continuing from my previous post on gender based violence
December 6 is also the Sinterklaas holiday in the Netherlands. Two years ago, while I was studying in the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, a public announcement came on saying that the library was closing early that night for Sinterklaas. I hadn't realized that it was a holiday, because North Americans don't celebrate Sinterklaas - we just wait for Santa to come on Christmas. As I biked home through the red light district, I noticed that the prostitutes were still working, even though it was a holiday. It made me wonder what kind of clients spend a family holiday visiting prostitutes, and then I got to thinking about how lonely it must feel to be a sex worker working during the holidays. I wrote a song about it. It's not the best song I've ever written, but it definitely is the only Christmas song I've written. I feel it's quite relevant to the topic of gender-based violence, since sex workers suffer a disproportionate amount of violence.
