History 101. Sexuality in Holland: an overview of past and current practices, laws and current thinking in The Netherlands.

A learned lecture or a conversation with your private art historian

At my home. In your hotel. At a cafe.

As an art historian based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, I give a wide range of lectures at my home but also lectures in hotels and conference centers. Group size 1 to 1000.

 

This lecture is on the nature of sexuality in Holland and the sexual practices out here. It focuses on:

* Mediaeval easy going practices, bathing together naked. This ended when VD came into the play.

*17th c practices and philosophy, including the strict concepts of honour/reputation and the supple way the official rules were bent regarding prostitution in order to accomodate the market situation, Amsterdam being an international sea harbour. Premarital sex to test fecundicy in agricultural areas. Influence of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

* The same for 18th and 19th century practices. Scientific discoveries in medicine and anatomy. Sex practices and handbooks for travelers. Tightening the reins after 1850 in the Victorian fashion. Yet married couples could have a night out at a brothel, just looking at the scenery.

* 20th century ups and downs, notably the sexual revolution of the 1960's, the birth control pill and its effects, the issue of gay sex and gay rights. Influence of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Decreasing role of churches in society. Prostitution and the free-for-all policy leading sadly to slave-labour in the sex business after the fall of the Berlin wall, 1989 and the influx of ultra tough human trafficking criminals. Government policies and plans. The influence of magazines for the youth market.

* Current 2012 policy and practices. The authorities waking up, trying to contain the horrendous effects of free-for-all economic laissez-faire thinking of the 1980s and 1990's. The up-side: positive outlook on sexuality. Well balanced life with sex for young people, adults and old people. A very low percentages of abortions and unwanted pregnancy. Gay life.

Image above on the left: Prince Eugene of Savoy visiting an Amsterdam brothel in ca. 1730, when the hood man was in his late sixties. Drawing by Cornelis Troost.

 

Literature

My lectures are based on a rich knowledge of Dutch and international literature, including early books on marriage and sex. The Van der Velde marital handbook The Perfect marriage, 1926 was incredibly candid, including "the cultivation of the technique of eroticism as an art in marriage". However, generally this country remained repressed 1934 in terms of the sex situation.

Modern times start with the ground breaking thesis by Jos van Ussel about the "Sexual Problem" (In Dutch).

Research includes the latest book (2012) Youth nowadays... about the history and emancipation of love and lust 1880-2012: Cas Wouters, De jeugd van tegenwoordig, emancipatie van liefde en lust sinds 1880. Athenaeum, 2012. Major social changes in power balance between male and female and between adults and youngsters in Holland explain why in this country we have become more informal and more sexual - compared to other countries in the Western world (let alone compared to the USA).

 

 

Clippings

Below is a clipping from my collection of background folders, this one containing a newspaper clipping of the NRC, December 18, 1999. The image shows an extraordinary image of a man and a woman doing their coital thing. Not in bed - but inside the MRI scanner, slender and intertwined. An absolute first in the history of science and medicine.

It is typical of the openness and unabashed inquisitiveness of Dutch science and culture that this event took place within a Dutch hospital. The MRI image also proved 300 years of anatomical drawings to be wrong! The p@nis of the man on the right hand side, entering the woman on the left, has the shape of a boomerang, and is not straight like a rod as has always believed to be the case. His balls and inner thigh are also clearly visible in this scan image. The irregular white fields are the urine bladders. The spines are visible on the outer sides. Pink and Blue below show female and male bodies.

 

 

We will go into contrast discussions. Libertarian Sweden and Holland on one side and prudish England and USA on the other side.

Did you know that in an official USA law, writing about abortion on the internet is punishable and therefore VERY dangerous? In the"Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a provision that criminalizes speech about abortion on the Internet, by providing for up to a $250,000 fine and/or five years in prison for using interactive computer services to provide or receive information about abortion." http://www.lectlaw.com/files/elw05.htm. Comstockery is still alive!