Editorial Disclosure: Independent editorial — Ali attended the SHA Amsterdam Study Abroad trip as a paying student.
I've been to Amsterdam before. Several times, actually — usually staying with friends who live outside the city, doing the classic tourist things, spending way too much money on a city that was not designed for budget travel.
This time was different.
This time I went with the Sexual Health Alliance — a global organization focused on sex education, relationships, and human connection — on one of their annual Study Abroad trips. And I can tell you plainly: I saw parts of Amsterdam I would never have found on my own, had conversations I wouldn't have known to seek out, and came home different in ways I'm still processing.
What the Study Abroad Program Actually Is
The Sexual Health Alliance runs these trips several times a year, choosing cities where sex culture, history, and law intersect in genuinely fascinating ways. Amsterdam is one of their most visited destinations — they've been bringing groups here four times now — and it earns that return.
The trips last five days. The structure is a carefully balanced mix: genuinely unique, sometimes surprising, sometimes provocative experiences layered on top of the kind of tourist activities you'd do anyway — bike tours, food tours, time to wander.
And crucially: you don't have to be enrolled in the SHA program to attend. These trips are open to anyone who is curious about sex culture, education, and how different societies approach intimacy.
Day One — The Sex Museum and Welcome Dinner
I'll be honest: I had written off the Amsterdam Sex Museum as a tourist trap. Six visits to Amsterdam and I had never gone.
I was wrong.
It's genuinely interesting — not just as a curiosity, but as a real collection of sexual history, art, and artifacts from across the world and across centuries. My favorite section was the mechanical mannequins doing extremely explicit things with a completely straight-faced commitment to the bit that made me laugh out loud.
After the museum we had a welcome dinner — included in the trip cost — where the group got to know each other over schnitzel and wine. About 20-25 people, a mix of sex therapists, clinicians, SHA students, and curious civilians.
That's the SHA community in a nutshell. Open-minded, kind, funny, genuinely interested in each other. I found my people without really looking for them.
Day Two — Bike Tour and a Private Visit to a Sex Club
After the bike tour we did something I couldn't have arranged on my own: a private visit to a higher-end strip club and brothel called Bon Ton. Not as customers — as a group getting a guided look at how the space operates, with the opportunity to speak directly with sex workers about their experiences, their work, and the reality of the industry from the inside.
This kind of access is rare. And the conversations were some of the most valuable of the entire trip. Not because anything shocking was revealed — but because hearing directly from people who do this work, in their own words, without the filter of media or activism or stigma, changes something in how you understand the industry. It becomes human. Which is what it always was, of course.
Day Three — Food Tour and the Prostitution Information Center
A four-hour food tour through Amsterdam markets is, I can confirm, an excellent way to spend a rainy morning. We tried pickled herring — which I had been avoiding for years and which turned out to be genuinely delicious.
Then we went to the Prostitution Information Center (PIC) in the Red Light District — an organization founded in 1994 by Mariska Majoor, a former sex worker, specifically to provide honest education about prostitution from the perspective of the people who live and work in it. We had a workshop with a sex worker who talked about the district, the industry, the myths, the reality, and what she actually wants people to understand.
The PIC also runs public walking tours of the Red Light District — open to anyone, no SHA connection required. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 5pm, about 90 minutes, €17.50 per person. Worth every cent.
🔗 pic-amsterdam.com
Day Four — Fantasy Research Workshop, EMDR Lecture, and a Boat Cruise
We attended a workshop from Mariëlle de Goede, a Dutch researcher who has spent years conducting in-depth interviews about sexual fantasy — 400 interviews across the Netherlands and Belgium between 2018 and 2021. Her findings: people's number one fantasy cross-culturally is threesomes and group sex. Which she delivered with the same matter-of-fact energy as if she were presenting quarterly earnings. I love this community.
She asked if anyone wanted to come up and discuss their own recurring fantasy while she psychoanalyzed them live. I raised my hand. I talked about one of my most recurring fantasies — watching or imagining my partner with someone else — for about ten minutes while she asked questions and offered interpretations. I was awkward, I laughed too much, and it was one of the more genuinely illuminating ten minutes of my year.
We ended the day on a boat cruise through the canals as the sun went down. Cold, beautiful, the kind of ending that makes everything feel earned.
What I Brought Home
I went to Amsterdam to learn about sex culture. I came home with that — and also with a community, a deepened sense of my own place in this work, and a few conversations that I'm still turning over.
One thing that struck me throughout the trip: how consistent the themes are across cultures. The shame, the silence, the gap between what people want and what they feel permitted to want. Amsterdam is one of the most progressive cities in the world when it comes to sexuality. And even here, the work isn't done.
They're just further along than most places. Which gives me hope for the rest of us.
How to Join
The Sexual Health Alliance runs Study Abroad trips several times a year. You do not need to be enrolled in their program to attend. You need to be curious, open-minded, and willing to have your assumptions challenged.
💬 Is It Just Me?
Have you ever done any kind of sex culture travel or educational experience? What did it change for you? Or is it something you'd consider?
Submit anonymously → /is-it-just-me
The Details
📍 Amsterdam, Netherlands
🔗 Sexual Health Alliance Study Abroad: sexhealthalliance.com
🔗 Prostitution Information Center: pic-amsterdam.com
💰 PIC walking tour: €17.50 per person, Wed/Fri/Sat at 5pm
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About the Author
Ali Imperiale is a sex education student with the Sexual Health Alliance, a writer, and a traveler. She has visited 40+ countries and writes about sex, intimacy, and culture from wherever she currently is. The Nookie Nook is her shame-free, algorithm-free intimacy library.
