Denise is new to the world's oldest profession. Before the Netherlands legalized brothels in 2000, she didn't consider prostitution a career path.
"Now it's a regular job," said Denise, 29, getting dressed at the Prinses, an establishment across the street from the Dutch Central Bank. "If you take it seriously, you can really benefit from it. And my clothes are tax-deductible."
When the Dutch ended their centuries-long period of tolerating prostitution and officially made brothels legal, they opened the way for sex workers and brothel owners to pay taxes, have a union, open bank accounts and list themselves as independent businesses at the Chamber of Commerce.
Legalization has also made the Netherlands's 1.6 billion euro (US$1.5 billion) sex industry less lucrative for pimps -- men who find customers for prostitutes -- industry people said. A winner: the Dutch government, which now pockets 19 percent of every transaction in value-added taxes.
Before the law change, competition among women in the underground economy kept prices low, said Christy ten Broeke, a spokeswoman for the sex workers' union, the Red Thread. A sex worker earned 15,000 guilders (US$6,341) a month in 2000, according to the Dutch Ministry of Justice. Most went to pimps.
Legalization, the growth of unions and the advent of the euro currency have led to higher prices, according to Amsterdam's Prostitution Information Center. While recent figures from the Justice Ministry aren't available, the center says prices for basic services have gone up 76 percent, to 40 euros, this year. And the prostitute keeps more of it.
These days, "there are no more pimps," says Shirley, the receptionist at the Prinses. "That's all over now. Women get treated with respect."
She, like other workers in the business, asked that her last name not be used.
Michel Saarloos, owner of the Prinses, splits the club's earnings with his employees. That means a sex worker takes home at least half of the 225 euro-an-hour fee every night, more for extra services.
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