The Red Thread

The Red Thread (De Rode Draad in Dutch) was an advocacy-support group for prostitutes in the Netherlands. It was formed in 1985 and declared bankrupt in 2012. The name The Red Thread (De Rode Draad) was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, in which a 'sinful' woman has to put a red letter A on her clothing. Vision on prostitution The organization regarded prostitution as an acceptable form of work. The organization's goal was to strive for emancipation and the improvement of the position of prostitutes. The nature of the aid to prostitutes that followed from this, focused on essentially different aspects than that of Scarlet Cord, which aims precisely to help women who want to step out of prostitution. Important points of attention for De Rode Draad were denouncing exploitation, and combating the social stigma that surrounds prostitution. The women from the talk group found that the work of prostitutes wasn't taken seriously enough by the police, health care and politician. Prostitution was not considered labor. The foundation wanted to strengthen the labor position of women and legalize the profession through regulation. While they did not self-identify as a feminist group, they sympathized with sex-positive feminism.