Mariska Majoor, a former prostitute who now runs an information centre on Amsterdam’s red light district and organiser for the district’s first open day, sits behind her window in Amsterdam February 18, 2006. REUTERS/Paul Vreeker
 
 

Some people got their first look inside a brothel — at least the first one they admit to — this weekend, when Amsterdam’s famed red light district opened its doors for wide-eyed visitors. Tourists and locals seized the opportunity to see a prostitute’s bedroom, watch a brief live peep-show or chat with a lap dancer. Read all about it:

Coincidentally, all this was happening around the time Xaviera Hollander, the former prostitute and author of “The Happy Hooker,” was in the news as well, attending the screening of a new documentary about her and reflecting on her colorful past that made her a matriarch of the sexual revolution. 

Xaviera Hollander does breathing exercises with participants in a workshop at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco, February 12, 2006. REUTERS/Kimberly White