AmsterDames: An English Feminist Podcast in the Netherlands

Sex is everywhere in Amsterdam. At least, so it seems in the Red Light District, with the windows, live sex shows, and in souvenir shops with genitalia-shaped candy. Everything is legal, no big deal and everyone is cool with it. At least, this is the image that the Netherlands wants the world to have.

I am sure you already guessed it. It is not that easy. Because even though sex work is – technically – legal in the Netherlands, there are a lof of rules and restrictions as well as issues such as exploitation and human trafficking. The entire system is complex, to say the least.

My guest knows the system really well. Violet is a sex worker herself and a coordinator at Prostitution Information Centre in the Red Light District. Please note, Violet is not her real name. And she is going to help us understand how sex work in the Netherlands works, if the society is really as accepting as it seems and which changes she would like to see in the industry.

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/
AmsterDames Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmsterDamesPodcast/
https://pic-amsterdam.com/⁠

Prostitution Information Center Twitter: https://twitter.com/pic_amsterdam

Prostitution Information Center Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pic.amsterdam

Traveling with kids is always stressful. Parents hardly have the time to enjoy themselves when they are going on a citytrip with kids, for example. Let Debora Dielingen help you. The founder of Wanderlust Mama & Co offers kid-friendly tours in Amsterdam to entertain your kids and to give you a relaxed time.

Also, don't bother either to bring all your baby gear to Amsterdam. That's just unnecessary luggage and too much of a hazzle. Because with Rent Baby Gear, she also has a solution for that.

All in all, Debora Dielingen offers you a worry-free package for your trip to Amsterdam with your kids.

Website Wanderlust Mama & Co : https://wanderlustmamaandco.com/

Instagram Wanderlust Mama & Co: https://www.instagram.com/kidfriendly_tours_amsterdam/

Instagram Debora Dielingen: https://www.instagram.com/wanderlustmamas_diary/

Facebook Wanderlust Mama & Co: https://www.facebook.com/wanderlustmamaandco

Website Rentbabygear: www.rentbabygear.nl

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

Girls and women with a disability are rarely seen in Dutch media, in campaigns or in pop culture. And if they are shown, then they are often reduced to only one thing: Their disability. Sophie-Anne Onland knows that girls and women with a disability are so much more and that they are capable of so many amazing things. This is why she wants to be a role model. With her public work, her speeches and her activism, she wants to help empower girls and women with a disability in the Netherlands.

Sophie-Anne Onland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophieonland/

Sophie-Anne Onland Tedx Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/sophie_anne_onland_how_my_biggest_secret_became_my_biggest_power

Mentelity Foundation website: https://www.bibianmentelfoundation.nl/

Mentelity Foundation Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MentelityFoundation

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

On July 17, 2014, Flight MH17 takes off from Amsterdam bound for the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. But the plane with 298 people on board never arrives.

The route takes Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, where an armed conflict is raging between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists. Civil aviation is banned from flying at low altitudes. But MH17 is flying ten kilometers above the ground. At 1:20 p.m. Dutch time, the plane disappears from radar. A ground missile explodes next to the plane and rips it apart. No one on board survives.

My guest for today, Ria van der Steen, was personally affected by this tragedy as she has lost family members in the crash. But she is also the one that dares to speak up against the people that are responsible for this.

Website Stichting Vliegramp MH17: https://www.stichtingvliegrampmh17.nl/

Website Government of the Netherlands Incident MH 17: https://www.government.nl/topics/mh17-incident

Website Government of the Netherlands criminal investigation MH17: https://www.government.nl/topics/mh17-incident/achieving-justice/the-criminal-investigation

Website Netherlands Public Prosecution Service investigation MH 17: https://www.prosecutionservice.nl/topics/mh17-plane-crash/criminal-investigation-jit-mh17

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

We have probably all been there at some point, when we were a teenager. We felt like the world is against us and nobody can really understand us. We felt like we were not being heard. Many children and young people in the Netherlands share the same feeling – and they are in fact probably not being heard – because they have a certain cultural background, social class or they are from a certain neighborhood.

Even more important that these kids have someone that really listens and supports them. Those are the credible messengers of the organization ADAMAS. Street workers, criminologists, psychologists. And my guest for today, Drita Hajdini, is one of them.

** Drita Hajdini also wishes to point out that ADAMAS operates preventively**

ADAMAS website: https://crediblemessengers.nl/

ADAMAS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamas_amsterdam/

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

If you live in Amsterdam Oost, you have probably come across the Javaplein, the Javastraat or the Molukkenstraat. Right at Amsterdam Central

Only slowly, this topic becomes a part of the public discussions.

One of the organizations that makes sure that the topic gets the attention it deserves is the Indisch Herinneringscentrum in The Hague. Yulia Pattopang works there and today, she is going to talk with us about the Dutch colonialism, historical reappraisal and the educational work of her organisation.

Indisch Herinneringscentrum Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indischherinneringscentrum/

Indisch Herinneringscentrum Website: https://www.indischherinneringscentrum.nl/

Indisch Herinneringscentrum Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndischHC

Website Inklusief Indie: https://inclusiefindie.nl/

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

Amsterdam breathes history. I am sure you have already visited the Rijksmuseum, the van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. Maybe you even took a boat tour and learned everything there is to know about this city and this country. But is it really everything?

What about the history of Jewish people before the 20th century? Or the history of women? The history of queer people or people with disabilities?

When we look at these stories, Amsterdam still has plenty of hidden gems to offer.

And Elyzabeth Gorman is ready to find all of them for us. She started Amsterdam Badass Tours and she offers guided tours and customized tours that focus on People of Color in Amsterdam, women, Jewish people and all the stories that tend to be overheard and overlooked.

Badass Tours website: https://badasstours.nl/tours/

Badass Tours Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badasstours/

Badass Tours Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BadassTours

Badass Tours LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/badass-tours/

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

There are so many benefits in networking, but still it seems that as women we still sometimes struggle with it. Maybe because we see other women as competition, maybe we feel like we are simply too shy or we just don't know how and where to start. Helen Pink knows: Networking for women is about quality, not quantity. And each woman just needs to find the way of networking that is right for her.

But in the end, networking is female empowerment and we can all only benefit from that.

Website TedX Amsterdam Women: https://www.tedxamsterdamwomen.nl/

Instagram TedX Amsterdam Women: https://www.instagram.com/tedxamsterdamwomen/

Facebook TedX Amsterdam Women: https://www.facebook.com/TEDxAmsterdamWomen/

LinkedIn TedX Amsterdam Women: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tedx-amsterdam-women/

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

When we hear about racial profiling and police brutality, we often think of the US. But these problems also exist in the Netherlands. On the street, during protests, or by institutions. In the daily life of way too many people.

One person that knows this all too well is my guest Marisella de Cuba who works for Controle Alt Delete that wants to fight ethnic profiling in the Netherlands.

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/

Control Alt Delete Website: https://controlealtdelete.nl

Control Alt Delete Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/controlealtdelete/

Loverboys trick women into sexwork by making them believe that they are in a relation and that they are doing this out of love for their partner. And this happens more often than we think, and surely not only in the Netherlands. 

Esther Ehlting is a victim of a loverboy and a survivor of forced prostitution and now she wants to help other girls and women in the Netherlands. 

Website Merel van Groningen foundation: https://www.merelvangroningen.nl/

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/