comfortable red chairs, you will be entertained by a great range of sensual spectacles performed by talented international erotic artists performing alone or with a partner.

The shows in here are similar to the ones found in other sex shows in Amsterdam like Casa Rosso. The shows vary from four shows an hour. The performances on stage change regularly to keep the audience satisfied.

You can enjoy the drinks in between while you contemplate about what you just saw. The erotic shows often include bananas, vibrators, and ribbons. Comedy is also a big part of the show to keep the atmosphere cheeky.

Don’t feel flabbergasted if you find yourself eating a banana out of anyplace very strange. The strippers are from both sexes. So there is enough entertainment for the female and male audience.

The Banana Bar The eldest and most well-known part of the Banana Bar is the bar itself. The bar is not set up like the typical Amsterdam sex shows you would normally see. You will not see a stage with performance dancing on tables.

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The additional costs arrive after requested to perform their certain parlour tricks, which are of course the bar’s main attraction. All the girls working at the bar have different skills and things they can do, ranging from the famous banana tricks to massages.

THE TEAM BEHIND 1012 MAGAZINE

1012 MAGAZINE LINN CHRISTOFFERSEN SAGA MANNILA DILARA TIGLI SAEEDA HUGIALE

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