![\"Femke](\"\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/c893570a7f026f5fedd87558603f0f8492f703a0\/502_326_2202_3674\/master\/2202.jpg?w=#{width}&h=#{height}&q=#{quality}&fit=bounds&sig-ignores-params=true&s=951d567ca828830848db5a11fa9dc58f\")
<\/a>\u201cI hope it\u2019s possible to create an erotic centre that has some class and distinction and isn\u2019t a place where only petty criminals and the most vulnerable women gather,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut I also realise there is a long road ahead of us because most people associate sex work with crime and with the vulnerability of women, with human rights being violated. So in most neighbourhoods, most people are not very enthusiastic about the erotic centre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Councillors are also determined that the sex trade, which is legal in the Netherlands, must change to combat ever-present\u00a0human trafficking, improve sex worker safety and reduce nuisance in a city centre that is once again an \u201curban jungle\u201d suffering the\u00a0return of mass tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The red light district is one of the oldest and smallest parts of our city, but it is currently spilling over with bachelor parties and tourists dressed up in penis suits, harassing sex workers,\u201d said Ilana Rooderkerk, head of the local D66 party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want the men and women working as sex workers to be able to do their work safely, but we also want the \u2018monkey watching\u2019 to be a thing of the past. The erotic centre needs to put an end to nuisance in the red light district\u2026 without causing nuisance somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This, though, is what other areas fear. Some of the strongest opposition is from eastern Amsterdam where Mireille Westfa, an empowerment coach, co-organised a mass\u00a0petition\u00a0against choosing Amstel or Arena Poort from the initial long list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are vulnerable young men who can easily be drawn into recruiting young girls, there are vulnerable young women with no money,\u201d she said. \u201cWe see what is happening in the city, and women who are forced into prostitution. We have complete respect for the women: it\u2019s what happens around it and things are difficult enough here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An estimated 200,000 people frequent sex workers each year in Amsterdam, some visiting the city for other purposes. However, there is also consternation about the idea of opening an erotic centre near the RAI conference centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bart Vink, chairman of the Zuid district council, worries that it would increase the size of the prostitution sector by attracting more visitors via car, and damaging the existing economy. \u201cIf someone has a conference like IBC [International Broadcasting Convention] and can choose from Berlin, Barcelona and Amsterdam, this doesn\u2019t help to attract it,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the function of the RAI and you should not undermine it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A proposed location in the\u00a0Eenhoorngebiedfamily neighbourhood provoked intense opposition from\u00a0residents, while in Nieuw-West, the local PvdA Labour party told the\u00a0Observer<\/em>\u00a0that a centre would increase \u201cpetty criminal activity\u201d, exacerbated by inadequate street policing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An estimated\u00a0nine in 10 sex workers\u00a0do not want to move either. Violet, a sex worker and representative of the Prostitution Information Centre, said: \u201cWe are not against the erotic centre: more sex worker spaces would be great. The problem is closing the windows: the erotic centre would only have 100 spaces instead of 250, in our opinion, making sex work even less safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe [first eight] proposed locations are in places where there are no tourists hanging around and it\u2019s commercially dead after 6pm. For many years we have had sex work in cohesion with other businesses in De Wallen. We are very much against it in the proposed form.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n