Amsterdam, the starting port of the Golden Age of the Dutch known as the "Coachman of the Sea", is a dream water city known as the "Venice of the North". But at the same time, it also has the world's most famous red light district, as soon as night falls, the landmark red light district that can be seen everywhere begins to be red and red, and in the window next to the street, the exhibition is a prostitute with a different style, scratching her head, and the goods sold are the sexual services they provide.
Amsterdam's Red Light District
This scene, which seems incomparably magical in today's legal world, is really happening in a rich country called the "advanced free world of the West." And the root of all this, it is from the fact that in 2000, the Netherlands officially passed the legalization of prostitutes, not only put the sex trade on the table, but also allowed it to form a legal and complete industrial chain, since then, the Dutch capital Amsterdam has become a "sex capital", mushrooming countless prostitutes.
So why did the Netherlands, one of the richest countries in the world, legalize prostitution? What impact will the legalization of prostitutes affect Dutch women and society as a whole?
Amsterdam's Red Light District
The "sexual capital" of the Dutch sexual legalization process
Brothels have a long history, and there has been a sex trade industry in both ancient and modern China and abroad. In the early stages of social development, many countries, even China, chose to legalize the sex trade industry in order to increase tax revenues. In the Zhou Dynasty, The Minister of State of Qi, Guan Zhong, set up a special "female Lu" to recruit 700 women to subsidize the state treasury by providing sex trading services, and called such sex transaction taxes "pollen money".
In modern times, the Japanese fascists have also legitimized the sex industry in order to provide sexual services to the military, thus evolving into the infamous "comfort women system". Therefore, with the progress and development of civilization, the legalization of the sex industry is also regarded as synonymous with backwardness and feudal extremism, and after modern times, most countries have strictly prohibited sex trafficking, even the Netherlands is no exception.
The Comfort Women System in Japan
However, where there is demand, there is supply, and as long as more than 80% of the profit can be earned, some people are willing to risk breaking the law. Therefore, although various countries have cracked down on sex trafficking, this sex trafficking industry has never been truly eliminated, but has been hidden in the dark and gray area, and even often closely associated with drugs, gambling, human trafficking, and murder, causing serious damage to the entire social order.
Crowded red light district
In line with the principle of "easy to hide from the open gun, difficult to defend against the hidden arrow", the Dutch government boldly put forward the idea of "legalizing the sex trade", began to rot, and said that instead of letting the sex trade become more and more intense in places that are not supervised by the government, thereby affecting social security, it is better to directly legalize the sex trade, let the sex trade accept the control of the state, so that it no longer affects social security. At the same time, sex traffickers no longer have to sneak on the tip of the knife and can enjoy legal protection and social security as usual.
Night view of the Dutch city
More importantly, the government can also pay more taxes, why not? In 2000, the Netherlands formally legalized the sex trade by voting, and since then brothels have become a legal industry, requiring the registration of special health permits and the employment of security personnel. Prostitutes themselves need to have regular physical examinations, prevent the spread of disease, and pay taxes on time.
Prostitutes in Amsterdam
Of course, in order not to bring bad children, brothels are not allowed near schools and living quarters. To this end, each city will set up a special "red light district" to implement a unified management of brothels and prostitutes. As for the women who are engaged in the prostitute industry, most of them are not full-time, but part-time, and many of them even have families and children, and the reason why they come out to earn this "fast money" is mostly to subsidize the family or earn some extra pocket money.
Sex workers solicit business
The dutch process of sexual legalization seems to be quite in line with its consistent liberal characteristics of "freedom, openness, pluralism, and tolerance", and under normal circumstances, for liberals, everything that does not affect others should be respected and understood. So, in the Netherlands, in addition to the legalization of the sex trade, gay marriage is also legal, of course, drugs are rampant, and marijuana is legalized.
As for whether liberalism is good or bad for a country, it depends on the development of the country and the actual situation, but it is clear that the "freedom" brought by liberalism must make the state apparatus pay some price for it, and these costs form a Mobius ring, which will never be separated from the end.
Red Light District view
The Dutch government, for example, chose to legalize the sex trade, even though it was intended to protect prostitutes from exploitation and to ensure social security. But the chaos of their social order and the high crime rate are precisely the consequences of their indulgence in drugs and gambling. Since the ancient yellow gambling and drug do not separate families, after the opening of gambling and drugs, the failure to open "yellow" seems to have become a kind of "discrimination" against prostitutes, so the Dutch government's choice to open up the sex industry is also the result of helpless "moral balance".
So, how will the legalization of the sex industry affect the Netherlands?
Red Light District view
The impact of the legalization of the sex industry
From the perspective of positive impact, it has to be admitted that the tax profits brought by the sex industry are huge, and even once became the main source and economic support of Dutch GDP. You know, since the legalization of the Dutch sex trade, the Red Light District has not only allowed the people in the country to "produce and sell themselves" to create revenue, but also attracted a large number of tourists who came to visit.
According to statistics, the red light district in Amsterdam alone attracts nearly 5 million foreign tourists every year. This has provided a great impetus for the development of the local tourism industry, which has led to the development of the catering, transportation and hotel industries near the Red Light District. This led to further economic growth in the Netherlands.
Red Light District view
At the same time, the legalization of the sex trade can indeed eliminate the surreptitious spread of more diseases and greatly reduce the corruption caused by sexual bribery. But it is undeniable that the negative impact of the sex industry cannot be ignored, otherwise it would not have been the target of the severe crackdown of the vast majority of governments over the years.
From the perspective of the significance of the legalization of the sex trade itself, the sex trade, as a "lying money" and "unearned" profiteering industry, has many negative factors.
Photos of sex workers
Once legalized, more and more people will be involved in this profiteering industry. Many data show that the number of human trafficking and the phenomenon of "forcing prostitution" in areas where sex trafficking is legalized are often higher than in areas where sex trafficking is not legalized, and the accompanying drug trade is further flooded under the cloak of legalization of sex trafficking, and eventually social security does not rise but declines.
Of course, the negative impact of the legalization of the sex trade on society is far more than social security, under the temptation of money, the number of sex workers has increased sharply, resulting in an extremely serious "internal volume" in the industry, the price of services has also fallen sharply, and there are also some unlicensed and contractless "three noes" vicious competition that has emerged endlessly, which has a negative impact on the tax revenue of the national finance.
Red Light District view
Especially after the epidemic, due to the long-term home isolation of residents and the sluggish tourism industry, the Dutch sex trade industry is also facing the dilemma of being forced to close down, and a large number of unemployed people have emerged. This is undoubtedly a serious burden on the country's finances. Therefore, in recent years, many Dutch government personnel have planned to permanently close the sex trading places and provide corresponding employment assistance to former sex workers to let them do some other work.
However, people who have been engaged in this industry for a long time are no different from those speculators who sell drugs and gamble, and how can they, who have long been accustomed to making quick money, sink their temperament to work step by step? How will they survive? Not to mention the problem that these sex trade industries affect the decline in the country's marriage rate and birth rate, so in the long run, it will only be harmful to the country's development.
A prostitute in a window in the Red Light District
And one of the more important problems that cannot be ignored is that the essence of the legalization of the sex trade is actually an exploitation and spiritual oppression of women's flesh. Because the legalization of the sex trade will not only force more women to be forced to "force prostitution" and suffer physical exploitation, it will make many women who should be on the right path accustomed to exchanging their bodies for benefits, and it is more difficult to achieve a class transition based on knowledge and ability. Therefore, the legalization of the sex trade is essentially the exploitation of women and the exacerbation of women's spiritual and ideological degeneration.