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Abstract

Research on modern red-light districts is centered largely on street prostitution zones. Missing from most of the literature are studies that examine red-light districts consisting of clusters of visible indoor businesses that are legal and regulated by the authorities. This paper examines this kind of zone in Ghent, Belgium. A variety of data is used to document this red-light district’s social and physical ecology, routine activities within it, and key characteristics of actors involved in the sector. The goal of the paper is to provide a fairly comprehensive analysis of both the zone’s internal arrangements as well as ways in which it is shaped by external forces. The findings are then compared to previous research on red-light districts in two other Belgian cities, Antwerp and Brussels, which reveals significant differences between the three settings.

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Notes

  1. The 17 “refusals” included waitresses who were excluded from the survey because they had worked in the RLD only a short time.

  2. Clients’ postings regarding Ghent’s RLD were analyzed on the hookers.nl website. We reviewed 125 threads containing multiple postings. Additional material was drawn from another discussion board: ignatzmice.com. The two sites include postings devoted to Ghent.

  3. For a 12-hour shift, the rent for a window in Antwerp is €70–100, and €200 in Brussels.

  4. In part, this is done to identify individuals who have been coerced.

  5. The exception to this is a special prostitution unit of the federal police.

  6. Interview with Meprosch official, May 12, 2014.

  7. Interview with Pasop staff member, May 29, 2014.

  8. Interview with Pasop staff member, May 29, 2014.

  9. Interview with Meprosch official, May 23, 2014.

  10. Interview with three Meprosch officials, May 12, 2014.

  11. Interview with Meprosch police officer, October 11, 2013.

  12. Unlike many other Western European RLDs, very few Bulgarians and Romanians work in Ghent: For the years 2010 through 2013, the number of registered Bulgarians ranged from 4 to 7 and the number of Romanians ranged from 5 to 7. This is due to the fact that individuals from those nations were not permitted to work as employees in Belgium until January 1, 2014--employee status being required of all prostitute-waitresses in Ghent. In other cities, women who work in RLDs are considered independent operators, not employees. As a result, Bulgarians and Romanians migrate to those cities. In Antwerp and Brussels, the vast majority of window prostitutes come from these two countries.

  13. Interview with Pasop staff member, May 29, 2014.

  14. Hungarians comprised 29 % of the survey sample, so it is possible that the number of waitresses who complain about Hungarians would be higher if the survey was restricted to non-Hungarians.

  15. Fieldnotes, May 23, 2014.

  16. Regarding the Hungarians, Pasop staff remarked: “We know that some of them have more unsafe sex practices than others. Part of them, not all” (interview with Pasop staff member, May 29, 2014).

  17. Police are called much more often to deal with problems in the bars outside the RLD (interview with three city government officials, May 14, 2014).

  18. Interview with Meprosch officials, May 12, 2014.

  19. Fieldnotes, May 23, 2014.

  20. Interview with Meprosch official, July 16, 2013.

  21. Interview with city official, November 29, 2013.

  22. Interviewed sex workers who worked outside the RLD were critical of the behavior of RLD visitors:

    I couldn’t do it. And how many Moroccans and Turks pass there just out of curiosity, not even to come in? They see you and they laugh at you. (SW1, 8/9/2013)

    When I went to the RLD, I saw people with bottles of vodka, doped people—no, no, no! People piss and spit everywhere. No, I couldn’t work there. (SW19, 11/26/2013)

  23. Interview with Meprosch officials, May 12, 2014.

  24. Interview with Meprosch police officer, October 11, 2013.

  25. Interview with city government officials, May 14, 2014.

  26. Interview with Meprosch officials, May 12, 2014.

  27. Fieldnotes, May 23, 2014.

  28. One newspaper article states that the residents’ association started as a pilot project called “government by the neighborhood” in 2012 (Oeyen 2012). Modelled on a Dutch experience, the project brought residents together with police and city officials to discuss local problems and seek solutions. The association has a designated representative who has appeared in the media. The influence of the residents is illustrated by the fact that nearly all of the newspaper articles mention their complaints regarding the RLD. The newspaper account of the association and the mayor’s involvement was confirmed in an interview with a city official, November 6, 2013.

  29. Interview with three city government officials, May 14, 2014. A similar statement was made by another city official in an interview in 2013.

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Weitzer, R., Boels, D. Ghent’s Red-Light District in Comparative Perspective. Sex Res Soc Policy 12, 248–260 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-015-0181-1

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