Almost without exception, they stand or sit behind large, clear windows generally trimmed in red neon. She called herself Carla. She seemed sorely out of place. She wore black plastic-rimmed glasses and said she was an unemployed schoolteacher from Trieste, Italy, down on her luck. By then, Carla said, she would have enough money and be done with prostitution for good.
Authorities here limit streetwalkers to a few zones outside the Red Light District.
Amsterdam has a needle exchange program as part of its methadone program. Most visible prostitutes work behind windows they rent from brothel owners, providing a seemingly safe, weather-controlled workplace. The brothel system here vaguely resembles legalized prostitution in Nevada, where street-walking is illegal and some 30 brothels operate in 10 rural towns. But there are more options for prostitutes in the Netherlands. Some prostitutes work for escort services or in sex clubs, elegant nightclubs where patrons pay a cover charge to mingle with the staff or retire to a private room.