What comes to mind when you think of Amsterdam? Is the tulips? Cute wooden clogs? Probably not. While these things are associated with Amsterdam, most tourists know it for two other things: marijuana and sex. Pretty much anything to do with sex really; sex shops, condom shops, live sex shows and more. Especially not alone. However, when I had the opportunity to see a peep show in Amsterdam, I took it. As weird as it was, I actually loved the Red Light District. Seriously though, who would buy a blow-up doll with a penis AND breasts?
As someone who used to work in the victim industry and studied human trafficking which is usually linked to sex tourism , I wanted to know how the system here actually worked. Which led me to sign up for a guided Red Light District tour which just happened to include a stop at one of the popular peep shows in Amsterdam.
Over the course of a couple of hours, I learned a lot about the sex trade in Amsterdam. I learned about the process of becoming a prostitute, the history, and how it is controlled and legislated. I learned about the old local church, and how it used to thrive thanks to needy sailors, and of course I got some great and hilarious stories of the prostitutes of old who were pretty bad-ass. Then, as the tour wrapped up, we had one last opportunity: to see a peep show in Amsterdam.
It was funny seeing everyone kind of shuffle their feet at the idea of seeing a peep show in Amsterdam. You could tell most wanted to, but felt awkward about doing so. In fairness, so did I. What made it weirder was that not only would we see her and her us, but we could see across the room into the other booth windows and their viewers.
The booths were set up in a circular fashion around the room, so we had a clear view of the working girl⦠and everyone else. Even knowing we were all part of the tour, it was awkward. But instead of fading off I think it just encouraged her to give us more of a show as she tried to shock us. But then again, what did I expect at a peep show in Amsterdam? After what seemed more like 5 minutes, our 2 minutes ran out and as quickly as it opened, our black shutter slammed closed indicating our time was over.
