The End of a Strange Tale. The Lifting of the Ban on Brothels in the Netherlands

Not surprisingly it was men who, at the beginning of this century, introduced the ban on brothels in the Netherlands, a fine example of hypocritical legislation. Actually, the ban on brothels had been a dead letter for a long time. It came as no surprise when in the police budget in September 1999 the government announced that the legislation on public decency is being ‘modernised' by lifting the ban on brothels from 1 October 2000. Now that brothels are to be legalised, as it were, by the lifting of the ban, the government can impose conditions.