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Centuries of sex for sale
19/03/2002 10:25 - (SA)
Eric Onstad
Amsterdam - Marie La Motte was no common call girl - she counted art patrons among her clients and posed for Old Master artists 350 years ago. But that didn't stop her from being hauled in by the Amsterdam police for prostitution.
Her story, detailed in a new exhibition on the history of prostitution in the Dutch capital, shows how society's attitude towards the oldest profession has evolved over hundreds of years.
The double standard is clear when several years later La Motte has become a madam and instead of shutting down her brothel, the authorities of 1660 enshrine it on their list of "Chamber Nymphs".
"Sex For Sale - Four Centuries of Prostitution" at the Amsterdam Historical Museum, also details how the city has come full circle after waves of suppression and easing up.
The multi-media exhibition starts in the 16th century when Catholics turned a blind eye, moves through several attempts at prohibition by straight-laced Protestants and concludes with today's no-holds-barred red light district.
The exhibition - with videos, court documents, mock-ups of brothel rooms and fine art - opened last week at the museum and runs until September 1.
It includes an Old Master-style oil painting from 1650 showing La Motte as a penitent Mary Magdalene, her draped blouse delicately exposing one pale shoulder and breast. It was commissioned by one of her clients, the patron of artist Dirk Bleker.
Lurid reputation
The lurid fascination of tourists who gawk at Amsterdam's ladies of the night has persisted through the centuries.
In 1793, a visitor from England expressed astonishment about the city's "musicos", rowdy cabarets where prostitutes mingled with customers.
"If you want to retire with a woman to her lodgings, there is no law to forbid or punish you ... yet again, Amsterdam's reputation is confirmed", the visitor wrote in a letter.
Curator Annemarie de Wildt said her research turned up repeated parallels between past and present.
"What surprised me was that many things we regard as relatively recent have actually been going on for quite some time," she said.
Last year's law legalising brothels in the Netherlands after two decades of tacit approval is mirrored in the fluid way authorities treated prostitution in early Amsterdam.
In the late 15th century, sheriff's bailiffs ran the brothels, confined to two narrow streets, and when Catholics were in charge of the Netherlands until 1578, prostitution was tolerated as a fact of life.
But when hardline Protestants took over, prostitution was banned. Museum researchers found the records of thousands of court cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, some of which visitors can hear in audio re-creations.
Midnight missionaries
The 19th century lurched from radical liberalisation in the early years to a sweeping protest movement against the exploitation of women by the end of the century.
The dawn of the 19th century saw a relaxation when France occupied the Netherlands as Napoleon lifted the ban on brothels and imposed strict medical checks on prostitutes.
The French remained for only four years, but their influence lasted throughout the century as brothels thrived.
The exhibition includes a re-creation of a reception room from the posh Maison Weinthal, Amsterdam's biggest brothel, with huge oil paintings of nude women.
It was a landmark for 75 years after its opening in 1827, featuring women from France and Belgium, but was shut down in 1902 after a curious coalition of feminists, socialists and Protestants campaigned for authorities to change the law.
During the protests, members of the Women's League for Greater Moral Awareness, dubbed "Midnight Missionaries", stood outside brothels and preached to women and their clients.
Good old days
Today's Red Light District, with half-naked women displayed in garish neon-lit windows, emerged relatively recently.
A half-century ago, prostitutes sat in windows sipping tea and wore long-sleeved high-collared blouses. If their behaviour became too overt, such as tapping on the window to attract clients, they were liable to be arrested.
Back in the good old days in the 1940s and 1950s, says 78-year-old Harriette in a video interview, prostitutes wore dresses and slips and coyly offered to take them off if the price was right.
"Today there's nothing left to take off," she says with disgust.
She bemoans the strident public disputes among today's prostitutes, a sharp contrast to her memories of comradeship in her era, when girls often shared their best clients.
- Reuters
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South Africa
