The red lights can be turned on again: 'Men remain horny, whatever politicians think about it'
As the last of all contact professions, sex workers are allowed to return to work after five months. To their relief, because working illegally, as many have done, is not without risks. "After three months of lockdown, I could no longer pay the rent."

“Finally I can go back to work!” Says 29-year-old Lilly, who is back behind the window for the first time in five months. The elegant Bulgarian - dressed in a tight black body - smiles seductively at the men shuffling skittishly through a narrow alley in Amsterdam's Red Light District. 'The past five months have been tough. I just got by with a Tozo benefit from the government, supermarket vouchers and help from a dear regular customer. ' Lilly has lived in the Netherlands for years and is registered with the Chamber of Commerce for sex work. "So I could turn to the government."

With a rattling noise, prostitution in the capital started again this morning. Shutters rose, red fluorescent lights blinked, and young women wished each other good luck with their rented room keys in hand. "I hesitated for a moment because of the bad weather," says Romanian Selena. "But after the end of the previous lockdown, I was also immediately busy." In recent months, the 36-year-old sex worker has been 'sitting on the couch with her dog'. Selena also received a Tozo fee. 'Don't write that I'm a victim. I've lived in Amsterdam for twelve years, I'm free and independent. '

Not all sex workers got their act together so well during the pandemic. On the terrace of the Quartier Putain café next to the Oude Kerk, Siena (30) acknowledges that she has continued to work. 'I thought about my children. After three months of lockdown, I could no longer pay the rent. The temporary benefit was not enough, I got depressed and started creating an online profile anyway. ' Since then, the cheerful Hindustani-Surinamese - who started working behind the window when she was 21 - has been working illegally. 'First I rented a hotel room in the PC Hooftstraat, now I rent a studio in Amsterdam-West.' According to her, that is more risky. 'In this profession you quickly acquire insight into people; after a short chat you know what kind of meat you have in the tub. But that estimate is more difficult via app messages.

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/de-rode-lichten-mogen-weer-aan-mannen-blijven-geil-wat-de-politiek-daar-ook-van-vindt~bab51f84/

first day:
from red-light district (tours) twitter account:

"#news This is what #Amsterdam’s Red Light District looked liked last night at 10 pm.

Some sex workers started working again. 70% of the window brothels were still empty. Foreign tourists and locals walked around. Many street dealers due to closed cannabis shops and closed bars"

I reply to myself. I just noticed this map posted on a twitter account I follow.

many windows are now closed (post lockdown) - I guess this is really the beginning of the end. some windows have been closed for a while like Sint Annestraat (...?) Half of Trompettersteeg seems also to be closed. That passage define RLD Amsterdam if you ask me (to be honest I cant really see what other business fits in there? a Yoghurt bar??). I get abit it sad to see this.

Boomsteeg is also closed.

ok my trip is booked in 5weeks. who is gonna be there this weekend to have a first report?

No other businesses really fit there. That’s why all the businesses they keep trying to put in old windows keep going out of business. They’re just dammed insistent on giving it a go anyway it seems…

You are suggesting the windows in red are permanently closed? If so, some of those are new closures because they were open when the RLD was last open. For example, Sint Annestraat definitely had 4 or 5 windows open before the latest lockdown. I also don't remember so many on Doll being closed before.

Some of the windows that were open last year may reopen in a few weeks when visitor numbers increase. Most tourists are still not able to visit Amsterdam. For example the UK currently requires 10 days of quarantine after arriving back from the Netherlands, and the need to spend around £200 on a few Covid tests at various intervals.

Sint Annestraat was closed last september when I was there. Every window.

I think (but Im not sure) that some windows are now closed due to My Redlight went bankrupt
please use google translate http://www.myredlight.nl


however, I dont know if someone else are taking of their windows or if they go to other businesses..

My Redlight wasn’t on Sint Annen, I don’t think. In any case, it was a goofy idea. The girls didn’t want it or ask for it, and very few of them trusted it due to it being a government project, plus they liked having a rental office that does all the work for them. Once again a case of a government that “cares” about sex workers coming up with projects or policies to “help” them without consulting them to see what they actually want.

I was there only a few weeks before you, at the end of July, and there were 4 or 5 windows open on Sint Annenstraat at that time, including the well known Simona working there. Perhaps the September closure you refer to was simply nobody working on that day.

Anyhow, I think we’ll have a better picture in a few weeks of how many windows are permanently closed.

yes! let's hope so! thats some good info

Definitely not. I was also there in September and walked through De Wallen every night. All windows in Sint Annenstraat were closed 3 days in a row.

Fine so it may have been a permanent closure. We will have a better idea in the next few weeks, once De Wallen has been open again for a while.

Here's a glimpse of things on OZA this past weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNyX9s6atgQ&t=187s

Lit up windows with ladies in them!

Seems mostly like a bunch of gawping jadrools wandering around playing pocket pool; maybe the party petered out earlier that evening. But it's early.

Anyway, a start; lay-say le bon tom roo-lay.

Nice. You say “gawping jadrools” -I hate to think how you would describe a pre-Covid Saturday night!

Video doesn’t show that much other than a few windows are open, and at wild guess that crowds are 5-10% of pre-Covid crowds. 1am is perhaps very slightly past peak from my experience even for a Saturday night - but I’m nitpicking.

Cant wait to be amongst that crowd soon!

I can't wait to rejoin the festivities as well. Weekend hordes of knuckle draggers are part of the entertainment. I'll always treasure the memory of the gent I heard yelling PUSSY PUSSY PUSSY PUSSY! BLACK PUSSY! WHITE PUSSY! YELLOW PUSSY! PUSSY PUSSY PUSSY PUSSY! Evidently he liked pussy...

I'm sure better videos are imminent; after the long lockdown, its reassuring to see ANY windows open.

Thanks Bluto! Totally missed this flick. I'm crushed; my loudmouth of fond memory wasn't even being original.

any update about RLD opening?

from 1th of june (earlier this week ) its seems really hard to get in the country for tourists. Basically all countries except Island and Malta are within the RED section (however this changes every day depending on the daily reports of course).
you will now get a huge fine if not following the quarantine law (its a now a law, not a rule).

..

unfortunatly, as of 1ste of June a part of the windows are closed permantly around st annendwars straat.

As of 1ste of July the rest around st annendwars straat wil be closed, it will mainly be open around oudezijdse achterburgwall with the red light district in Amsterdam.

That is big news if true. Those streets around there (Dolle, Tromp, Bethemsteeg, La Vie en Rose etc) together with Sint Annendwarstraat and Sint Annenstraat are, to my mind, highly synonymous with the RLD. I'll be sad to see them close. I see a couple of regulars in those streets.

We were discussing here a few days ago about whether Sint Annenstraat is closed permanently, and you appear to be confirming that. If all of the streets I have mentioned above are closed, that is not an insignificant part of the RLD.

How did you find out about the permanent closure?