Window prostitution

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Showcase for prostitutes

title: "Window prostitution" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["prostitution", "prostitution-in-the-netherlands", "prostitution-in-belgium", "prostitution-in-germany", "prostitution-in-south-korea", "prostitution-in-switzerland"] description: "Showcase for prostitutes" topic_path: "geography/netherlands" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_prostitution" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Showcase for prostitutes ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/RedLight.jpg" caption="Windows with red lamps in the red-light district of Amsterdam"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/A_prostitute_in_a_window_of_the_red_light_district_in_Utrecht_in_the_Netherlands.jpg" caption="Boat based window prostitute in Utrecht"] ::

Window prostitution is a form of prostitution that is fairly common in the Netherlands and surrounding countries. The prostitute rents a window plus workspace off a window operator for a certain period of time, often per day or part of a day. The prostitute is also independent and recruits her own customers and also negotiates the price and the services to be provided.

Dutch practices

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Zandpad_in_Utrecht.jpg" caption="Vecht]] until they were shut down by the city council."] ::

Window prostitution was originally a typical Dutch form of prostitution. This form arose through the ban on soliciting on the street or in doorways in the old red-light district in Amsterdam around the old church. In the beginning the curtains were completely closed, as sexual morality became less strict, the curtains opened even further. When the curtains were completely open, the process continued in the form of fewer and fewer pieces of clothing that the prostitute wore. In current times, the curtains are only closed when the prostitute has a customer.

There are around 1,270 windows used for prostitution in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, the traditional window prostitution neighbourhoods are the red-light district, the area around the Singel and the Ruysdaelkade. In Rotterdam, window prostitution has not been tolerated since the seventies. In The Hague, it occurs in the Hunsestraat, the Geleenstraat and the Doubletstraat. In Alkmaar, there is a tolerance area for windows on the Achterdam. In Utrecht, there was a special form of window prostitution from the 1960s: the women were sitting behind the windows of houseboats moored along the Zandpad, a road along the eastern bank of the Vecht river. In July 2013, the municipal authorities withdrew the permits.

Thirty percent of prostitutes in the Netherlands work behind windows.

List of cities with window prostitution

Netherlands

Former:

  • Arnhem - window prostitution until 2006
  • Rotterdam - window prostitution until 1981
  • Utrecht - window prostitution until 2013

Belgium

And on many through roads outside built-up areas, for example on the road from Deinze to Sint-Martens-Latem, there are about 60 windows

Germany

Switzerland

  • Zurich - window prostitution until 2003
  • Geneva - Les Pâquis, Pâquis’ four sex centres - the only places in Geneva where the women sit behind windows

South Korea

References

References

  1. (2009). "Prostitution and Human Trafficking: Focus on Clients". Springer-Verlag New York.
  2. "Amsterdam Prostitutes: The Facts about Window Prostitution in Amsterdam".
  3. "Prostitution in Amsterdam".
  4. "Prostitution in the Netherlands".
  5. Moro, Marianne. "Facts on the Red Light District in Amsterdam".
  6. (16 August 2017). "Prostitution in the Netherlands".
  7. Loopmans, Maarten. "Global pressures, local measures: the re-regulation of sex work in the Antwerp Skipper's Quarter".
  8. "Red light on Dutch sex for sale".
  9. (15 June 2016). "Te koop: Utrechtse seksboten á 10.000 euro".
  10. (26 April 2016). "Utrecht mocht vergunning prostitutieboten 'oude' Zandpad intrekken".
  11. "The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Netherlands and the Autonomous Dutch Antilles". .hu-berlin.de.
  12. . ["Rossebuurt Alkmaar Kamerverhuur"](http://www.rossebuurt-alkmaar.nl/).
  13. "Den Haag Red Light Districts".
  14. Pieters, Janene. (9 February 2017). "Closing Red Light District Pushed Sex Industry Online: Fmr. Sex Worker".
  15. "Haarlem's Red Light District".
  16. (31 August 2017). "Red light districts in Belgium".
  17. "Red Light Districts - Belgium".
  18. "Red Light Districts of Deutschland".
  19. Weitzer, Ronald. (1 December 2011). "Legalizing Prostitution: From Illicit Vice to Lawful Business". NYU Press.
  20. (December 2025). "Dortmund News".
  21. Micke, Andrea. (2011-03-18). "Wie Prostituierte an der Flaßhofstraße in Oberhausen mit Sex Geld verdienen-WAZ.de".
  22. (17 January 2011). "Bordell zum Schnäppchenpreis".
  23. (15 May 2003). "Window ban for Zurich's prostitutes".
  24. (23 February 2017). "Curtain falling on Seoul's red-light district called 588".
  25. (20 March 2018). "Sex Trade At Cheongnyangni 588 Is A History, Commercial Complexes And Malls To Be Developed".

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