The implementation of the national legislation of prostitution in Dutch municipalities : a comparative case-study

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The implementation of the national legislation of

prostitution in Dutch municipalities

A COMPARATIVE CASE-STUDY

Pien Banus (student ID: 12283673)

July 2019

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MASTER THESIS

Master’s programme: Human Geography (track: Political Geography)

Educational institution: University of Amsterdam

First reader: Inge van der Welle

Second reader: Fenne Pinkster

Total word-count: 33.001 words

Abstract

In the Netherlands, prostitution was legalised in 2000. However, the national government

has given each municipality the authority to form and enforce its own prostitution policy,

resulting in considerable differences between Dutch municipalities. This study

investigated how the different implementations of the national legislation on prostitution in

the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam can be explained as a result of the local

context of both municipalities. By conducting both a literature study and interviews with

several key-informants from both municipalities, it was investigated to what extent the

location, locale, and sense of place of the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam

contribute to differing prostitution policies. Factors such as the history and the spatial

distribution of the sex-industry, the political debate and the local structures for cooperation

in the cities turned out to have a major influence on the shaping of prostitution policy in

Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The images that both cities have, in the Netherlands as well

as abroad, also appeared to be important factors in the shaping of the local policies. All

these factors namely result in an urban network in which certain human and non-human

actors are involved, while others are not. This unique interaction between actors causes

that a municipality forms its prostitution policy differently than other municipalities.

Key words: Prostitution, multilevel governance, municipality, sex-industry, policymaking,

cooperation, decentralisation.

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Preface

To complete my master’s programme in political geography at the University of Amsterdam, I wrote this thesis on the municipal implementations of the national legislation of prostitution in the Netherlands. The reason for choosing this subject was that I came across an article in the newspaper about the scenarios on the future of window-prostitution in Amsterdam that Femke Halsema, mayor of Amsterdam, would publish this summer. I found out that prostitution policy in the Netherlands is very complex, and that it will undergo major changes in the next few years. Because the above suits both the political and the geographical aspect of my master's programme very well, and because I have always been interested in criminological subjects, I decided that municipal prostitution policy would be the subject of my thesis. This thesis is therefore meant for everyone who is interested in prostitution policy in the Netherlands and the role of the local context of municipalities in forming and enforcing it. However, the research is particularly relevant for the parties involved in the sex-industry in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, because it provides a clear outline of the causes of the different forms of policy in the two municipalities.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who helped me during the writing of this thesis in the past six months. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor and first reader Inge van der Welle and my second reader, Fenne Pinkster, for their feedback, tips and understanding during the writing process. I also want to thank all the informants that took the time to talk to me and to provide me of information during the interviews of this research. Finally, I want to express my special thanks and love to my parents, my boyfriend and friends. Your tips and help, but especially your encouragements have been extremely helpful to me.

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Summary ... 36 Municipal prostitution-policy ... 38 Amsterdam ... 38 Rotterdam ... 42 Summary ... 46 Location ... 47 Amsterdam ... 47 Rotterdam ... 49 Summary ... 51 Locale ... 53 Amsterdam ... 53 Rotterdam ... 56 Summary ... 57 Sense of place ... 59 Amsterdam ... 59 Rotterdam ... 61 Summary ... 62 Conclusion ... 64 Discussion ... 66 Literature ... 68

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List of abbreviations

ACM Amsterdams Coördinatiepunt Mensenhandel

Coordination centre for human trafficking in Amsterdam

APV Algemeen Plaatselijke Verordening

General municipal bye-law

EEA European Economic Area

EU European Union

GGD Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst

Municipal health-service

NGO Non-governmental organisation NRM Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenhandel

National rapporteur on human trafficking

P&G292 Prostitutie- en gezondheidscentrum 292

Health-centre for prostitutes in Amsterdam

PMW Prostitutie Maatschappelijk Werk

Social work in the sex-industry of Rotterdam

RIEC Regionaal Informatie- en Expertisecentrum

Regional coordination centre for the exchange of information and expertise

RLD Red Light District

STD Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Wrs Wet regulering sekswerk en bestrijding misstanden

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Introduction

“Let’s stop pretending window-prostitution is a touristic attraction” headlines NRC Handelsblad, a Dutch newspaper, on the 25th of October, 2018. The article sheds light on the local political debate on legalised prostitution in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Here, the Christian party CDA advocates that the city should stop facilitating window-prostitution, while other parties such as D66 or GroenLinks state that this would only lead to a decrease in safety and an increase in criminal activity. The article highlights that the current implementation of the national lift on the brothel ban has not brought Amsterdam severe improvements: violence, forced labour and other prostitution-related criminal activities are still daily business. And so, the local debate on prostitution continues (NRC Handelsblad, (25th of October) 2018).

After the Dutch Senate agreed with a proposed bill to lift the ban on brothels, prostitution was legalised in the Netherlands in 2000 (Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenhandel en Seksueel Geweld tegen Kinderen, 2016). Although the exploitation of involuntarily prostitution or prostitution involving minors remained prohibited, this new law meant that exploitation of voluntary prostitution became a legal activity. The main goals of this legalisation were to combat abuse in the sex-industry and to strengthen the position and working conditions of prostitutes (Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenhandel en Seksueel Geweld Tegen Kinderen, 2016). However, the debate on this legislation continues, as different political parties have different views on prostitution and how policies should be formed. Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink (2017, p. 33) divide these views on prostitution policy into pragmatic views (‘which have the intention to protect the position and rights of sex workers and diminish the negative societal impact of different forms of prostitution’) and abolitionist views (‘which have the intention to eradicate prostitution from society’). The latter has gradually gained support from politicians in Western European countries such as the Netherlands in the past few years (Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink, 2017, p.34).

The national legalisation of prostitution does not mean that all municipalities implement it the same way. Even though prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, Dutch municipalities namely all have different designs of their prostitution policy. This is visible in the differing policies of the four largest cities in the Netherlands. The most common example is Amsterdam, where prostitution has become a part of the city’s image: ‘De Wallen’, which is Amsterdam’s Red-Light District, attracts thousands of tourists annually (Spapens & Rijken, 2015). Despite many attempts to reduce prostitution, for example through the so-called ‘1012-Project’, the city’s sex-industry only grows (van Liempt & Chimienti, 2017). In Utrecht, the local government managed to close several (illegal) brothels and to temporarily remove window-prostitution from the city (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017). The plans are to facilitate a new location for prostitution somewhere in the city, where sex-related practices are clustered and strictly monitored by the municipality. However, street-prostitution is legal here (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017). In Rotterdam, window-prostitution and street-prostitution are both illegal. Here, prostitution practices can only take place legally in certified brothels or sex-hotels (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017). In the Hague, window-prostitution is still legal, although recent discussions focused on closing one of the two largest window-prostitution zones of the city. Street-prostitution is illegal here since 2006, when the local government decided that the situation in the concerned areas became uncontrollable, mainly due to the concentration of drug-dealers and illegal prostitutes (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017).

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8 This research focuses on the different implementations of the national prostitution policies in the two largest Dutch cities: Amsterdam and Rotterdam. As mentioned before, in Amsterdam, prostitution is often seen as a part of the city’s identity. Although street-prostitution is not tolerated, the window-prostitution is so big here, that many people cannot imagine Amsterdam without prostitution and the Red-Light District attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world (van Liempt & Chimienti, 2017). However, it also results in several unfavourable developments: citizens from Amsterdam actively avoid the area, residents of ‘De Wallen’ move away and prostitutes feel like they are treated badly by men who only come to the neighbourhood to make fun of them (Boels & Verhage, 2016). In Rotterdam, there exists a long history of prostitution due to the city having one of the biggest harbours in the world. In despite of this long history, the local government seems to act against prostitution more strictly than in Amsterdam: both window-prostitution and street-prostitution are illegal, and all activities related to the sex-industry are strictly monitored. Yet, it seems impossible to completely ban illegal prostitution from the city, as illegal brothels are still regularly discovered and closed (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017).

Although in both cities the debate is about the question whether policies, regulations and laws related to prostitution should be stricter or not, they are very different in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. These differences in local policies and their underlying causes will be analysed in this research. Several aspects of the local contexts of both cities, such as the vision of political parties, the history of prostitution and the city’s cultural identity, will be analysed to see how they influence the municipalities’ policies regarding prostitution, so that it can be explained how it is possible that both municipalities apply a completely different prostitution policy. The research-question of this master-thesis will therefore be: “How can different implementations of the national legislation of

prostitution in the Dutch municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam be explained?”

Academic relevance

Scholarly literature is widely available on prostitution. However, only very little research has been done about the mutual influence of different scalar levels in prostitution policies. Thus, the interaction between the national and the local scale has also been largely understudied. A lot of studies (such as the researches by Petrunov (2014) and Alpes (2008)) for example focus on the effect of prostitution policies in one specific country or city on the prostitutes working there. Schonhofer (2017) also studied the influence of domestic policymaking on prostitutes. Besides that, a lot of studies focus on the effectivity of a prostitution policy on one scalar level, such as the ones by Cho et al (2013) or by Lerum & Brents (2016). However, in their book, Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink (2017) do recognize the big role that interactions between different scales play in policymaking regarding prostitution. They mainly focus on the national and local levels, and stress that scalar distinctions between national and local levels are fluid and shifting (Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink, 2017). This research will build upon these propositions and further analyse how it is possible that two municipalities look at and implement the same national policy very differently.

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Societal relevance

Even in the Netherlands, where prostitution is legalised, prostitution is far from a socially accepted profession. Although legalisation significantly contributes to the reduction of stigma, moral persuasion with regard to sexuality in a society is most important. The stigma on prostitution should be combatted as much as possible, which can only be done when it is treated as a normal profession and therefore also researched in the academic world (Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenhandel en Seksueel Geweld tegen Kinderen, 2016). Furthermore, this research is also socially relevant because it exposes the local context in which the prostitution policies in both cities are shaped. Therefore, it gives insight in among others the local (political) discussions and public opinion, and it looks at the influence of different contextual and societal factors on the municipalities’ policy.

Structure of the research

In the next chapter, the theory on subjects related to this research, like multilevel governance and path dependency, will be explained. Hereafter, the conceptual model and the research-questions, which are both based on the theory, will be discussed. In the following chapter, the methodology of this research will be described. This chapter explains amongst others why Amsterdam and Rotterdam were chosen as research-units and which key-informants were interviewed for the research. The ethical considerations of the research will also be discussed in this chapter. Hereafter, the results of the study will be presented. First of all, the situation regarding the sex-industry in the Netherlands will be looked at, and light will be shed on how policymaking regarding prostitution is organised here. Afterwards, the prostitution policy of both municipalities will be discussed in detail. Finally, the role of the local context in municipal prostitution policy is indicated using the concepts of location, local, and sense of place. After the results-chapter, the conclusions of the study will be formed and explained in the conclusion and discussion.

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Theory

In this chapter, the theory on the main concepts of this research will be introduced. First, light will be shed on prostitution as an industry and source of debate. After that, the relationship between prostitution and criminal activities will be explained, followed by a description of the theory about ‘place’ as a concept and the influence of ‘place’ on (local) policymaking. Hereafter, the phenomena of path-dependency, multilevel governance and governmental activism will be introduced.

Prostitution as an industry and source of debate

Prostitution, through some referred to as the world’s oldest profession, is usually defined as “the exchange of sex or sexual actions for money or other material benefits” (Outshoorn, 2015, p. 141). Worldwide, prostitution (also called sex-work) has a long history, but the sex-industry in the Western world has become more visible and better accessible in recent decennia. From the 1970s onwards, it started to expand quickly: back then, international tourism and migration increased, prosperity grew and social mores towards prostitution changed (Outshoorn, 2015, p. 143). According to Hakim (2015, p. 333), the rise of the Internet after 2000 also had, and still has, a significant impact on the increased availability of different forms of prostitution, as it facilitates both the search for clients and involvement of amateurs. Palmiotto (2014, p. 136) distinguishes the sex-industry, which entails actual prostitution (f.e. in brothels), from the sexually-oriented business. The sexually-oriented business is not directly involving paid sex, but is very much related to it (f.e. escort services, strip clubs or massage parlors). Thus, the increasing demand for sex has led to a proliferation of diverse ‘new’ forms of prostitution, such as escort-services or telephone-sex, as well as ‘classic’ forms, such as street-prostitution or window-prostitution (Outshoorn, 2015, p. 144). Usually occurring within unequal and gendered power relations (Outshoorn, 2015, p.141), prostitution has always been a source of debate. However, estimations of the numbers of adults that sell sexual services are hard to give because of methodological concerns and the absence of accurate population-counts (Benoit, Jansson, Smith & Flagg, 2018, p. 460). Several scholars divide the adults involved in the sex-industry into those who sell sex in real-life, face-to-face situations, and those who work as strippers or sell sex by for example acting in porn videos. In the latter category, bodily contact is absent (Benoit, Jansson, Smith & Flagg, 2018, p. 459).

Stigma is one of the main problems of the sex-industry. It is namely omnipresent in the sector, even though its intensity varies somewhat by for example gender or age. Especially the national context matters, as some nations have a more tolerant perspective towards the sex-industry than others. The stigma however still exists to some extent in all nations (Weitzer, 2018, p. 719). This is mainly due to the mass media portraying prostitution negatively, by highlighting only the worst cases that are related to abuse, drug-use etc. In newspapers, tv-shows or documentaries, often only the cases of economic exploitation and physical victimisation are addressed (Weitzer, 2018, p. 723). Because politicians also partly rely on the media for obtaining information about prostitution, this stigma is sometimes present in policies as well (Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink, 2017, p. 63). According to Johnsson & Jakobsson (2017, p. 64) citizens living in a country where buying sex is legal (like in the Netherlands) are generally more positive towards buying sex compared to citizens living in a country where it is illegal (like in Sweden). Even though a stigma on prostitution still exists in the Netherlands, it seems like it is generally one of the most tolerant countries in the world towards prostitution and the sex-business as a whole.

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11 The negative opinion about prostitution that a part of the Dutch people has, is mainly caused rather by the negative impacts of prostitution than by the stigma on prostitution itself. Many people namely associate prostitution with criminal activity, nuisance and other negative consequences (Outshoorn, 2012, p. 237-238). For example, a lot of inhabitants of Amsterdam see prostitution as the cause of many drunk tourists walking the city’s streets at night (Aalbers & Sabat, 2012, p. 113).

Prostitution and criminal activities

According to Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw (2017, p. 28), prostitution is known to be related to various forms of serious crime, and the illegal status of many sex-workers makes them even more vulnerable to abuse, rape etc (Sanders, 2004, p. 1710). In the Netherlands for example, almost half of the women involved in prostitution experiences violence or other forms of abuse on a regular basis. In 47 percent of the cases, the perpetrator is a client and in 37 percent of the cases an (ex-)pimp (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017, p. 35). Besides that, the sex-market is also closely connected to criminal activities such as drug-trade, assault and organised crime (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017, p. 44). Because of these criminal activities, working in prostitution often results in physical, emotional and psychological harm. So, sex-workers are under constant pressure to avoid the processes of criminalisation that pose severe risks to their livelihood (Sanders, 2004, p. 1705). The problems related to prostitution became more prominent during the second half of the twentieth century, as a new wave of criminals then became involved with drug- and human trafficking, but also with money laundering (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017, p. 32). Especially the relationship between human trafficking and prostitution is widely elaborated on in scholarly articles. Human trafficking was defined by the United Nations as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labour or sexual exploitation” (Lerum & Brents, 2016, p. 18). According to Kragten-Heerdink, Dettmeijer-Vermeulen & Korf (2018, p. 1767), human trafficking is a serious violation of both human rights and dignity, that can occur in any sector. In criminalising human trafficking, the interest of the individual in the preservation of physical and mental integrity and personal freedom is therefore leading, state Nijkamp, Sijtstra, Snippe and Bieleman (2014, p. 31). Human trafficking takes many different forms and takes place in and between all countries (Nijkamp, Sijtstra, Snippe & Bieleman, 2014, p. 31). Three forms of exploitation can be distinguished: 1) sexual exploitation, 2) non-sexual exploitation (f.e. forced labour) and 3) trafficking purposed for the removal of organs (Kragten-Heerdink, Dettmeijer-Vermeulen & Korf, 2018, p. 1769). A large proportion of victims of human trafficking are women and girls who (involuntarily) end up in prostitution. According to Nijkamp, Sijtstra, Snippe and Bieleman (2014, p. 33), sexual exploitation is “the commissioning of an act with the intention of then using someone for your own profit through someone else’s sexual needs”. Like any form of human trafficking, it is an enormous violation of the human dignity and integrity of the victim. However, these women and girls often do not dare to report the crime because a lot of the victims have a special or even intimate relationship with the suspects. This makes human trafficking in prostitution a very complex crime (Goderie, 2016, p. 13). Even if reports are received from victims, the quality of these reports is often not good, as there are many problems with coherence, consistency, reliability and completeness. This has a significant impact on the probative value of a report (Goderie, 2016, p. 84). These problems are caused by the fact that

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12 victims of human trafficking are often traumatised, which can affect their testimonies. Many of them namely have psychological problems, such as feelings of anxiety, memory problems or post-traumatic stress disorder (Goderie, 2016, p. 24).

Many scholars and politicians believe that human trafficking is a direct result of prostitution and that combating prostitution would thus automatically reduce human trafficking. Others disagree and argue that legalisation of prostitution provides better working conditions for prostitutes and would allow the sex-business to recruit women who consciously choose prostitution as their occupation, so that human trafficking becomes an unnecessary phenomenon (Cho et al, 2013, p. 67-69). This division is visible in European politics: countries such as Sweden and Norway tend to combat human trafficking by criminalising prostitution, while the Netherlands and Germany adhere to the second option (Jonsson & Jakobsson, 2017, p. 59).

‘Place’ as a concept and its role in (local) policymaking

In geography, the concepts ‘space’ and ‘place’ are commonly used. Part of the problem in answering the question how both concepts differ, is that they are used interchangeably in common language. ‘Space’ however, is much more of an abstract concept than ‘place’. A ‘space’ namely becomes a ‘place’, once it has distinct characteristics and meaning in particular contexts. So, ‘place’ has content (Flint & Taylor, 2011, p. 270) and can therefore be defined as “a meaningful location” (Koops & Galic, 2017, p. 21). In 1987, John Agnew identified three main components of ‘place’: location, locale and sense of place (Koops & Galic, 2017, p. 21-22). The location literally refers to where a place is and what its natural setting is, or to the role that this place plays in the world-economy (its industrial base and/or geopolitical role), while locale refers to the institutionalised setting of the place, which permeates most aspects of life (including politics). Lastly, sense of place means the essence of an existing place-specific identity that gives meaning to the actions of its inhabitants (Flint & Taylor, 2011, p. 276; Cresswell, 2014, p. 19). The imaginary geography of a place, meaning the perception people have of this place that is created through certain discourses, texts or images, is also a part of the sense of place. Flint (2012, p. 21) states that the importance of the latter component is often underestimated. This is unjust, as a person’s identity is the function of membership in a number of collective identities (such as age or profession). Most people have an attachment to the place where they were raised or where they currently live. Such a sense of place can be expressed as loyalty to the given place. These loyalties can never be eliminated: as a product of the everyday local life, they remain, regardless of the practices of the state (Flint & Taylor, 2012, p. 270).

In 1994, Doreen Massey identified three points to consider about ‘places’: 1) they are the product of human activity (and thus socially constructed), 2) they are dynamic and will change over time, and 3) they can only be understood fully through their interactions with other places (Flint, 2012, p. 24). Flint (2012, p. 26) adds to these points, that ‘place’ is a geographical scale, defined as “the setting of our everyday lives”. However, it is just one scale in a hierarchy stretching from the individual to the global. Although there is a widespread tendency to equate place with local scales, they can be designated at several scales (such as the national homeland) (Flint & Taylor, 2011, p. 270). So, scales should be thought of not as separate or discrete, but as interconnected, which is why it is often visible that different governmental layers of a state (such as the national government and the municipalities) closely cooperate. However, the larger the scope of the ‘place’, the less aware people are of the meaning of their actions (Flint, 2012, p. 27).

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13 ‘Place’ as a concept has significant impact on policymaking, as the social context in which a policy was made contributes to its design. Places are where politics are being made: they are the setting of the political actions of both groups and individuals. At every scale, these localities are where people vote for representatives, protest about certain issues and experience (in)security (Flint & Taylor, 2012, p. 269). So, it can be stated that although the idea of a hierarchy is useful in the introduction of scales, it quickly becomes irrelevant when looking at actual politics. In practice, many scales namely operate simultaneously. Since all places and their politics are unique, they each will produce a mosaic of different experiences and understandings (Flint, 2012 p. 20). For example, the ‘daily urban system’ in which people carry out their activities is a ‘place’. But, by calling them systems, similarities are assumed. However, these urban systems are each very different from each other, although sometimes very similar in their history and geography (Flint & Taylor, 2011, p. 269).

It can be concluded that ‘place’ directly influences the way certain things are looked at in politics. For example, according to Flint & Taylor (2011) and Flint (2012), new politics of ethnicity, race, class etc are often forged in progressive places such as big cities. These big cities have become “lighthouses in the reactionary storm” (Kazin, 2015, p. 27). Here, progressive political parties namely often win the elections and have begun to use their power to help to raise and protect the living standards of all people, including for example prostitutes. Those victories are a consequence of demographic and cultural change: multicultural and major cities, in which millenials and people of all sexual orientations live as they please, will elect politicians who promote equality in all spheres (Kazin, 2015, p. 27-28).

Multilevel governance

The reallocation of authority upwards, downwards or even sideways has gained a lot of attention in political science. Because of this shift of authority, multiple governmental levels become interlinked and cannot be looked at in isolation. There is no consensus about how this so-called multilevel governance should be organised, but what is certain, is that multilevel governance is more flexible than concentrating governance in a single jurisdiction (Hooghe & Marks, 2003, p. 233-235). Hooghe & Marks (2003, p. 234) define multilevel governance as a “system of continuous negotiation among nested governments at several territorial tiers—supranational, national, regional and local”. However, increasing multilevel governance does not exclude national governments from the decision-making process. Nowadays, the national government namely still strongly influences the forms, scales and frames of politics. But, different institutional structures and governmental layers channel certain groups in a variety of political directions. These institutions and governments stabilise politics through path-dependent mechanisms, which will be further explained in the paragraph below. While these institutions and governments are important because of their stabilising functions, contradictions, conflicts and crises emerge in any political system, introducing alternative options that make change possible. So, political institutions are very important, but the dynamic nature of relations in making and breaking political systems should be stressed as well (Nicholls & Uitermark, 2013, p. 1557). These changes in the political relations usually take a very long time: political conflicts can simmer below the surface for years and change in the political field is therefore “more piecemeal than revolutionary”, according to Nicholls & Uitermark (2013, p. 1560). The decline of power of a certain governmental layer within a political

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14 field can, however, be disrupted by critical events such as riots or financial crises (Nicholls & Uitermark, 2013, p. 1560).

In Europe, the sovereignty of national governments is challenged by both supranational integration and decentralisation, as these processes have shifted authority away from national governments. National authority, through Schakel, Hooghe & Marks (2015, p. 1) defined as “the competence to make binding decisions that are regarded as legitimate”, has been diffused to subnational governments. At the same time, authority is centralised in a continental policy by the European Union. Authority has thus become multi-layered (Schakel, Hooghe & Marks, 2015, p. 2). The fundamental reason for growing international governance is, that the increased interaction between nations creates mutual problems that demand collective decision-making and coordination (Schakel, Hooghe & Marks, 2015, p. 3). For example, the free movement of people across European member-states enables human traffickers to easily move victims from one country to another. This means, that member-states should (partly) apply a common policy on human trafficking (Kragten-Heerdink, Dettmeijer-Vermeulen & Korf, 2018, p. 1770). However, the process of decentralisation plays a bigger role in the policy-field regarding the subject of this research. In most Western countries, including the Netherlands, the position of the local government has grown in importance. In addition to political decentralisation, whereby authority is transferred from one governmental layer to a lower one, two other developments are involved here. First, the role of the local government has changed: ‘local government’ shifted to ‘local governance’. This means that decision-making on local issues more and more involves multi-agency working, partnerships and policy-networks that cut across organisational boundaries. Second, different levels of government have increasingly become involved in partnerships. This enables a complex pattern of multilevel governance (Gilsing, 2007, p. 46-47).

In the Netherlands, multilevel governance occurs especially in contemporary policies, of which prostitution policy is an example. Here, international agreements, national laws and local rules namely interact. National laws usually frame the broad policy approach to prostitution that a country chooses. These are the well-known ‘policy regimes’, such as prohibition of prostitution, the criminalisation of clients, and the legalisation of prostitution and sex facilities. However, the actual regulation and enforcement of the sector is decided and carried out at the local level (Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink, 2017, p. 62-63). So, according to Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink (2017, p. 66), “the impact of prostitution policy on sex workers, proprietors, clients and communities is shaped by national legislation, but realised by local measures and regulations”. By taking more decisions at the local level, it becomes possible to better integrate the local context of a phenomenon in the concerned policy. However, in some cases it may also be beneficial to have a more uniform policy, for example because of the risk in displacement-effects. This discussion is also visible in policymaking with regard to the sex-industry (Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink, 2017, p. 102). Local governments pursuing policies that are either more emancipatory or more repressive than the national policy, is an example of how the discretionary autonomy of the local government works both ways. Local administrations can try to influence national governments by working together with residents, charities and the policies (Wagenaar, Amesberger & Altink, 2017, p. 64).

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Path-dependency

It becomes increasingly common to describe political processes in all governmental layers as ‘path-dependent’, meaning that specific patterns of timing and sequence matter in policymaking. Starting from similar conditions, a wide range of outcomes is possible, and large differences can result from small events. Once introduced, particular actions may even be impossible to reverse. Therefore, political development exists of critical moments that shape the basic contours of a policy (Pierson, 2000, p. 251). According to Kay (2005, p. 553), path-dependency is an important notion in understanding political processes. A process is path-dependent if initial moves in one direction trigger further moves in that same direction. So, the order in which things happen affects how they happen, and the trajectory of change up to a certain point constraints the trajectory after that point (Kay, 2005, p. 553). The concept of path-dependency thus comprises the insight that policy decisions accumulate over time: a process of accretion can occur in a policy-area that restricts options for future policymakers (Kay, 2005, p. 558). According to Pierson (2000, p. 252), it is not possible to understand the significance of a social variable without looking at the path it took. This applies to the international and supranational level as well as to the national and regional level. However, it is often at the local level that path-dependency is most visible (Kay, 2005, p. 564).

In politics, the consequences of one’s actions are highly dependent upon the actions of other politicians, political parties or governments, possibly limiting the possibilities for future decisions. It namely becomes increasingly difficult to change the overall direction of policy-trajectories once previous decisions become embedded in institutional structures and discourses (Pierson, 2000, p. 258). This is also the case in policies concerning prostitution: if the city council of a municipality first consisted of conservative politicians who wanted to ban prostitution, the next city council consisting of progressive politicians will have an enormous amount of work to do in order to adapt all regulations and practical matters to their vision (Aalsberger & Sabat, 2012, p. 119).

Governmental activism

In practice, both the interplay and tensions between different levels of governance are clearly visible. Sometimes, Dutch municipal governments cooperate with NGOs, businesses and social-movement organisations (SMOs) in order to resist or contest national policies by creating a ‘shadow-network’. This phenomenon, identified as ‘governmental activism’, is found across several domains and countries, and allows politicians, political parties, or even governmental organisations to protest against policies that were proposed by other levels of government (Verhoeven & Duyvendak, 2017, p. 565). As governmental activism is a very dynamic phenomenon that engages multiple actors, it cannot be reduced to one simple characteristic. However, based on several examples, six characteristics of governmental activism can be identified (Verhoeven & Duyvendak, 2017, p. 565):

1. Governmental activism can either be triggered by governmental players, or by SMOs. 2. Governmental activism may take forms that are either conventional or unconventional for

governments.

3. Governmental activism can either be primarily performed by governments or it can be a form of governance based on mutual dependencies between governments and SMOs.

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16 4. In governmental activism, the collaboration with SMOs can either be very overt or covert. 5. Governmental activism can either be highly symbolic or tangible.

6. Governmental activism can take place within a whole governmental organization, or it may occur more isolated within, for example, a few political parties.

The idea of the state as a context providing political opportunities or threats to SMO mobilization is problematised by governmental activism, as it exposes that there is no such thing as a government as a whole. Moreover, a number of governmental players engages in interactions with each other, SMOs and companies. They can therefore be said to become increasingly dependent on both civil society and business players to achieve their goals (Verhoeven & Duyvendak, 2017, p. 566). According to Verhoeven & Duyvendak (2017, p. 567), different governmental players are becoming increasingly independent from each other, due to the growth of supranational authorities like the European Union. This namely enables both local and regional governments to surpass the national government. Decentralisation processes also increase this independence, while authority is transferred from the national to the local or regional level. Both processes raise potential for conflict, as different governmental players are no longer capable of making decisions on its own (Verhoeven & Duyvendak, 2017, p. 567). However, this definitely does not mean that all ties are cut, as mutual dependencies between governmental challengers and their governmental opponents will continue to exist (Verhoeven & Duyvendak, 2017, p. 568). As all governmental players are part of the political elite, they control larger resource pools. This makes them very powerful (Verhoeven & Duyvendak, 2017, p. 573).

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Research question and sub-questions

Research-question

“How can different implementations of the national legislation of prostitution in the Dutch municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam be explained?”

Sub-questions

1. How is the national legislation of prostitution implemented in the Netherlands?

2. How is the national legislation of prostitution implemented in the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam?

3. How does the location of the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam influence the implementation of the national legislation of prostitution?

4. How does the locale of the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam influence the implementation of the national legislation of prostitution?

5. How does the sense of place of the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam influence the implementation of the national legislation of prostitution?

6. How can the differences in municipal implementation of the national legislation of prostitution between Amsterdam and Rotterdam be explained?

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Operationalisation of major concepts

Table 1 Operationalisation of ‘prostitution-policy’.

Concept Dimensions Variables Indicators

Prostitution policy

The national legislation of prostitution

The national guidelines concerning prostitution

The legislation process The role of municipalities The future laws

The (inter)national cooperation The cooperation with other countries

The cooperation between

municipalities that is coordinated by the national government The municipal policymaking

regarding prostitution

The regulation of the sex-industry through laws, guidelines etc.

The policy regarding different forms of prostitution

The monitoring of the sex-industry

The inspections by the municipality The inspections by the police The inspections by health-authorities

The combat of abuse in the sex-industry

The policy regarding human trafficking and other illegal activities in the sex-industry

The improvement of the social position of sex-workers

The role of health-authorities and NGOs in the construction and implementation of prostitution-policy

The maintenance of public safety and a pleasant living/working-environment

The enforcement of a location-policy

The requirements for a business-plan

Table 2 Operationalisation of ‘location’.

Location The history of the municipality The historical development of several industries in the municipality

The historical development of the industrial base of the municipality The historical development of prostitution in the municipality The historical development of tourism in the municipality The spatial distribution of

prostitution

The degree of clustering or fragmentation of the sex-industry

The spatial distribution of sex-establishments and its impact on the municipal prostitution-policy The geographical location of the

municipality

The regional cooperation The policies in neighboring municipalities and the (non-) existence of displacement-effects The cooperation with other municipalities

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Table 3 Operationalisation of ‘locale’.

Table 4 Operationalisation of ‘sense of place’.

Locale The institutionalised setting of the place

The local politics The perspectives of different

political parties and policymakers on prostitution

The political debate about prostitution

The non-governmental

organisations

The function of non-governmental organisations

The perspectives of

non-governmental initiatives on the prostitution-policy

The local cooperation between parties

The network of parties in implementing the municipal policy The involvement of different parties in shaping the municipal policy

Sense of place The imaginary geography The media representation The role of the local media in creating a certain image of the sex-industry

The image of the city The way in which tourists look at the city and why they visit

The everyday life The encounters with the

sex-industry

The extent to which inhabitants are encounter prostitution in their daily lives

The place-specific identity The role of prostitution in the identity of the city

The public opinion The media representation The vision of local media on the industry

The opinion of inhabitants about prostitution

The perception of the sex-industry by residents

The way inhabitants look at the city and its sex-industry

The stigma on prostitution Voting behaviour of residents

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Methodology

The research-design of this thesis was a comparative case study, as the prostitution policies of two Dutch municipalities of comparable size were analysed to be able to investigate how the implementation of the national legislation differs due to the local context in both cities. First, the characteristics of the case-study as a research method will be explained, followed by a description of the comparative case-study in a mixed-methods research. Hereafter, the choice for Amsterdam and Rotterdam as the research locations will be clarified. Then, a light will be shed on the research units and the content/structure of the interviews. Finally, a short outline of the process of data-analysis and an overview of the possible ethical concerns of this research are provided.

Case-studies

In some sciences, such as medicine or law, case-studies have traditionally taken a central place in research. However, in the social sciences and behavioural sciences, the importance attached to case studies comes in waves (Swanborn, 1996, p. 15). In his book, Swanborn (1996, p. 22) states that case-studies are defined in many different ways, with some definitions being broader than others. However, he advocates the definition of a case-study as the study of a social phenomenon 1) with one or more carrier/carriers, 2) in a natural environment, 3) over a certain amount of time and 4) using multiple data-sources. Here, the units of research can be systems on either micro-, meso- or macro-level (Swanborn, 1996, p. 16). In case-studies, a great deal of attention is paid to the social interactions and significance that participants in the concerned system attach to each other and each other's actions, and to factual/perceived bottlenecks and solutions (Swanborn, 1996, p. 25). The most likely situation to choose for a case-study in academic research, is when the research-aim is to obtain detailed knowledge about the concerned social phenomenon. Other reasons can be that the researcher wants to shed light on the social relations between the involved parties of the social system or that the researcher aims to determine what views of different parties in the social system concerning the studied social phenomenon are (Swanborn, 1996, p. 39). Both the former and latter were applicable to this research. The case(s) of a case-study can be chosen in different ways. In this study, a so-called 'reputation-sample' was used, meaning that experts, key-informants and authorities are used to obtain information (Swanborn, 1996, p. 55).

Comparative case-study in a mixed-methods research

One way to use studies in academic research is to include the cases in a comparative case-study. According to Gomm, Hammersley & Foster (2000, p. 13-14), this kind of research involves the analysis of similarities and/or differences across two (or more) cases. Making a comparison is especially suitable when the aim of the research is to explain how differences in context influences the success of certain programmes or policy-initiatives (Gomm, Hammersley & Foster, 2000, p. 155), which was the case in this research. When two cases are compared, this can be done looking at homogeneity or heterogeneity on a particular variable (Swanborn, 1996, p. 61-62). In this research, heterogeneity of both cases on the variable ‘prostitution policy’ took the central place. This heterogeneity was also directly the reason for involving two municipalities in this study instead of a single one. If the prostitution policy and the local context of only one municipality

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22 would have been analysed, it would not be clear whether the implementation is a consequence of the local context of that specific municipality or not. Answering that question namely requires a comparison. Because Amsterdam and Rotterdam were compared in this research, the differences were clearly identifiable: it could be concluded on which points the local contexts of the municipalities differ and what kind of influence these differences have on the prostitution policy in that municipality.

To answer the main-question of this thesis, mixed-methods were used. The goal of the research was to show what different actors (both human and non-human) are involved in local policymaking and how the interaction between these actors results in a network that is dependent on a certain urban context. According to Swanborn (1996, p. 78), the usual data sources for a case-study are documents, interviews with key-informants and observations. In the first stage of this research, policy-documents of the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and scholarly articles/books were analysed to get insight in the different implementations of the national legalisation of prostitution. After this, interviews with different key-informants, such as local policymakers, the police and healthcare institutions, were conducted. The combination of interviews and content-analysis was made, so that no questions had to be included in the interviews that could be answered by the information in the literature. Observations were not extensively used in this research, although they were indirectly involved because of the short interviews with tourists, either Dutch or foreign, about their impressions of Amsterdam/Rotterdam.

Research location

According to Swanborn (1996, p. 17) and Gomm, Hammersley & Foster (2000, p. 4), case-studies should be carefully selected. This selection can take place on pragmatic as well as substantive grounds, but random selection is also possible. When selecting on substantive grounds, two cases can be compared if they are homogenous on a given characteristic, but also when they are heterogenous on this characteristic (Swanborn, 1996, p. 61-62). As stated before, the latter applies in this research: Amsterdam and Rotterdam both implement the national legislation of prostitution in a different way. According to Swanborn (1996, p. 62-63), the traditional approach to this comparison is to choose some independent variables that are expected to influence the process and end-result. In this research, those variables are amongst others the local political debate, the identity of the city and the spatial distribution of prostitution the city. Differences are expected here, resulting in a different implementation of the national legislation.

The research consists of a combination of two macro-level research units (Swanborn, 1996, p. 16): the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. These two local social systems were selected, because their approach to prostitution differs significantly. While the ban on brothels was removed in 2000 and the Dutch law therefore favours prostitution, some cities namely have an abolitionist view on the industry (Jonsson & Jakobsson, 2017, p. 59-60). Rotterdam is an example of a city tending towards abolitionism: here, both window-prostitution and street-prostitution are illegal. While Rotterdam used to have a big sex-industry due to the presence of one of the biggest sea-harbours in the world, several local political parties are now far from supportive towards prostitution (Bisschop, Kastoryano & van der Klaauw, 2017). In Amsterdam, the municipality’s approach is quite different: although street-prostitution is forbidden, window-prostitution has become a part of the city’s image in the past decades. Here, the attitudes towards

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23 prostitution are therefore generally more open-minded than in Rotterdam (Spapens & Rijken, 2015, p. 5; van Liempt & Chimienti, 2017).

Besides them having a different approach to prostitution and the related policy-making (see table 5), Amsterdam and Rotterdam were also chosen for this research because they are the two biggest Dutch cities and therefore most likely to be tolerant/progressive and to have a leading position in the establishment of new politics of ethnicity, class and stigmatised industries such as the drug-industry or the sex-industry (Flint & Taylor, 2011; Flint, 2012; Kazin, 2015). Finally, the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are comparable in size and therefore make suitable cases for a comparative case-study (Gomm, Hammersley & Foster, 2000, p. 138).

Table 5 Research location (Alle Cijfers Amsterdam, Alle Cijfers Rotterdam, 2019).

Amsterdam Rotterdam

Number of inhabitants 854.047 (2018) 638.712 (2018)

Window-prostitution Legal Illegal

Street-prostitution Illegal Illegal

Home-prostitution Legal (if not considered a business-activity) Legal (if not considered a business-activity)

Prostitution in brothels/private homes Legal Legal

Red-Light District Yes No

Sex-tourists Yes No

Analysis of literature and policy-documents

The first part of the study consisted of mapping out the prostitution policy of both municipalities, but also of finding out how policymaking related to prostitution is organised in the Netherlands. To find out, various articles, books and policy-documents were analysed. While reading, important information was noted in order to process it into a complete outline later on. First of all, it was important to find out how the national legalisation of prostitution in the Netherlands translates into a concrete prostitution policy. Questions like ‘what is the role of the EU, the national government, or the municipality in forming a prostitution policy?’, ‘who forms the actual prostitution policy?’ and ‘how do different levels of government cooperate?’ were answered in the first part of the data-collection. Afterwards, the prostitution policies of the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam were researched in detail, so that matters that could be sorted out in advance did not have to be processed in the questions for the interviews. These matters included questions like ‘which forms of prostitution are licensed in both municipalities?’, ‘what exactly is the size of the sex-industry in both municipalities?’ and ‘which parties are involved in enforcing the prostitution policy?’. Logically, the information from the literature was also used to draw up the questions for the interviews, and to supplement the information derived from the interviews.

Key-informants

Because it is simply impossible to speak to everyone who is involved in drawing up and implementing the prostitution policy in both municipalities, in-depth interviews with key-informants were conducted in this study. These interviews all lasted thirty to sixty minutes, and the information from these informants together provided a complete picture of the local context of both Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Some key-informants did not have time for an interview but were prepared to answer a number of questions by email. This enabled their views on the questions raised in this study to be included in the results as well. The key-informants were all contacted by email or telephone, and it soon became clear that a so-called snowball-effect (Gomm, Hammersley &

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24 Foster, 2000) existed: some of the interviews were arranged using the contact-details that were obtained from a key-informant who had been interviewed earlier. Tables 6, 7 and 8 show which key-informants were questioned for the research and whether they answered the questions in an interview or by email. No minimum or maximum number of interviews was set in advance: the aim was to continue collecting data until saturation would be reached. When saturation occurs, no new relevant information is obtained from the interviews (Swanborn, 1996). In the end, saturation started to occur in the third to last interview.

First of all, it was obviously important to interview policy-advisors from both municipalities, because the municipality is the party that designs and (partly) enforces the prostitution policy. Because prostitution and human trafficking are closely interlinked (Lerum & Brents, 2016, p. 18), it was decided to approach a policy-advisor in the field of prostitution, and a policy-advisor in the field of human trafficking from both municipalities. In addition, an interview was also conducted with a policy-advisor from the Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenhandel (national rapporteur on human trafficking, hereafter: NRM), who has close contacts with municipalities about the adjustment of their prostitution policy to empirical studies by the NRM. In addition, interviews were conducted with representatives of the police-force in both cities, because the police-force is closely involved in the enforcement of the municipal prostitution policy. (Health)care-institutions in both municipalities, including a shelter for victims of human trafficking, were also approached for an interview. This is because they have close contacts with both the municipality and prostitutes. The Chamber of Commerce also turned out to be an important source of information, because self-employed prostitutes have to register there in order to be able to work legally. Besides that, in the near future, the Chamber of Commerce will have a greater role in identifying abuses. Finally, two researchers who are actively involved in the subject of the research were interviewed.

In order to get an idea of how non-residents look at both cities, short interviews (of maximum five minutes) with tourists were conducted as well. These tourists were randomly selected, although attempts were made to question people from both sexes and from different age-categories. In Rotterdam, nine tourists were questioned in six interviews. These conducted in or in front of the Markthal (a tourist-attraction in Rotterdam). In Amsterdam, thirteen persons were interviewed in six interviews. Half of these interviews were conducted in the Red-Light District and the other half on the Museumplein, in front of the Rijksmuseum (a tourist-attraction in Amsterdam). Two locations for interviews have been used in Amsterdam in order to question both persons that surely visited the RLD, and persons that might not have been there. In Rotterdam, the use of two locations was not necessary, because there is no RLD in the city.

Fortunately, almost all key-informants that were approached were willing to cooperate. However, some of the potential respondents did not feel inclined to participate in the research, because they were too busy, for example. Examples of potential respondents that were too busy were the national interest-group for prostitutes, called PROUD, and an information- and service-centre for prostitutes in Rotterdam, called Door2Door. A couple of business-owners in both municipalities were also approached (brothel-owners in Rotterdam and window-rental companies in Amsterdam), but they were not willing to answer questions, all because of their own reasons.

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Table 6 Key-informants - Amsterdam.

Organisation Name Position Method

ACM Mill Bijnen Care-coodinator Interview

Sabrina Knijf Care-coordinator Interview

Chamber of Commerce Rob Koster Fraud-coordinator Email

Municipality of Amsterdam Chiarli Vreedeveld Policy-advisor Interview

Arjen Polstra Policy-advisor Email

P&G292 Annelies van Dijk Care-coordinator Interview

Police of Amsterdam Bart Soels Corps-expert on human trafficking Interview

Regioplan Maartje

Timmermans

Researcher Interview

Table 7 Key-informants - Rotterdam.

Table 8 Key-informants - Amsterdam & Rotterdam.

Interviews

After contacting the key-informants for an appointment, the questionnaires were drawn up using the operationalisation of the major concepts of this research. All interviews started with an introduction of the research, so that the respondents knew in what context the questions were asked. Then, they were asked about their position and daily activities, in order to briefly introduce them as well. The interviews started with simple, introductory questions and developed into more complex questions in the end (see table 9). This way, the respondent was not immediately thrown into the deep end. First of all, a question was asked about the city-specific problems of the municipality and the prostitution policy itself. Afterwards, the cooperation between different parties and the differences between municipalities were discussed more in detail. In the end, more complex questions were asked, about for example the relationship between human trafficking and prostitution and its influence on the prostitution policy, or about the political discussion about the legalisation or criminalisation of prostitution. In the end, all key informants were asked whether they knew any potential candidates for an interview.

Of course, the questionnaire did differ somewhat per interview, because a policy-advisor of a municipality had to be asked different questions than, for example, a fraud-coordinator working at the Chamber of Commerce or a care-coordinator of a shelter for victims of human trafficking. For example, the policy-advisors of both municipalities were asked about recent developments in the municipality and how these were facilitated by the municipal prostitution policy. In addition, they were asked on what municipal goals the policy is based and how the municipality deals with the differences of interest of the parties involved. On the other hand, in the case of organisations like the Chamber of Commerce or P&G292, the functions of these organisations within municipal prostitution policy and the partnerships with similar organisations in other municipalities were discussed in depth. Lastly, tourists were asked what their main motive

Chamber of Commerce Liesbeth Kok Fraud-coordinator Email

Humanitas ESSM Franka Korteweg Care-coordinator Email

Municipality of Rotterdam Esmee Boerema Policy-advisor Interview

Hans Karels Policy-advisor Interview

Police of Rotterdam Esmee Huijps Corps-expert on human trafficking Interview

Chamber of Commerce Silvia Siemons Fraud-coordinator Interview

Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenhandel Bob van Oerle Policy-advisor Interview

University of Amsterdam Jeroen Doomernik Political scientist Interview

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26 for visiting the city was, whether their experiences in the city corresponded to their expectations and whether the legalisation of prostitution affected their image of the city.

Table 9 Structure of the interviews.

Introduction Permission to record the interview Introduction of the research Introduction of the key-informant

Middle-part City-specific problems The prostitution policy

Cooperation between different parties Differences between municipalities Human trafficking and prostitution Political discussion

Closing Neglected matters

Thanking of the respondent for his/her time and information

Data-analysis

In the next stage of the research, the acquired data, consisting of the interviews and the information from policy-documents and scholarly articles and books, was analysed. In this phase, the data derived from the literature and stored during reading, was processed into a complete story, together with the data from the interviews. First, the audio-fragments of the interviews were transcribed and then coded using NVivo, a digital data-analysis program for qualitative data. Because of the very rich text-based information, it was namely necessary to bring order and structure to the data to enable a clear analysis based on large volumes of data. In NVivo, text-fragments can be linked to predetermined codes (see table 10), that were drawn up using the operationalisation of this research. Because the results-chapter is structured around the sub-questions of this study, the codes were based on the concepts of location, locale and sense of

place, as identified by John Agnew (Flint, 2012, p. 24). Not all elements of the operationalisation

have been included in the codes, because some of the information was taken from the literature-study. The codes therefore only covered the information that was discussed in the interviews.

Table 10 Codes created and used in NVivo.

Code Sub-codes

Prostitution policy International/European guidelines and cooperation National guidelines and policy

National cooperation Municipal prostitution policy City-specific issues

Location Regional cooperation

History

Spatial distribution of the sex-industry

Locale Local cooperation

Governmental activism Local NGOs

Political debate Sense of place Stigma on prostitution

Tourism

Identity and image Public opinion Media

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Ethics

What had to be considered when conducting this research, was that the information from the interviews should not be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Because a lot of the interviewed parties work for an official (governmental) authority or organisation, nothing they said may be misinterpreted, possibly causing that the authority or organisation was being put in a bad light. A single person can namely not speak for an entire authority or organisation. Therefore, the context in which a statement was made had to be considered at all times. Some persons who were interviewed for this research also even requested that the results-chapter would be sent to them before the research was made public. This allowed them to check whether none of their statements had been misinterpreted by the researcher. In addition, the purpose of this study was not to prove which prostitution policy is more effective, or even better, than the other. The aim of the study was to merely show how the local context of both municipalities has resulted in a different prostitution policy. It was absolutely not the intention of the researcher to express an opinion about the policy of one or both municipalities. Therefore, objectivity had to take a central position throughout the entire research.

The implementation of the national legislation of prostitution in Dutch municipalities : a comparative case-study