Amsterdam cutting back on brothels

...supposedly for developing new shops and housing, and to cut back on the crime related to the legalized prostitution, according to this story by the BBC...

so the plan is to cut the windows the ho's ply their trade in by 1/3 or so. sex-trade activists are speaking up:

"We believe that less windows means more exploitation of women"
-Metje Blaak, spokesperson for De Rode Draad (the sex worker's union)

wouldn't it be cool if we in america could have arguments which could produce a quote like that? weird.

apparently, they've been eyeing closing some of the red-light district down for awhile. back in Dec 2006, this BBC report predicted that the action would be taken by the end of the year (which, hmmmm... means they're about right on schedule).

"We're not knights on a morality crusade, and this is intended to target financial crime, not prostitution per se," city spokesman Martien Maten told the Associated Press news agency.

Since the spokesman insists that this is not about a "morality crusade", it makes me wonder...

okay, maybe it's not HIS morality crusade, but what about their ever-increasing new immigrant population, y'know--the ones who aren't quite so "tolerant"? speaking to some young muslim women in amsterdam:

They believe that it is difficult to be a Muslim here given the liberalism of the Dutch society. “I have the sensation of living against society. Sex, for example, is very important to the people around me. A Muslim is like a mirror that confronts every person with their conscience.”

...and, when they leave their "conscience" at home, they can always use a knife like they did with Theo Van Gogh...