The Netherlands is a developed country with a small land area of just over 40,000 square kilometers, but its per capita income is very high. In the Netherlands, the sex trade, the drug trade, is legal, and it can be said that it is not strange and habitual.
It turned out that in 2000, the Netherlands had already passed a legal law to legalize the sex trade, and drug proliferation was commonplace.
Why, then, is it that what is explicitly prohibited in other countries is protected by law in the Netherlands and that there is no social discrimination?
20 years after the legalization of the sex trade, do the Dutch regret it?
Dutch icon - Red Light District
We often say that it is not a good man to go to the Great Wall, the Great Wall is a landmark building in China; and the window girl in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, has now become the business card of the Netherlands.
As night fell, from the long avenues on both sides of the canal, the rows of window windows with red lights, the revealingly dressed girls began their performances. You read that right, the windows are not commodities, they are real people, they are selling their own services.
This is the "window girl" approved by the Dutch government, issued a business license, and operating according to the regulations. ”
Why are dutch minds so open?
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Dutch were a maritime trading power, the merchants were of high status, and the East India Company they founded once spread all over the world, dominating one side.
Life in the north and south makes the Dutch culture extremely inclusive, and it has become the Garden of Eden for foreign immigrants.
Later, the Dutch maritime trade gradually declined, and was caught up and surpassed by Britain and France. However, their position as a great power has not changed.
The Dutch believe that snapping is a pleasing act, a physiological instinct of man, that man should not suppress himself, and that instead of talking about sex secretly, it is better to let him exist in a bright and upright way. Sex workers do work that, like any other job, is normal and respected.
Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, was originally a small fishing village, somewhat similar to Shenzhen in the early days of Our country.
Where there are people, there is pornography, and when groups of seafarers return to port, the generous salaries make them crazy, and they will find a sense of down-to-earth, easy living. The local girls may be poor and willing to exchange this for living expenses, and gradually form an industry.
At that time, they put candles on the window, illuminating the strange red light, I have to say that the red light is reflected on the skin, increasing the aphrodisiac effect, row after row of houses, red lights swaying, far away, into the ocean of red lights, so called the red light district.
Soon, a prestigious red light district appeared in amsterdam's downtown area , de Valen. There are many alleys there, and there are many people engaged in this industry, which is a typical "laughing poor and not laughing prostitutes".
To this day, de Valen remains Amsterdam's most famous red light district.
These windows are not open during the day, surrounded by a large curtain, and only at night, when the curtain rises slowly, the girls inside reveal their true faces, they are exposed, some are wild and unrestrained, some are emotional, and some are silent.
In short, some of them are sexy, some are pure, and they all use their own uniqueness to attract tourists outside the window.
If someone is chosen, then the curtain will be pulled up.
So, if you see a window with curtains closed, don't knock on the window because it's open inside.
There are also a few cowboys in the window, because in the Netherlands, gay marriage is allowed.
In the Netherlands, many women and men with good looks and first-class figures will choose the window girl industry. Because it comes in quickly, fairly quickly, and most importantly, it's legally protected and fully legally compliant.
The process of legalizing the sex trade
In ancient China, brothels have always existed in plain sight, protected by the government, many literati and inkers have the experience of singing and singing with prostitutes, literary works are even more exquisite, the most famous Liu Yong, is a good friend of prostitutes, but also a gentle party.
It was only after the founding of New China that brothels and gambling were eradicated.
In the Netherlands, in the beginning, sex workers traveled from place to place, so that the spread of diseases had an opportunity, and all kinds of spreading diseases emerged in an endless stream, seriously threatening people's lives and safety, and becoming a tumor in society.
As soon as the Dutch government saw it, it could not help it, and it adopted the method of chasing and blocking to severely crack down on sex workers, but there were policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom, and their surprise inspections did not play much of a role, and when sex workers heard the news, they implemented the strategy of shooting a gun to change places, resulting in a situation where the pornography industry could not be left behind.
As the saying goes, food color also. Where there are people, there is sex. The unannounced raids did not cure the symptoms and did not cure the root causes, which made the Dutch government very nervous.
What to do?
The thinking Dutch revealed their merchant nature.
It was suggested that, since the routine inspections were not effective, it would be better to recognize his legitimate status. In this way, a large number of sex workers in the shadows will surface, which will facilitate the formal management of the government.
After argument, government policymakers finally passed a bill legalizing the sex trade by a show of hands in 2000.
After argumentation, the parliament reached a consensus to set up rows of windows on both sides of Canal Avenue, with beds, tables, bathtubs. There are also disinfection facilities and alarm measures to protect the personal safety of sex workers in case of accidents, and patrol officers can arrive immediately to protect the personal safety of sex workers.
The government also stipulates that to become a sex worker, you must be at least 21 years old, fill in the corresponding forms, go to the relevant departments for the record, and be issued a business license by the government, and you must check your body every two months to protect the health of sex workers and tourists. If the inspection is carried out and the regulations are not implemented, there is a risk of revocation of the business license, accompanied by high fines.
Workplace, that is, by the government or businessmen to provide windows, sex workers need to pay rent by the hour, working hours, 10 a.m. to 5 a.m., due to the different time period of traffic, the rent at night is slightly higher than during the day, the income of window girls is taxed according to the amount of people, according to the turnover of 6%.
It is said that after the transaction ended, the window girl charged 50 euros, about 400 yuan, that is to say, the first three orders of a sex worker were in vain, and the next one was his own income.
Rather than saying that the Dutch government has legalized the sex trade into the law, it is better to say that the government really has no choice but to let it exist openly and be strictly managed by the government.
The government stipulates that sex workers will receive full social benefits as long as they pay taxes on time and in quantity.
According to the New York Times, the sex industry brought 25% of the GDP of the Netherlands between 1990 and 2000, and that's not all, the resulting boost of tourism, the development of transportation, the rapid development of the catering industry, and other jobs created. This is one of the reasons why the government has allowed the sex trade to be legalized.
So, is the legality of the sex trade a good thing or a bad thing for the Netherlands? Does it affect social order and population stability?
The impact of the legalization of the sex trade on the Netherlands
In fact, most of the sex workers in Amsterdam are foreigners now, many girls are lured to the Netherlands, and the overseas network once reported the tragic experience of a girl:
A 17-year-old girl, whose family was broken, lives in a charity.
In 2014, he was coerced by two men and began a dark life of receiving guests, forced to receive 4-5 guests a day, and even contracted venereal diseases twice.
During this time she was not paid, only a sweater, a pair of pants.
Later, the girl's defense lawyer helped her get paid for her work, as well as the cost of mental damage.
But two male suspects refused to plead guilty, and 14 clients will need to testify in court in the coming days.
One of the suspected prostitutes, in an interview with reporters, regretted his behavior very much, and he was worried that once the matter was exposed, he might lose his good job now.
It can be seen that in the minds of the Dutch, although the government's legalization of the sex trade adopts a tacit attitude, however. They themselves, still do not want to get involved in the red light district and lose their jobs.
The huge profits of the sex trade were soon targeted by pimps, which was almost a costless operation, a profitable business.
Every year, some women living in poverty are lured into high-paying jobs as bait, tricked into the Netherlands, and begin a life of dark sex slavery.
Sarah, a Briton in her 40s today, was the victim of a deception case.
After graduating from nursing school at the age of 19, Sarah desperately needed to find a job due to her family's poverty. Because she was abused by her father as a child, she wanted to escape her original family.
At this time, she saw a job advertisement, a nurse recruited by a nursery school in the Netherlands, who was well paid.
If she knew what it meant to be away from home this time, I think she'd rather go back in time.
Sarah was moved, she called, went to Holland with simple luggage, and as soon as she got out of the car, she was taken into the hotel by a man. Say it's a hotel, but it's just a cottage.
Sarah suddenly felt fear, she wanted to flee, it was too late, the man was the infamous trafficker John.
John revealed his demonic side, tearing sarah's passport, taking the fierce dog into the house, holding a pistol against Sarah's head and telling her. There are two paths in front of her: the first, to pick up customers and make money. Second, if not, shoot her now.
Poor Sarah had to succumb, because her mobile phone and valuables had been taken away, and she received her first guest in a place where she was not familiar with life.
Since then, Sarah has been "dead" and a soulless person, at most, she was forced to sleep with a dozen men, all the income was handed over to pimps, if the money was not enough, she would be beaten, she saw a South African girl who did not earn enough money and was shot.
Extreme fear keeps Sarah awake at night, and she is forced to inject drugs, and when the drug addiction comes up, she even takes the initiative to pick up customers in order to get drugs.
Sarah's life turned gray, and she was in pain, sometimes even wishing to die right away.
Fortunately, the hope of life appeared soon after.
In 1997, british journalist Roger got informant information, and after many efforts, together with the Dutch police and the British police, he caught this trafficking gang.
Sarah and the other abducted girls were rescued and taken to safety.
She returned to England with the help of the police and lived an ordinary life.
She took to court and bravely exposed the despicable acts of the criminals.
Later, through media exposure, John and others were sentenced, but due to the peculiar laws of the Netherlands, John was only sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Perhaps, it is this punishment, which is almost equivalent to innocence, that has spawned countless sensational cases of seduction, kidnapping, and forced sexual slavery, which has given countless women nightmares that they will never want to remember.
The Dutch government's openness to the legality of the sex trade and the legal use of small amounts of marijuana is based on high-quality education for all, and they believe that the key to dealing with such problems should be unblocked and not blocked.
But has the truth really developed as the Dutch government had hoped? Wrong, I believe that the following Dutch female executive's thoughts will give you the answer.
After 20 years of admitting that the sex trade was legal, did the Dutch regret it?
According to Sohu's 2015 Contemporary Business Daily, Conchita, a female executive of the Dutch central bank, sold part-time after work for 6 years, charging 3,000 yuan per hour. She also posted her perverted hobbies on the website, saying she had masochistic tendencies and enjoyed the process. Her self-description attracted the attention of many men, and for a time the business was in full swing and the results were remarkable.
The Dutch central bank expelled her after learning of her "double life" on the grounds of "integrity issues". The rationale is that employee misconduct is not allowed to damage the reputation of the central bank.
In this regard, some Dutch people think that this should be the case, after all, it is not illegal to be a call girl in the Dutch red light district, but for a national central bank executive, it is better to pay attention to their words and deeds, after all, selling spring in the world, doing this work is still to be pointed out.
Not only that, she was not registered as a call girl, evaded taxes, and faced investigations by the Dutch Internal Revenue Service and other related agencies.
As can be seen from this case, the Dutch attitude towards sex trafficking is open and reckless. However, history has developed to this day, and the Dutch have really reduced the crime rate of legalizing the sex trade as much as they promised?
According to official Dutch statistics, the crime rate in the Netherlands has not decreased but has risen.
Why?
Under the cover of the legality of the sex trade, the drug trade is becoming more and more rampant, and the police are difficult to obtain evidence, gang fights, drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion and other evils are being wantonly committed, increasingly challenging the nerves of the Dutch government.
At the same time, young people's desire to get married and have children is getting smaller and smaller, and not getting married and having fewer children has become a norm.
As more and more tourists from all over the world flock to the Netherlands, the Dutch wind reviews are more and more affected, people are not here to appreciate the beautiful natural scenery, feel the artistic atmosphere of the museum, the love for sex workers, is putting the Netherlands into a moral crisis,
The President of Belarus even signed an order prohibiting her own women from working as full-time models in the Netherlands.
Dutch Prime Minister Rutte's political parties, the Liberal Democratic People's Party, the Labour Party and the Green Party, also supported the long-term closure of the red light district.
They have said that we welcome people from all over the world for the sake of our cityscape, humanistic atmosphere, not at any cost, and we must resolutely intervene in this regard.
In 2007, the Dutch government ordered parts of the red light district to be converted into restaurants and housing, but was opposed by sex workers and window owners, who were used to making quick money and would not seriously work if they were asked to work nine-to-five.
The first step was taken on 19 January 2008 in the red light district of Amsterdam: 16 sexy window girls were transformed into windows for Dutch fashion designers to showcase high-end fashion.
The City of Amsterdam rents 51 windows for free to jewelry and fashion designers, and the operator does not have to pay rent for the first year, but only needs to pay some additional notes.
As a prestigious tourist city, nearly 20 million foreign tourists visit every year, and they hope that people who will travel in the future will remember the Netherlands as high-end fashion, beautiful scenery and strong artistic atmosphere.
Of course, for these, it is a long way to go, but the good news is that they have already acted.
Now that the new crown virus is raging around the world, Amsterdam's tourism industry has been greatly affected, the business of window girls is becoming increasingly depressed, there are no tourists, and what awaits them is the cold winter, perhaps, this is the evil result of the excessive opening of the Netherlands.
Facts have proved that drug smoking is originally a destabilizing factor in society, and acknowledging their legalization is tantamount to drinking and quenching thirst, although it may bring economic growth in the short term, but for the spiritual level of society and the future development of the country, it will certainly do more harm than good, and it should be resolutely banned.
Author: Akatsuma Photo
Editor-in-charge: Willow leaf nagging