AMSTERDAM: amidst the winding alleys around the canals, in a corner where prostitutes are displayed in cramped shop windows, young women sit or stand like display dummies, wearing transparent bras and skimpy skirts. They are waiting for customers under a dim red light. Some wearing expressions of despair.

Amsterdam does not condemn the red-light area of Rossen Buurt, associated with illicit sex. For the past 500 years, men of every hue (especially