Check out the website Journeywoman (www.journeywoman.com), a women's travel information network where you can sign up for a free e-mail newsletter and get advice about everything from etiquette and dress to safety. Also read Safety and Security for Women Who Travel by Sheila Swan and Peter Laufer (Travelers' Tales, Inc.), which offers commonsense tips on safe travel.
Although Amsterdam is generally safe, nighttime rules about not walking alone in poorly lit and unpopulated areas apply especially to women. Harassment incidents do occur, and rape is not unheard of. It's safe for groups of women to go around the famed (and notorious) Red Light District -- supposing they can stomach seeing other women serving purely as sex objects -- but a young woman on her own, particularly after dark, could be subject to at least verbal harassment, and be mistaken as a "working girl." Public transportation is usually busy even late at night, so you generally won't have to worry about being alone in a tram or Metro train. If you do feel nervous, sit close to the driver, if possible. Many local women go around by bicycle at night.
The Netherlands has long enjoyed what one might call a relaxed attitude to the undraped female form -- a recent government DVD, part of a now-mandatory "education" for would-be migrants, portrays toplessness at the beach as an integral part of Dutch culture. But if personal observation is anything to go by, I can assure you that far fewer women are actually going without at the beach or in the park these days, and those who do aren't likely to be young.
