Nr 1 tourist attraction? Sex work exhibition in Amsterdam Museum

On one side of the room are images of happy hookers – red light district souvenirs like a miniature house of sex workers, or a condiments dish where a woman’s giant breasts figure as salt and pepper. With her new exhibition at the Amsterdam Museum, British artist and activist Jimini Hignett, hopes to challenge what she believes is a ‘superficial’ image of sex work as a liberated choice. ‘The Netherlands does so many things right – bicycles, child happiness, all kinds of things,’ she tells DutchNews.nl ‘And so we’re selling this idea that this is the right way to deal with prostitution to the rest of the world, and actually ignoring all the evidence which says Dutch policy is failing.’ ‘The souvenirs are an image of that superficial view we’ve been presented by the sex branch, by Dutch legislation, by the tourist industry, that the women are all happily on their backs, legs in the air, enjoying what they are doing. Mariska Majoor, founder of the PIC, said in a Facebook message that Hignett was ‘respectless’ towards sex workers, criticising her for copying an image ‘that calls for respect for all sex workers in the world’. Nevertheless, a spokeswoman for the Amsterdam Museum says that despite the criticism for giving a platform to Hignett, the series is part of an annual show by an artist, in collaboration with CBK ZuidOost, ‘to present his or her personal vision of a specific issue or development in the city through a work of art.’ It plans other activities in the four-month period ‘so people who have other opinions on sex workers and the red light districts can share their viewpoints,’ she added.