Touring the immoral. Affective geographies of visitors to the Amsterdam Red-Light district

Abstract

The Amsterdam Red-Light district is a globalised mass-entertainment place for sex consumption. But the visitors touring the Red-Light district are far more diverse than sex tourists: men, women, gay, straight, stag or cultural tourists tour this place to feel the thrill of desire and disgust. The paper documents this process of commodification by these visitors, engaging with their lived experiences through ethnographic research and in-depth interviews. The paper shows the diversity of the consumption practices and representations of the spectacle of commodified sex, explaining how the emotions experienced by those touring the sex district draw on intersectional belongings (gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity). Intertwining affective and moral geographies, it concludes by arguing that the symbolic consumption of the Red-Light district cannot necessarily be predicted by virtue of standard categories of belonging, with identity formation and the consumption of sex being shaped by a complex dynamic of looks and gazes.

The (non)use of alcohol in topless establishments: Protection for women or gender policing?

“…Here, it is important to note that more diverse populations have better access to sexual services and pleasure, a point noted by Hubbard, Collins and Gorman-Murray in their 2017 introduction to a special issue of Urban Studies focusing on sex, consumption and the city. Sexual services are increasingly available to a wide array of citizenry—this extends even to prostitution, as Amandine Chapuis (2017) notes about the red-light districts of Amsterdam. She provides a quotation from the Municipality of Amsterdam about how the government wants the Amsterdam Red-Light District to be an “appealing cocktail of style and excitement” and also an “inviting neighbourhood for everyone who wants to explore the shops, galleries, museums, restaurants, trendy eateries and old-style ‘brown cafes” (Municipality of Amsterdam, as quoted in Chapuis, 2017: 619).…”

“…Sexual services are increasingly available to a wide array of citizenry—this extends even to prostitution, as Amandine Chapuis (2017) notes about the red-light districts of Amsterdam. She provides a quotation from the Municipality of Amsterdam about how the government wants the Amsterdam Red-Light District to be an “appealing cocktail of style and excitement” and also an “inviting neighbourhood for everyone who wants to explore the shops, galleries, museums, restaurants, trendy eateries and old-style ‘brown cafes” (Municipality of Amsterdam, as quoted in Chapuis, 2017: 619). By posing the red-light district in this way, they are seeking to attract attention from the creative industries, combining the “rough” environment of the red light district, with the more refined elements of galleries and museums, as well as erotic workshops and guided erotica tours (Chapuis, 2017).…”

“…She provides a quotation from the Municipality of Amsterdam about how the government wants the Amsterdam Red-Light District to be an “appealing cocktail of style and excitement” and also an “inviting neighbourhood for everyone who wants to explore the shops, galleries, museums, restaurants, trendy eateries and old-style ‘brown cafes” (Municipality of Amsterdam, as quoted in Chapuis, 2017: 619). By posing the red-light district in this way, they are seeking to attract attention from the creative industries, combining the “rough” environment of the red light district, with the more refined elements of galleries and museums, as well as erotic workshops and guided erotica tours (Chapuis, 2017). By combining elements from the creative, sex and tourist worlds, Amsterdam could attract a wide range of consumers that are able to appreciate the multitudinous and seemingly contradictory elements of the sex and creative industries.…”

Les indésirables

“…Enfin, les étrangers et migrants constituent un groupe central d'indésirables, le terme étant « au coeur des politiques de contrôle des migrations » depuis le début du XX e siècle (Blanchard, 2013, p. 17 (Blanchard, 2013). Certains groupes peuvent aussi être indésirables à un moment donné puis ne plus l'être à un autre moment, comme certaines prostituées du quartier rouge d'Amsterdam (Chapuis, 2016b).…”

“…Certaines prostituées âgées, érigées en figures du quartier, connaissent ainsi des formes de patrimonialisation. Totalement déconnectée des conditions d'exercice du métier cette requalification est mobilisée dans un imaginaire de la transgression encadrée, compatible avec la transformation urbaine projetée (Chapuis, 2016b ;Hubbard, 2000 Les acteurs institutionnels impliqués dans la définition des indésirables sont donc très variés, allant des élus aux gestionnaires d'espaces publics, en passant par les policiers, les urbanistes ou encore les designers. Par leur action, on peut cependant considérer que les individus, isolés ou organisés, contribuent eux aussi à la production des indésirables, par exemple lorsqu'ils se mobilisent pour faire pression sur les pouvoirs publics (Milliot, 2013).…”