Amsterdam safety concerns - red light district?
 

I was watching a video on Amsterdam. They showed some fights and gangster hassles on the side streets of the red light district at night.

Is this common? Do they have any security patrols there? Is the red light district safe at night?

Thanks

Perfectly safe. Just don't forget to tip.

When we were in Amsterdam, I was perfectly willing to tour the red light district, but my sister talked me out of it. She reminded me that the women who display their wares there are human beings and should not be viewed as objects of curiosity.

This doesn't answer your question, of course, but it does present a view.

I totally agree with your sister Peg.
It is an old and historically interesting area it's true, but it is also a place where women are exploited and trafficked and treated as objects.
People don't normally visit RLDs in other cities so I never understand the need to gawk at all those poor women.

Yes there are fights there, and dodgy goings on, but it is nowhere near as seedy as it once was. Most fights and misbehaviour now are the result of drunken tourists.

Hey SC,

There is nothing that requires you to visit the red light district.

((I))

And it is a relatively small area. Stay away and you wouldn't know it's there.

I took this picture for its irony.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57623082534450

If it scares you, stay out of it. There's no mandate to visit it.

Well there is a very interesting tourist sight there - The Church in the Attic - smack dab in the middle of the red light district. Usually by the time we make our way to the church and back, we've seen more than enough of the red light district. And we are there in the daytime - yes many rowdy males. But I'll admit it, I was curious but it quickly saddened me.

Condoms are not 100% safe. I hope that answers your question, OP.

People don't normally visit RLDs in other cities so I never understand the need to gawk at all those poor women.>

Well there are at least in Europe no red-light districts as blatant and obvious as Amsterdam's and that is why it is listed as the 2nd most visited place for tourists in Amsterdam - I always trek thru the red-light district simply to see this amazing, if lamentable to some, place - a totally unique place.

Most of the throngs that throng here do not patronize the ladies sitting behind red neon-lit picture windows but just for the show - the city of Amsterdam allows this to continue and if what hetismij says is true - all the women are exploited like sex slaves then shame on the government of Amsterdamned and Holland.

Some exploitation is bound to occur but there are also I understand some controls - girls are tested and have plenty of recourse to social help if desired.

Surprise surprise to women that some women chose this as a profession and are not exploited but the exploitees - can't throw the baby out with the bathwater - I think prostitution should be legal anywhere like it seems to be in Amsterdamned and if they want to set up in front of picture windows yes treat sex like any commodity - with strict controls about exploitation, spread of disease, etc.

Everyone should traipse thru the red-light district to see for themselves what it is not take second-hand accounts - the area is relatively safe except for IME pickpockets and bag snatches on occasion - Amsterdam also has its share of down and out drug addicts who are usually the culprits.

The Mayor of Amsterdam I believe wishes to get rid of the red-light district, occupying prime real estate along ancient canals - and make the area upscale boutique hotels and plush offices like many of the inner canal rings have been developed. Well this has been a red-light district - a k a Sailors' Quarter since sailors started popping into Amsterdamned long ago.

Clean up the problems but don't throw the baby out with the bath water IMO and going to Amsterdamned without seeing the red-light district is like going to NYC and not seeing Times Square - sad or not it is one of the major if not the most major sightseeing place in town.

http://www.wunrn.com/news/2012/09_12...etherlands.htm

This presents the flip side of how terrible and harmful the red-light district is and why the mayor wanted it abolished - again these abuses should not be allowed to continue and I blame the government of local authorities in allowing it.

One kind of thinks wealthy real estate interests eyeing up that prime property may well influence the whole thing.

an antispectic Amsterdam - many want to close the cannabis-selling coffeehouses too - well be careful of what they wish for.

Surprise surprise to women that some women chose this as a profession


----

Is a convenient myth, sorry. Sex workers may say it was a choice, but that's to save face. Underlying the reality of the RLD is human trafficking.

Legalizing prostitution has, in fact, pushed sex workers underground. It has not been an improvement for them.

Is a convenient myth, sorry. Sex workers may say it was a choice, but that's to save face. Underlying the reality of the RLD is human trafficking.>

then the government of the Netherlands should be charged with condoning sex trafficking or can't a few uncover women do anything to put those complete awful enslavers in jail?

I think some women chose the profession and they should be allowed to do what they want.... ditto for 'boys' another main draw of Amsterdam I understand to foreign tourists.

If it is as bad as you say and I don't know then your government should be condemned.

I felt fine walking around RLD alone, but during the day time.

I don't like the area much, beautiful though it is. It's fueled by cannabis, and this and the sex trade attracts organized crime.

It's well worth it to visit Our Lady in the Attic and the Oude Kirk. No question about it.

But then get the hell out of the RLD. Seriously, it's not nearly as interesting as I'd expected. Spend your time exploring the canal rings, the Jordaan, the museums, etc.

Thanks for providing that interesting link PalenQ, same nasty story everywhere, also in all the places where it is illegal or tolerated. The human sex trafficking trade is huge worldwide, it rivals the illegal arms trade and drug trade. So a few undercover officers are not going to do very much.

Here in Canada I would like to see us follow the Swedish model where it is illegal to buy sex and people are re-educated away from thinking it is acceptable to buy another person's body for sex. I have read that other countries are thinking of following the Swedish model.

When I was an 18 year old backpacking around Europe we stayed in the red light district in the Christian Youth Hostel of all places. And yes, it was a big surprise to us that the hostel was located there. We felt perfectly safe although the neighbourhood kind of repulsed us.

I found the neighborhood interesting. And I thought the "sex museum" was pretty fun.

My family made our way through there. I really thought, despite the red lights, it was very easy to wander in there without even realizing it at first. I was desperate to get my young daughter out of there, but it turned out the only thing she noticed was the gelato shop. So we stopped and got a gelato. Then got the hell out of dodge.

She did read one sign aloud, "Get your magic mushrooms here."

But it didn't seem dangerous (during the daytime) in the least.