Laurens Buijs
Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team
From 2008 to 2018, I conducted research on sexuality and gender in the Amsterdam Red Light District. It was a great time. I learned a lot there about an important symbolic figure in any human society, and certainly the Amsterdam one: the whore.
Because we now view the whore so negatively, we talk about her in euphemisms and political correctness. A prostitute. A sex worker. A lady of pleasure. But just by putting different words to it, we don’t remove the stigma. This also requires analyzing the role that the symbolic figure of the “whore” plays in the foundation of our culture. Therefore, in this blog, I ask why we actually see this word as such a negative word.
In our patriarchal culture (see AGTRT-BA9), whore is the word used to stigmatize the voluptuous woman. This is because patriarchy has an interest in curtailing women and female sexuality. In patriarchy, female sexuality is stigmatized through the whore stigma. Patriarchy has made the whore a shameful figure. She is a fallen woman: cheap, sinful and without values.
This stigma radiates to all women (and gay men as well, see AGTRT-BA6 and AGTRT-BA16). They must continually frenetically prove in group dynamics that they are not whores if they are to maintain their status as worthy women. Putting down the whore as a stigma keeps all women away from their pure female sexuality.
Sex workers are actually sacred in many ancient cultures. They are often seen as healers in the service of gods. They would do divine work. They could heal people. They are seen as the embodiment of pure female sexuality. Pure female sexuality has some wonderful qualities, which at its core are about surrender, vulnerability and receptivity. These qualities are often seen as divine.
Read more about the importance of dominance and submission in free sexuality:
Transition to a better world calls for a new sexual revolution
Mary Magdalene, the wife of Jesus, was a sex worker, according to some lore. If true, it is not surprising that this story did not make it into the Bible. Institutionalized Christianity, of course, does everything it can to disguise the free sexual morality of Jesus and his followers. The goal of the church was never to liberate people as Jesus wanted, but rather to constrain them.
I spent years researching the Amsterdam Red Light District and saw, talked to and got to know many sex workers. I even became good friends with some of them. I was deeply in awe of these women in that way. I hold them in high regard and have great respect for them.
There is no reason to romanticize their profession. Because the practice is raw. These women certainly struggle with self-esteem. As a result, they cannot always set healthy boundaries. They are sometimes guided by the wrong (especially financial) motives, and they sometimes surround themselves with untrustworthy people. Therefore, they themselves are not always reliable.
Read more about how boys in Amsterdam also get caught up in abuse networks:
Amsterdam boys recruited through nightlife for sexual abuse by corrupt rulers
But this is because they have internalized the whore stigma that exists in society. Of course, the solution to their lack of self-esteem is not to portray them as sinful, bad and shameful. The solution is to teach them to love themselves and, instead, to take pride in themselves and their work.
The best sex workers in the Red Light District are not only beautiful and seductive, but also dignified and proud. They respect themselves as well as the customer. They see the client as a human being, seeking connection and intimacy. They help those men open their hearts and treat a beautiful woman’s body with dignity. They are not just sex workers, but primarily social and emotional support workers.
This explains why in ancient cultures the sex worker is actually seen as a healer. She cures men of their selfishness, insensitivity and narcissism. She restores contact between the human body and the divine primal energy of the universe. She embodies the pure feminine, and helps men find the pure masculine in themselves (see also AGTRT-BA18).
Sex workers thus embody much more than just their profession. They embody the struggle against patriarchy. They embody the independent and emancipated woman. It is in the interest of all women, and humanity as a whole, that the whore stigma disappears and female sexuality can be completely free (see also AGTRT-BA15).
My ten years as a researcher on the Amsterdam Red Light District, from 2008 to 2018, were leaden in retrospect. I naively stepped into this world, and in many ways have turned my nose up. I got to know the dark side of Amsterdam well.
But how much I learned. I have only grown to love Amsterdam more. The old Amsterdam then, before the city was destroyed and crushed by international business, commerce, mass tourism and woke. All issues that have been let into the city by derailed municipal politics.
Read more about the damage done on the Red Light District by municipal politics:
Project 1012 and the disrupted relationship between politics and government in Amsterdam
But old Amsterdam is still not quite dead. You can still feel the soul flowing here and there, especially in the Red Light District. As long as the pilot light is still burning, the fire can be rekindled.
Amsterdam is not dead yet. And I know to whom we owe that. Let us have deep respect for the hard workers behind the window in the Red Light District, who embody nothing less than pure and divine femininity.
Photo above: Belle, the bronze statue at Oudekerksplein. We see a proud sex worker in a window frame with straight back and chin up. Created by Els Rijerse and commissioned by Mariska Majoor, this sculpture is a tribute to sex workers worldwide.
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