The Red Light District Seems Inefficient

Too much visibility is a bad thing

I’m in Amsterdam right now, and there’s a lot to like. It’s beautiful. It’s walkable. There’s good food, lots to do, and, of course, there are very liberal social attitudes. I have been to a coffee shop, and I did take a stroll through the Red Light District.

The Red Light District (RLD) in particular is really interesting to me because I find where they put the windows to be the absolute worst place for the prostitutes.

The main argument in favor of the window is that it offers a lot of visibility. That is true. It was so crowded on a Thursday night that I could barely walk. But, I feel like visibility is most helpful for products or services that are often bought impulsively. Souvenirs, food, or something like a theater show. Do people hire prostitutes impulsively? Maybe, but I’d have a hard time believing it, and I actually think too much visibility lessens the odds you do so.

It’s not like the RLD is in some isolated part of the city. It’s smack dab in the middle. So, you have three windows, and then you have like a regular bar or a pizza store where a family of four is eating, then a couple more windows, etc etc. So, if you are to approach a window, you are going to have tons of eyes on you, and not just other drunk horny dudes. This means that if you want to hire a window prostitute, not only do you have to do something that many people regard as gross in private, but you have to do it in front of thousands of other judging eyes. I think the only people who would be willing to do that are the people who were already deadset on getting with a prostitute, and you could get those guys in a separate area.

Maybe you can argue that because the RLD is full of bars and coffee shops (where you can buy weed), there are lots of drunk and high people walking around who are more likely to impulsively get a prostitute. This is probably true, but you’re probably not getting much business from the guys who are black-out drunk, and you probably don’t want them anyway. The guys you want are drunk enough to do something they normally wouldn’t but not so drunk they can’t see. Those guys would still be able to make it to the RLD if it was in its own area, and, as an added bonus, you would have less of the bad visibility that dissuades impulse buying from normal guys.

Basically, I think if you move the windows to somewhere that requires more intentionality to reach, the prostitutes could actually benefit from visibility.