Victims of 'Loverboys' Ignored in Holland (II)

Last week I described how the harrowing phenomenon of 'Loverboys', violent pimps of largely immigrant background who prey on native girls, was being largely ignored by the authorities in the Netherlands.

The way these girls are preyed upon and treated is truly troubling; it seems that the authorities are so short of answers that even the Dutch Socialist Party is demanding something be done.

One of the few (so I am told) attempts to put this state of affairs into the public consciousness is the TV film 'Loverboy', released in 2003.

I mentioned it before going purely on the IMDB comments, but had the misfortune to watch this propaganda effort after finding it online, and I must say I was shocked by the way this pressing issue is soft-soaped into a puff piece which is incapable of focusing on the negative aspects. Seeing as pretty much every aspect of this situation is negative, disturbingly so, that really is quite an achievement for a film which lasts for 79 minutes.

I must confess I didn't watch it all - there were no English subtitles and I don't speak Dutch.

Going on the images alone, however, the film was full of ridiculously tender moments between Dragan Bakema's pimp Michael and Monique van der Werff's Denise.

The film idolises Bakema's character into even more than an anti-hero; he is seen as someone who genuinely loves his girlfriend and just happens to be coercing her into prostitution.

In reality these men are vicious, ruthless predators who feel nothing for the girls they target. The initial boyfriend act is all part of the ruse; to the Loverboy, these girls are nothing more than a commodity, and not a particularly valuable one at that.

Once they have sold their soul they are there to earn money for the pimp and be kept in line. The pimp runs many other girls, usually - but the film does not explore these aspects at all.

Its basic premise is almost like a perversion of a Hollywood teen flick; pretty blonde falls for the cool Moroccan, he has a decent car and nice clothes, when she falls for him he tells her that she needs to sell herself to earn money for 'them', so she does. She then spends a lot of time on the streets with him hovering in the background, being approached by pathetic Dutch guys and assorted low lives. Obviously, he protects her from the worst aspects of the business, because contrary to appearances he's such a nice chap - and he really does love her, as is evidenced by their countless tender moments. Obviously.

In the end, she discovers that this prostitution lark isn't for her, but worse, Mr Cool Moroccan has (shock, horror) other girlfriends. She then heads home with no emotional or physical damage, because clearly having other girlfriends is the worst of the pimp's moral transgressions. As if being forced into prostitution is just a normal suburban high school kind of thing.

Does any of this matter, isn't the film just for entertainment?

This film is full of bald-faced distortions and lies, it actually makes the pimps look like nice human being who have souls - and yet some teachers use it to teach their class about the Loverboy phenomenon. These classes may contain girls who might be vulnerable to such people, may encounter them. Some of the pimps actually hang around schools looking for suitable girls (who may be as young as 12).

Once the tenderness (which is all pretence anyway) is over, the violence and control begin - some girls are even deliberately hooked on drugs by their pimp to keep them coming back and extend control.

You might as well show Pirates of the Caribbean to tell of the plight of those taken hostage by Somali pirates.

For more perspective on this and the reasons behind it, here is a translation from 'Loverboys, een publieke zaak’]by Anke van Dijk and Linda Terpstra['Loverboys, a public matter', 2005] from the site 'Fleshtrade'.

Once, Hamids [age 22] greatest wish was to have a girl that worked for him as a prostitute. He saw how other guys made a lot of money and evoke a lot of respect. That’s why he made a pass at Laetitia, he made her dependent on him and persuaded her to work as a prostitute. Now, Hamid is imprisoned, convicted of human trafficking, confinement, kidnapping and maltreatment. Although he still believes that he didn’t break the law, he regrets what he has done to Laetitia. ‘I didn’t coerce her but I did abuse her. Because there was no coercion, I could have challenged the verdict but I didn’t. I believe that morally I was wrong indeed. That’s why I accept that I am guilty.’

(...)

‘Today it’s nearly impossible as a Moroccan to find a job in Dutch society. Economically it’s going bad. There are no jobs, let alone for Moroccans. We have a bad name and it works against us. Obviously it has a reason, but it is all exaggerated. You never hear something positive about us, that’s why we feel excluded. The result is that we visit mosques more than ever, our wives are wearing headscarves again and we are forming our own group. Politicians don’t bother about us. Instead of giving us chances, we are criminalized and driven into the arms of terrorists.’

(...)

‘You have to do a lot to impress a girl as a loverboy. You have to make sure she falls in love with you. That means you have to be well dressed. Many guys I know, have a fur collar and proprietary clothing, Versace for instance and Botticelli shoes or something. Also your pose is important, you have to make a serious and cool impression. To amplify the latter, you see a lot of guys move their neck up front. That's real pimp-style. Furthermore you got to have a beautiful car. You take your girl out, and show her that you have a lot of money and that other guys respect you. That’s all fake, but the girl doesn’t have a clue. From my experience I know that if you pick the right girl, she always falls in that trap.’

‘I didn’t have Laetitia as a girlfriend because I was in love with her, but to put her behind a window. I knew she wasn’t happy at home. She was adopted and got no love from her stepparents. Her brothers had everything, but she even had no own bedroom. They all went on vacation, and Laetitia had to stay home. She had many problems and was very unstable. Her mother told me she was a borderliner. Even before I got acquainted with her, I knew about those problems and that she was very easy about sex. To win her love, I took her with my Mercedes. I bought it with the little money I made from drugs. In the dashboard I had a pile of cash, which she saw when I refuelled. I knew she would be impressed by that. When she saw I was also very popular and how respectful other guys treated me, it was really easy to make a pass at her. Once we where together, I asked her if she wanted to work for me. At first I didn’t speak about prostitution, but I made her believe that we would start running a café together.

The first time Laetitia stood behind a window, was more or less a coincidence. A friend of mine also had a girlfriend who would be working for him. One day we went to de Wallen in Amsterdam [the red light district]. You don’t do something like that in your own town, cause you could meet acquaintances. You don’t want your friends to have sex with her or, what also happens, is that another loverboy steals her from you. On de Wallen, all kinds of windows were for rent, and we made phone-calls. Within no time we had a window. Laetitia first had to legitimize herself, but at that time she was 22 years old, so, it was no problem. Of course the landlord knew she worked for me, but why should he care? Eighty percent of the girls who work there really don’t do that for themselves but have a pimp. That’s what they call legal prostitution. The way I see it now, they should prohibit it altogether again. By legalising prostitution you play into the hands of loverboys and human traffickers.’

‘Laetitia mostly worked from eight in the evening until three o’clock at night. In the meantime I was smoking dope in a coffeeshop with other loverboys. I didn’t realise what we did to those girls. It didn’t interest me, it was all about the money. I haven’t seen other loverboys show regret either. Most I knew personally. They were all in their twenties, some were even minors. Among them were many Moroccans, Turks but also Dutch guys. Some had more than one girl. I only had Laetitia. At the end she did that work for one and a half year. The money she earned, she gave that to me. That’s the way it goes. Everybody who worked for a pimp, did that. Now it disgusts me, it is dirty money, sperm-money. That’s why I’ll never start doing that again, there isn’t any benefit.’

(...)

‘Actually you can do everything you want to as a loverboy. If you get caught, most of the time you are acquitted due to lack of evidence. Most girls don’t want to report the crime. Their boyfriend is everything. Those who do go to the police, regret that later and drop their charges. It’s sounds silly, but in their way these girls are happy with their lives. They would never had caught me, if I wasn’t so vulnerable.’

(...)

‘At the end I was sentenced to two years in jail, while I didn’t force her or misguided her. I was found guilty because I had too much authority over her. That’s why, according to the judge, she had no space to manoeuvre. So I’m still serving my sentence. A couple of months to go, and I’ll be free. Sounds funny, but I am afraid to be free. The Dutch society frightens me. Whichever way you look at it, I have the appearance of a bad Moroccan in a society that is becoming more hostile towards us. I belong to the second generation of Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands. I am not a real Moroccan anymore, but I am not Dutch either. I am struggling with my identity and I feel powerless. Should I accept that I belong to a lost generation? Or can I still be successful? What happens if I don’t find a job and live on welfare. What’s the alternative? Don’t misunderstand me, I know for sure I will never be a loverboy again who puts girls behind a window, but I need money to live. If society doesn’t give me a second chance, isn’t crime the only way out?’

To me, this is a man who knows he has done wrong trying to make himself feel better - without actually admitting that he has done anything wrong. Not being able to find a job for whatever reason is no excuse for the crimes he committed.

Yet, there's another aspect to this which I mentioned last time; revenge.

Revenge on the society he feels has spurned him through violence towards and exploitation of its daughters and sisters; the very Islamic mindset of 'well, I know what I did wasn't right, but the judge only jailed me because I'm Moroccan/Turkish. After all, she is only a Dutch girl.'

Reading his statement, one can't help but despair at what mass immigration has brought into our midst.

Of course, there is no word of thanks for the fact he was born in a civilised, First World nation that many are dying to reach; only animosity and lamenting of what he doesn't have.

The owner of the Fleshtrade blog has some estimates on how many Dutch women may have fallen victim to this practice:

After careful research I conclude that probably most loverboys operate in window prostitution. The number of Dutch women they exploit behind the windows is limited; app. 200. I believe the number of women they exploit as a whole is probably no more than 600. Of those a fraction are Moroccan or Turkish. A small sample of 47 Dutch victims during 1998-2003 yielded 11 Moroccan victims and 3 Turkish victims.

So we see - the Muslim pimps are very reluctant to prey on Muslim girls. Go and read the following comment if you don't believe me.

Looking at those figures, we must also ask ourselves; isn't 200 too many? How many more victims must there be before the authorities admit that this problem must be rectified?

Most pressing of all; why are many attempting to downplay this disgusting state of affairs? Who in authority will speak out for these girls, however many or few there are?