Adventure is out there!: If you find a hand in your pants, and you didn’t pay for it, take it out!

Amsterdam's canals

Yes, I just got back from Amsterdam. You might now be thinking why would Katie go to such a sketchy place that’s famous for drugs and prostitutes? Well here’s a little back-story to tell you why. Last year, I started working with the Red Thread Movement, which is an organization that works with women who are trafficked into the sex industry. Through my work with them, I got started interviewing women in the sex industry as a part of my Capstone project for Honors. Because I applied for a travel grant, the Honor’s College gave me $500 to take a trip to Amsterdam and learn more about the sex industry. So there’s your answer; I went to Amsterdam because my school paid me 500 bucks to go, and that’s reason enough for me. Speaking of the sex industry, I’ll now tell you what the Red Light District was like. After dinner on our first night in Amsterdam, we accidentally stumbled upon the Red Light District, and I was swept away by what I saw. It was exactly like what I thought it would be, but I hadn’t mentally prepared myself for being there yet. What I saw were women standing behind windows (lit up by red fluorescent lights) in skimpy bikinis/ lingerie. Some of them would dance or beckon men seductively by bending over or touching themselves. If a woman would catch a man’s eye, he would go over to her door and ask, “How much for you?” Basically, it was one of the weirdest, saddest, yet most fascinating things I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t help but look into the windows at these women selling their bodies to random men. However, on the walking tour we did on Saturday, I learned a bit about the other side of the story. When we think of prostitutes, we usually think of women in poverty with no education and no other choice, but the case is different in Amsterdam. Our tour guide Ged told us that the mentality of lawmakers in Amsterdam is that they know prostitution will always exist. That’s inevitable. What they can change are the conditions in which prostitution is carried out by creating laws regarding the safety and well-being of prostitutes. For example, the minimum age to be prostitute is 21 (just recently moved up from 18), one must have a legal document from the city stating that he or she is able to work in prostitution, and there is regular STD testing. Basically, being a prostitute in Amsterdam is a profession not a punishment. Weird, huh? It does make some sense though because when the women are working in rooms right next to one another, the likelihood of them being beaten and raped is slim to none since someone would hear immediately. For sure, it’s much safer to be a prostitute in Amsterdam than in the Bronx or somewhere like that. This is all probably much more than you wanted to know about prostitution, but since that’s why I went, I focused a lot on learning as much as I could about it. Anyways, we did lots of other cool things on our trip as well. As I previously mentioned, we went on a walking tour around Amsterdam. A company called New Europe puts on lots of free walking tours in major cities across Europe, and they’re fantastic. Our tour guide Ged took us to places like the Red Light District, Anne Frank’s House, the Royal Palace, and the National Monument to name a few. He told us a ton about Amsterdam culture, and some of it really surprised me. For example, when I thought of drugs and Amsterdam, I figured that everyone was just high all the time and that drugs were everywhere. Turns out, that’s not the case at all; only 5% of the Dutch population actually does any sort of drugs, which is significantly less than in the U.S. Basically, I had to do away with a couple of the stereotypes I had for Dutch people this weekend. The two museums we visited this weekend were the Van Gogh Musuem and the NEMO Science Museum. The Van Gogh Museum was giant, the first place, but Stacy and I really appreciated how they made Van Gogh such a real person. They didn’t focus a ton of energy on his darker days and suicide; instead, they portrayed the life of an artist through his beautiful works. I respected that. And then the NEMO Science Museum was just fun! Those things are made for kids, but that didn’t stop us from having a blast. I made giant bubbles, conducted electricity, built towers, drew pictures, spun around, and rode simulated rides that made us feel like we were moving all over even though we barely budged. I mean, I’m not 7 anymore, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop enjoying life. I think life’s just getting started. We had such a fun weekend, and I’ll leave you with a quote from our tour guide. When we were in the Red Light District, he said (in reference to pick pocketing) “If you find a hand in your pants, and you didn’t pay for it, take it out!” Words of wisdom for sure.