Under the Covers with Eve: Episode 27 - The Sex Trade [prostitution][sex workers][discussion][ramble]

As a native of amsterdam, I've seen my fair share of 'windows'. I never visited one, but seen plenty. My first encounter was during a treasure hunt for school. Answer questions, find clues, win the prize. The entire event was miles from the actual 'district', so the teachers didn't have to worry about any of the students ending up in the area. Anyway, my group of friends end up to be lost (in our own city) and we had to ask directions. We asked the first gentle fellow that crossed our path and he happily obliged. He gave us directions, we thanked and went on our merry way. In hindsight, we should've known, because the man looked like a junkie, smelt like a junkie and he oddly enough even sounded like a junkie. Not that junkies are bad people, but this man was clearly up to no good.

The directions the man gave lead the reddest of streets you could imagine. Both sides of the canal were crowded with red lights (during the day it actually was just red curtains), sex theaters, live sex shows, sex shops and one weed shop. And there we were, young boys in the early hours of our puberty. Too young actually, as was made clear by all the tourists and locals (mostly men) staring at us figuring out what the hell we were doing here. We asked most of them to assist us to get back to our teachers, but no one was willing to help us out.

We finally reach the end of the street and are more lost than ever. It was right before gps navigation were on all of the phones, so no help from there. At a total loss on what to do, a door behind us opened and a voice said: "you kids shouldn't be here". We turned around and saw this blonde woman who was wearing a bathrobe, but you just knew she was naked underneath it. She was a prostitute. My friend told her we were lost and she stepped out and locked her door. She told us she'd walk with us to our teachers. We looked at each other in disbelief of what was happening but agreed to go with her.

When we got there, the teachers were kind of stand off-ish, because who was this strange lady walking with our students. Even more so when we told them she was a prostitute, but she then introduced herself like any human being would and we told them what happened. The teachers were a bit less hostile, but still told her to leave. We thanked her and she left.

Anyway, we got back in time, but didn't win the treasure hunt. But I did learn an important lesson: just because people get paid to have sex, doesn't make them any less human. This particular woman helped us in a heartbeat where others didn't. It still breaks my heart when I think back how my teachers treated her.

/r/Evesgarden Thread