On the regulation of prostitution in The Netherlands

It was busy on the street this morning but there were few clients, so in the end it was just me and Mel, talking politics. I tried to explain her in brief the odd way in which prostitution is regulated in The Netherlands, by politicans who choose to actively enhance stigma and local administrators who still prefer to criminalise:
(meanwhile some man walked in, I ignored him)

 Tsai Cheng: They legalised it in holland but it s still being criminalised
 Tsai Cheng: and politics actively contributes to stigma.
 Tsai Cheng: Moral inconsistencies in people are tremendous.
 Melanie Tuxing: They arrest prostitutes in Holland?
 Tsai Cheng: Well not as such.
 Melanie Tuxing: Hi [name edited out]. Looking for a girl?
 Tsai Cheng: it s regulated to such a degree you can t get a licence to operate as independent prostitute
 Tsai Cheng: so most are deemed 'illegal'
 Melanie Tuxing: Is that a political decision - or the decision of hte police?
 Tsai Cheng: Local governments are the ones who should give out licenses but they can choose not to or have a restricted number.
 Tsai Cheng: It's politics,
 Tsai Cheng: Christian moralistic views imposed on the people.
 Melanie Tuxing: Nods.
 Tsai Cheng: Because you can't get a license you'll be dependent on the operators who have licenses.
 Tsai Cheng: Who are the same that were legalised in 2000.
 Melanie Tuxing: The pimps?
 Tsai Cheng: So, next politics says there s 'criminal types' involved.
 Tsai Cheng: and girls are 'being exploited'
 Melanie Tuxing: Smile.
 Tsai Cheng: For their convenience they don t mention that they re facilitating exploitation by not offering them an alternative.
 Tsai Cheng: Girls who work on their own without license are kicked from their houses when they work at home.
 Tsai Cheng: That's what i mean with 'Legal but criminalised.'
 Melanie Tuxing: Ah.
 Tsai Cheng: You can't work in it without active government suppression.
 Tsai Cheng: And our current administration has 2 Christian parties in it.
 Tsai Cheng: Guess what they want...
 Tsai Cheng: Yeah, working here got me to read up a bit.
 Tsai Cheng: I may just write this down.
 Tsai Cheng: Actually I think I should.
 Tsai Cheng: It's kind of weird I think.
 Melanie Tuxing: A basic instinct of people with power is to control the sexuality of others.
 Tsai Cheng: To call something legal, but put so much police and restrictive government effort on it.
 Tsai Cheng: Yes.
 Melanie Tuxing: If you control their sexuality, you control them.
 

Working on the balcony door

A while ago I bought this cute little balcony at the Cosmopolitan Fair. I had a door added to it, so it could actually be reached from my bedroom, but I never really gave that door a proper look yet. It was about time to finish it.
Even Whotter liked the result. Yeah!
 

I banned one of the girls

There's a big sign at street whores. It's about 5m high and it's clearly visible in the busiest part of the neighbourhood. It contains the rules and rule nr. 1 is: "Do not send unsollicited IMs to the clients." It doesn't get much eaiser to read. Unless maybe someone attaches this sign to a stick and starts hitting us with it.

Still, there have been numerous girls throughout the years I work here now that try to get ahead of the others by sending IM's to the men. I've explained before, to them, but also in this blog, how it harms places and why we need to get rid of this sort of behaviour. Apart from this, it is anti-social and it kills the social interaction amongst the people present in the street.

We've been pretty busy seeking out the girls who break this rule the past 2 months and we've warned about 15 of them so far. So far I didn't have to ban one of them. Until the other day.

One of the girls was warned twice already. Once before we started to make a list of them, so we had that count omitted (we only warn once, next time they are caught they can be banned). I sent her a default notecard, simply stating that for repeatedly breaking the basic rules of the place she was hereby banned. I still felt kind of bad about it myself, I do have a feel of solidarity with my colleagues.
The response she gave me was quite vicious. For privacy purposes, I won't quote her , but she said that she would normally want to know who turned her in, but she didn't care as she had an alt on the sim already and she would just go on.

This confirmed to me that I did the right thing. Of course I am not going to tell her who informs us. That makes catching those alts a lot harder. SL is just full of anti-social people who don't care about the place they use for their gain or their co-workers. Kind of looks like RL, doesn't it?

Whotter walked around the entire block

"There you are!"
"You walked the entire block?"

Whotter nods

"You're too small for hiring whores, little fellow"
"Fish it is"
"Fish and chips."

Pro Tip 6: Meli: Keep notes of what each client likes

Meli is one of the popular girls at Street Whores. She hasn't been around as long as Mel, with whom she is always bickering, or me, but she's good at hooking up guys. Her sexy dresses and her looks will help there as well.

Meli's Pro Tip:

 Meli: "Keep notes of what each guy likes"

Her tip points to an obvious truth: if you're a sex worker and you meet many clients, you need to have some sort of administration. Just your memory will not be good enough to remember all of your clients, their likes, their dislikes etc. Also it's better to make each one of them feel welcome. Giving them the feel they are remembered, if at least a little, adds to their self-esteem, their lust and their feel that you are a girl they want to come back to.

Are fish evil?

Mel upset Whotter this morning. She saw him with fish and chips and at first she wondered whether he was British.

Melanie Tuxing: What on earth is Whotter eating?
Tsai Cheng: Fish and chips
Tsai Cheng: Since Rachael fed it to him he has nothing else
Melanie Tuxing: He's very British
Tsai Cheng: Is it still popular?
Melanie Tuxing: Have you ever offered him a cup of tea?
Melanie Tuxing: Some tea, Whotter?
Tsai Cheng: Not yet. I won't be surprised
Melanie Tuxing smiles
Whotter: Tea?
Tsai Cheng: Geez. He just repeats the word at first try
Whotter: Tea!
Tsai Cheng: This is no good
Melanie Tuxing: Yes, Whotter - tea!
Tsai Cheng: The strange thing is: his dad is an American furry
Melanie Tuxing: Does he carry a gun?
Whotter shakes his head
Melanie Tuxing: Good
Tsai Cheng: No, unless he hides it in the fish and chips
Melanie Tuxing: Oh, fish and chips are very bad for guns
Melanie Tuxing: Well, fish are very bad for you
Whotter looks at her with big eyes
Melanie Tuxing: Fish are evil, Whotter
Whotter roars
Melanie Tuxing: A large voice for a tiny chap
 

Photoshoot with Archangel Skytower

This morning I was talking with colleagues Mel and Meli in the streets when I got a call by Archangel Skytower. If I was available for a photoshoot. I hadn't done a shoot in a while, so this was very welcome for me. I put on the coffee machine in RL and I teleported over to Archangel.

Archangel uses the Anypose system, as I have seen with a number of photographers lately. It's interesting as it enables models to take ... well ... any pose that the Second Life avatar mesh allows for. This contrary to the fixed poses we have to buy at shops and Marketplace.
He found us a very nice scenic little tower with a Victorian tea decor. I liked that. So well, I took off my clothes and planted my naked butt on an old chair. Time for a weekend photoshoot!