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| The De Gooyer wooden windmill is one of 8 windmills in Amsterdam. It is the tallest windmill in the city at 26.6 m (87.2 ft) and was built in 1609. De Gooyer once functioned as a corn mill. Today, although the blades still turn, the mill's purpose is to maintain the historical aesthetics of the city. The city owns the windmill, which is not accessible to the public. |
The Basilica of Saint Nicholas dates back to 1887. It is one of the most iconic landmarks in Amsterdam. Saint Nicholas is the Patron Saint of sailors, merchants, brewers, students, sex trafficking, and prostitutes. Saint Nicholas has been busy and appears to protect everyone in Amsterdam. 😅 The Basilica is southeast of Amsterdam Centraal and was one of the first sites I saw leaving the train station.
On my way to the Bonton Club, I pass by a little corner restaurant, the Fresh Addicts Club. This is my type of place for a simple healthy lunch. I order the Gymjunkies Favorite bowl with green tea. The bowl includes all sorts of yummy goodness like wild rice mix, chicken breast with Italian herbs, steamed broccoli, roasted pumpkin, beluga lentils, chiogga beet, cottage cheese, a perfectly boiled egg, hempseed, and green dragon dressing. The chiogga beets (a.k.a. candy stripe beets) are one of my favorite thing in this dish. Their sweet peppery flavor is amazing!
When I arrive at the Bonton Club, I am greeted by Angie, the host and former sex worker. She glances at my e-ticket. "You are all set. Head on in and grab a seat. We are waiting for a few others to join us." She grabs her cigarette and points me to a set of stairs.
The interior of the Club is dimly lit. There's a bar, a dancing pole on a small circular stage, and enough seating for about 18 people. I join two other younger gentlemen who aren't much for talking. We wait a few minutes, and four young women from the United States and Angie join us.
"Before we start, your ticket is good for a glass of beer or wine. Come up to the bar, and then we'll get started," says Angie. Once everyone is served, Angie gives us the rundown. "I am Angie. I've been a sex worker in Amsterdam for over 20 years. Now I manage the Bonton Club, and I am an advocate for sex workers in the city. First, I'll share with you a bit of history about sex workers in Amsterdam, and this Club, then I'll share with you my personal story and experiences. Lastly, you'll have time to look around the sex club and visit all the rooms," she says to the small group. Angie makes it clear that here, in Amsterdam, people use the term sex workers to encompass every aspect of what they do, rather than using the more narrow term, "prostitute."
As I listen to Angie, who is very friendly, I can't help but notice that being a sex worker appears to be a challenging profession. Angie is about 162 cm (5'4"), overweight with dark hair, and has a complexion that suggests she has not always taken good care of herself. I like Angie. She is candid and holds nothing back.
Sex workers have a long and strained relationship with the city of Amsterdam. Although sex work is legal nowadays, that has not always been the case. The city is proposing to move all the Red Light Districts to the city's outskirts into a newly created erotic center. The new measure is highly controversial. The city cites safety concerns due to problems with crowds of tourists, while sex workers, bar owners, and others in the industry are concerned about lost revenue.
"Today, women rent windows by the shift. A standard shift is 4-6 hours. Sex workers need to turn about half a dozen tricks per shift to pay for their window," says Angie. The norm for a sex worker is 10-12 tricks per shift. "Does anyone know how long the average trick lasts," asks Angie. We all make a guess. I am on the low end when I jokingly say 4 minutes. There can't be a lot of intimacy in a place like that. "The average man spends a combined 8 minutes with a sex worker. That includes the time he spends negotiating, paying, and dressing after the act," she says. I laugh. I wasn't far off. 😂
"I prefer the Sex Club environment to Windows. It allows for a more intimate experience with the client, which is important to me," says Angie. Additionally, the Bonton Club has bathtubs in all rooms, and clients must bathe before engaging with a sex worker. Angie shares with us an experience that emphasizes why bathing is essential. Her story makes us all cringe.
It feels strange to be in a city with so much water around. The canals in Amsterdam are large. Many boats do not travel the canals, instead, they are moored permanently and serve as homes.
After about 45 minutes of stories and details covering the ins and outs of the Bonton Club, Angie turns us loose to explore the upper levels of the Club. "Feel free to look around. You can touch whatever you like. You can scan the QR codes to get additional information about the rooms.
Health and safety are top priorities for Club owners and all sex workers. Angie describes various safety procedures and protocols, including the panic button in each room and the telephone communication procedures between the sex workers and the security guard. There are two additional floors to the Club and five rooms for the sex workers. The staircases up to the upper level are definitely not up to code. They are some of the steepest, narrowest, shallow steps I have ever walked. I must turn my feet sideways to ensure they are entirely on the step to get up and down the stairs. As I climb up, I say to the young man in front of me, imagine being drunk and having to climb these stairs to dip your wick. He laughs. "I am surprised they don't have accidents here."
The rooms are relatively small, and each has its purpose. There's one with an extra large bed packed into a corner should a client want an experience with more than one sex worker. Another room has a pile of sex toys that workers use on clients. I watch the other young man grab a giant black strap-on. "Oh, my God! My ass hurts just seeing this," he says as he shakes the massive toy around in the air. Did you notice that it is the first thing you gravitated to? Is there something you want to talk about? I say, laughing 😂.
The Banton Club is a high-end sex Club where clients can pay for a wide range of experiences, from simply watching dancers to whatever your mind can imagine. The starting rate is 300 Euros per worker for the first 30 minutes. This usually covers the mandatory bath but not much else. The Bonton Club is the only place in Amsterdam that performs Nuru Massages. Nuru Massage is a whole-body experience that utilizes a special gel that is ultra slippery which helps create an intimate connection between client and masseuse. After wandering around upstairs, we return to the main floor, where Angie wraps up the tour by answering questions before turning us free.
I found the tour to be quite informative, and Angie was great. Having been in the business as long as she has, she had no inhibitions and spoke candidly to the group, which I enjoyed. This is an interesting part of Amsterdam's culture; leaving the tour, I can feel the division in the city. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to take this tour. There is always more to learn than what is on the surface.
I leave the Club and continue flaneuring around Amsterdam. One of the most remarkable features I found was this stack of giant tables. The piece adds aesthetic value to an otherwise dull street, and I notice the beehives near the top. I love how the Dutch creatively incorporate bees into everyday life.
These are the drunken sisters of Amsterdam. If you look carefully, there are only a few plumb buildings. Each building leans in one direction or the other. No two adjacent houses lean the same way. 😂 Yet, somehow, they still stand with functioning windows and doors. More importantly, even though the ground is soft, these buildings have been here for hundreds of years.
I finally return to the hostel and find Bruno, who is grinning. "I went back to the District and had my experience this morning," he says. Really? I was going to suggest you try somewhere else, but I am happy for you. How was it? I ask. Then I watch the smile fade. " Not that good. But I am happy I did it. I was so nervous, my knees were shaking," he says, half embarrassed. I laugh. Don't worry about it. None of that matters. You finally found a girl you liked. That's good, right? I ask. "Yeah, but she kept asking me if I was done yet," he says with a strange grin. That would make me feel awkward. I now know why guys are there around 8 minutes, I say. "Yeah, it didn't feel right. I wasn't there much longer than that myself," he says. I chat more with Bruno and lift his spirits a bit, as I can tell he's starting to second-guess his experience as he relives it. Remember, there are no good or bad experiences. There are simply experiences. Some bring you joy, and others do not. I can see that this experience was worth 100 Euros you paid, I say. "Yeah. I need to be less hard on myself," he says. After a brief pause, he continues, "I am glad I did it, though. I would never have the chance to do something like this back home," he says.
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