Amsterdam’s De Wallen red-light district has long been one of the city’s most infamous neighbourhoods because it’s home to the notorious ‘window brothels’.
When you think about the red-light district, the window brothels are the first thing that comes to mind, probably because they appear so often in films of bachelor parties descending on the city.
As such, the district is a massive tourist attraction, and recent years have seen even more people flooding to the site to take it all in.
CNN spoke to Femke Halsema, Amsterdam’s first female mayor, about what it means for the people who work there:
…”sex workers have “become no more than an attraction,” as a result of the “disruptive behavior” and “disrespectful attitude” of some tourists, along with the rise of camera phones and social media.
As a result, the area is undergoing a major overhaul in a bid to protect sex workers from degrading conditions and reduce the impact of mass tourism.
Some people are the worst, and because they’re the worst, they ruin things for everyone.
The municipality of Amsterdam, one of many destinations currently tackling the issue of overtourism, has also teamed up with local residents to launch a campaign targeted at the millions of visitors who turn up each year.
“We Live Here” is part of Amsterdam’s “Enjoy and Respect” campaign, which aims to combat unruly behavior such as urinating in the streets or canals, littering, drunkenness and loud noise.
As for what it’s really like to live in a neighbourhood that’s known for sex shops and drunken tourists, the locals have some stories to tell.
Just ask 70-year-old Martine Groen, who has lived in a canal house on Oudezijds Achterburgwal for many years.
Now we experience a lot of nuisance from loud tourists…
I really hate drunken Englishmen. It’s like King’s Day, a holiday we celebrate in the Netherlands each April, is happening every night.
You can’t walk the streets in a normal manner because of the crowds. I avoid the neighborhood at night. It’s not fun anymore.
Sascha Kok, 49, also complains about the influx of unruly tourists ruining the neighbourhood:
The larger groups are the worst — they don’t care that people live here.
More police would help. But the Amsterdam police department is struggling with major staff shortages.
Changing the licensing policies for stores could also help to change the face of the red-light district.
Willemijn Tybout, 41, and Justus Dolleman, 52 (below), say there’s now a strong solidarity between locals off the back of the campaign.
Here’s Willemijn:
The women aren’t making a lot of money now anyway. People only come here to watch them and don’t actually pay to visit them.
We call it ‘aapjes kijken’: watching monkeys. It became too busy for the men who did use to visit the sex workers, so what’s the point of in the women being here?
For more from the CNN report on living in the area, head here.
If you’re planning on visiting the area, remember the golden rule that governs most of society.
Don’t be kak, be lekker.
[source:cnn]
