You Don't Have to Put on The Red Light.doc

So the visitors have come and the visitors have gone. It has been a great month. I've realized that when friends come to visit, you get the opportunity to re-experience the city all over again (on foot nonetheless). I have about a month left here in Amsterdam, minus one week in Finland, so I'm trying to soak it up before leaving.

This week I've been a slave to my lengthy 'to-do' list which consists of mainly academic tasks, but also more practical ones. The 'to-do' list has become my constant. If you were to sift through my trash bin or leaf through my personal planner you'd find pages and pages of crossed out lists. Not only do I include extremely easy tasks on the list (to get myself rolling) but I cross everything off once it has been accomplished. A bit OCD yes, but they're the key to my success. My current 'to-do' list is a beast - it contains the major tasks that must be accomplished before heading to Canada in four weeks. I know other important things will come up, but these are the major, big-ticket items. I've crossed off about half of the tasks but the ones that remain are the ones I'm putting off as much as possible - this is a regular occurrence.

So aside from methodically ticking off the tasks, I've been gearing up for summer school and wrapping up activities related to classes. We need to bring an A1 (size) poster to summer school to give everyone an idea of the topics we'll be covering in our theses. These type of poster displays are more for science disciplines, but it's a good exercise in dealing with your material and making it accessible. While a bunch of my classmates have started gluing, cutting, and writing onto bristol board, I've opted to design mine and get it printed in the city. You wouldn't believe how much the going rate for poster printing is (I've shopped around) but I just don't have the time or patience to craft it. Besides, the design looks pretty stellar. I also helped Adam with a conference he organized this week called New Music, New Audience. I was on camera duty which I haven't been in charge of since the x and why days. It felt great to be the camera man again.

The highlight of the week though was the guided tour of the Red Light District I went on two nights ago. One of the Residence Assistants is part of an English tour group that offers a two hour journey through the area. Since the City of Amsterdam will be closing half of the windows on June 1 (or so they say), I felt it important to get the full tour before it's all gone. Best of all it was free. Whatever your opinion of the legalization of prostitution, at the very least the "sex business" in Amsterdam is a unique and interesting place. The Red Light District, in a variety of forms has existed since the 13th Century when Amsterdam was one of the largest ports in the world. It would be difficult to do justice to all the information I learned on the tour, but here are some of the informative highlights:

1) There are over 400 windows in the Red Light District. They are set to trim this number to 200 at the start of next week. Whether or not the city will actually shut down that high a number is yet to be seen.

2) The Red Light District windows make up only 20% of the "sex business" in the city. I'll let you ponder that one.

3) The oldest working prostitute in the city is 75. No joke. She works by appointment only.

4) There is a place called the PIC (Prostitute Information Centre) in the RLD. The centre is there to provide information for the girls, the clients, the public, and those interested in joining the business.

5) At the centre of the Red Light District, on the same street as some of the windows is the city's oldest parish church (built in 1306) and a Kindergarden School. When asked by a Dutch TV station what they thought the 'neighbourhood' ladies in the window were doing, a child remarked: "Our teach said they sell kisses."

6) A prostitute working in the district rents a window for 150 euros for 8 hours.

7) There is a special window down one of the alleys where tourists can pay 25 Euros to dress up and have their picture taken as if they work in the RLD.

8) The City once experimented with having men in the windows. They asked for applications for men who were willing to work in the business. There were 2,000,000 applications. After narrowing the applications to five, the experiment began and was shut down 30 minutes later. The media-frenzy meant that anonymity was impossible, the female prostitutes became jealous of all the attention, and there were stamina issues that weren't initially taken into consideration.

9) Contrary to popular belief, the sex workers ARE NOT subject to mandatory STD checks. However, a study compared the STD rates of the workers and the general public and they were just less than everyone else walking around on the street.

10) There is no agreed upon etymology of the reds lights and their connection to the sex business. Some of the theories:

i. In the bible, Rahab the Harlot hung a red rope from her window so she could be recognized.
ii. When Napoleon was in control of Amsterdam he instituted a sexual testing policy where those clean were given a red card to display.
iii. When sailors visited the homes of prostitutes they would hang their lanterns on the outside to indicate their presence to other would-be clients.
iv. More practically, a red light makes everyone look better. It hides blemishes, its seductive, and is less harsh than white light.

I hope those facts were as interesting to you as they were to me. The Dutch have a very different approach to sexual education than a lot of other cultures and it seems to pay off. As opposed to Britain, which has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in all of Europe, the Netherlands was one of the lowest teenage rates and more young people use protection. The Red Light District, even though for some it is a stain on Amsterdam's beauty, is unarguably part of the character of the city.

Doc's Prescription of the Day: 'To-Do' Lists are a really great way to keep organized. What? You didn't think I'd prescribe something RLD related. Not that far.