Word: majoor
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AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—At the age of 16, Mariska Majoor started what would turn out to be a five-year career in prostitution. Before she made the decision to sell her body, Majoor’s teenage life was defined by ultimate indigence: She was living on the streets of Amsterdam, dabbling in hard drugs when she could afford them, suffering from a lack of healthy food and adequate clothing, and really desiring one thing...
Among the people opposing an age increase, most voice reasons echoing those of Janssen, who added that she actually supports lowering the minimum age standard to work in prostitution. These advocates say that young girls in dire economic circumstances, like Majoor was years ago, should be allowed to enter the get-rich-quick industry—as long as the minors are not forced...
...these girls not forced into prostitution, I wondered, sometimes aloud, oftentimes visibly frustrated, during the course of my interviews. I couldn’t understand the logic of people like Majoor and Janssen, who argue that minors can make the informed decision to enter the sex industry—even when their choice is, quite literally, between indigence and significant wealth. Isn’t the fact that Majoor decided to become a prostitute principally because she wanted a pet dog reason enough to conclude that minors, particularly those living in extreme poverty, can’t make a rational...
...critics of the government's cleanup argue that shutting brothels will simply lead prostitutes to become streetwalkers, leaving them still more vulnerable to abuse. "If you want to help these women, this is the not the way to do it," says Mariska Majoor, who worked as a teenage prostitute during the 1980s and now runs the neighborhood's Prostitution Information Center. She and others are pushing for more public-funded campaigns to inform prostitutes of their legal rights against pimps and traffickers, and to help those who want out to find other jobs...
...next customer to the drop in center is unmistakably American, and by the accent probably Midwestern. His face is scrubbed to pinkness, his white hair combed over meticulously, and he laughs like an attack: nasal and whiny. Majoor sighs—the website is stubborn—and gets off the phone to take his question...