The Prostitution Information Centre (PIC), located in the Red-Light district in Amsterdam, is a small, non-profit organisation founded by Mariska Majoor, a former sex worker and expert in the field, in 1994. She decided to do so because while she worked in the district, she observed many people who visited the center of Amsterdam and had many questions, yet no place offered any answers. The founder’s main goal was to establish an easily accessible place that provides accurate information from the points of view of actual sex workers to those uneducated about sex work who are curious about it, while serving as a safe haven for sex workers as well. Mariska Majoor was knighted by the mayor of Amsterdam for her contribution to the rights of sex workers in the Netherlands in 2017.
PIC is open to anyone with the desire to learn, and often receives visits from residents, politicians, tourists, sex workers, clients, students, journalists and researchers from multiple countries and backgrounds. PIC also participates in various events connected to sex work, conducts lectures and gives presentations on sex work and its issues, gives tours of the Red-Light district and is involved in the community by organizing different workshops for both sex workers and neighbours.
It is important to note that PIC’s team is largely formed by current or ex sex workers, who work or have worked in different sex industries such as window sex work, escort, or pornography, who often take the lead in the workshops, highlighting their own experiences and knowledge.
PIC’s mission is fighting the stigma that is often associated with sex work by providing accurate information to as many people as possible. Its ultimate goal is to fight sex work stigma, and the right for sex workers to practice their profession.