Arrests in the Netherlands of men who were trafficking, and exploiting women brought to the red light district

It’s always been like this, but people ignored it.

“Additionally, in many cases, the men were in a relationship with the victims and, in some cases, had a child together,” the police said. “This created an additional dependency that was used to manipulate and pressure the women.”
None of the suspects who emerged in the investigation appeared to have paid work themselves, but they lived lavishly off the income of their victims. “While the women were working behind the window, the men spent the money on the terrace, on drugs and impulses, expensive clothing, and in the casino,” the police said.

But of course we're supposed to believe that prostitution is 'empowering' for women.

But of course we're supposed to believe that prostitution is 'empowering' for women.

Yes because if we legalise it the exploitation magically disappears, except when it doesn't, ever. Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands and this high level of gross exploitation has gone on for years and authorities have failed to notice.

I so hate 'progressive feminist's.

I'm glad for the women's sake that the authorities were tipped off and have done something about this situation. I do wonder if the fact that it was a crime gang of foreign nationals which enabled it to go on for so long without being noticed.

As I understand it this ramped up particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc used to be where many of the trafficked women came from.

This ^^

If prostitution was so bloody empowering we’d see Captains of Indutry giving blow jobs to weirdos of dubious hygiene for £20 a go.

but we don’t.

because it’s not.

I have been saying this for a while too.
But it's like every group has some girls/women in the "out group" and they are OK for "in group" men to exploit. And if you criticise it you are a kill joy/feminazi/hate sex/ hate men. On the other hand when it's an "out group" doing the same thing to a different group of women, it's proof that they are from a very very bad culture we would never do such things. Left wing AND right wing men/handmaidens do this BTW. I can find examples from both.

In the Netherlands it's partly a liberal "choice feminism" thing, but Dutch girls are not brought up to think prostitution is a valid career path at all. Instead it's Eastern European women who are seen as fair game/the out group. The "some women want to be prostitutes" is just a useful veneer on top that I don't think anyone really believes.

The "lover boy" method of recruiting women is a known thing in Easter Europe to the extent it has that name. It is a method talked (and bragged) about in mainstream American rap, it's the method the Tate brothers promised to teach their followers and, of course, it's the method the grooming gangs in the UK used. Except, the word "lover boy" covers over how horrific that sexual exploitation can get.and you only really see that when you look at the grooming gang reports. Before 2011 in England it was brushed under the carpet precisely because it was downplayed.

I know people will say the Dutch situation/America/Tate brothers isnt as bad as the grooming gangs because the girls groomed in Rochdale etc were so young. But the average age for entry into prostituion is 13/14. That's true for research in America as well as Europe. So I don't know how old the women in this case were when they first met their abusers, but usually it's when they are children. Of course you don't get magically cured of years of swxual abuse when you turn 18 so many women continue being exploited after that age, and end up in legal brothels in Amsterdam.

Absolutely agree.

And a lot of the time that’s why trafficking happens. Legalisation increases demand because it’s seen as an acceptable thing for men to want, but local supply doesn’t increase because most women don’t want to do it so there is a shortage, which is filled by bringing in women from other countries and with that comes all the problems, violence and illegal activities of organised criminal gangs.

I have a (very cynical) theory that legalisation happens in places that are already looking after their population quite well. Eg reasonably uncorrupt police force, welfare including for single mothers, compassionate drug treatment programmes, women able to work and get an education etc. Places which don't have that usually have a lot of prostitution going on behind the scenes but no calls to legalise it. Because there's no need. But when you have a country like the Netherlands was in the late 1990s there probably is a good reason to lobby to legalise it. Because, astonishingly, women that aren't forced to be prostitutes because of poverty, or drug addiction, or because it's the only career women can do, don't actually want to be prostitutes. Plus a well paid police force are less likely to turn a blind eye to blatantly criminal activity going on. So then the men that want to use prostitutes have a problem.
But if you legalise it, then you make it much easier to bring in women from countries that are very poor, and you can outsource a lot of the coercion to men from those countries, including coercion of family members still there. And yes, technically illegal stuff also happens on Dutch soil but it's easier to ignor. Progressive hey?

Yes, sounds very plausible.

I don't think it's that they took no preventative measures at all. It's that preventative measures don't work for legalised prostitution.

If you take away extreme poverty, drug dependency, mental health issues, debt traps, gangs, grooming of children or vulnerable women, trickery and coercion from prostitution then you have no prostitution. It's a mirage

And also, it's not legalised in the Netherlands. You couldn't legalise it without destroying employment law for everyone. It's decriminalised which means it's in a weird grey area. Which is the perfect ground for criminal gangs.