Red-light district

Rooms illuminated by red lights in an Amsterdam red-light district

A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters are found. Areas in many big cities around the world have acquired an international reputation as red-light districts.[1]

The term red-light district originates from the red lights that were used as signs of brothels.[2]

Origins of term

Red-light districts are mentioned in the 1882 minutes of a Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting in the United States.[3] The Oxford English Dictionary records the earliest known appearance of the term "red light district" in print as an 1894 article from the Sandusky Register, a newspaper in Sandusky, Ohio[2]

Author Paul Wellman suggests that this and other terms associated with the American Old West originated in Dodge City, Kansas, home to a well-known prostitution district during the 19th century, which included the Red Light House saloon.[4] This has not been proven, but the Dodge City use was likely responsible for the term becoming pervasive.[5] A widespread folk etymology claims that early railroad workers took red lanterns with them when they visited brothels so their crew could find them in the event of an emergency. However, folklorist Barbara Mikkelson regards this as unfounded.[6]

One of the many terms used for a red-light district in Japanese is akasen (赤線), literally meaning "red-line". (This has independent origins from the same term in English.) Japanese police drew a red line on maps to indicate the boundaries of legal red-light districts. In Japanese, the term aosen (青線), literally meaning "blue-line", also exists, indicating an illegal district.

In the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term "sporting district" became popular for legal red-light districts. Municipal governments typically defined such districts explicitly to contain and regulate prostitution.[7]

Some red-light districts (such as De Wallen, Netherlands, or Reeperbahn, Germany) are places which are officially designated by authorities for legal and regulated prostitution.[1] Often, these red-light districts were formed by authorities to help regulate prostitution and other related activities, such that they were confined to a single area.[8]

Some red-light districts (such as those in The Hague)[9] are under video surveillance. This can help counter illegal forms of prostitution (such as child prostitution), in these areas that do allow regular prostitution to occur.

Legality of prostitution
  Decriminalization - No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Legalization – prostitution legal and regulated
  Abolitionism – prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – prostitution illegal
  Legality varies with local laws

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "History of the Red light District « What you should know about Amsterdam". Whatyoushouldknowaboutamsterdam.WordPress .com. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
  2. 1 2 "Red light (2.)". Oxford English Dictionary. June 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  3. ↑ Minutes of the Ninth Annual Meeting. National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. 1882. pp. 332, 333 & 363.
  4. ↑ Wellman, Paul Iselin (1988). The Trampling Herd: The Story of the Cattle Range in America. University of Nebraska Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-8032-9723-8.
  5. ↑ Barra, Allen (2009). Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803220588.
  6. ↑ Barbara Mikkelson (July 9, 2007). "Red Light District". snopes.com. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
  7. ↑ Woolston, Howard Brown (1921). Prostitution in the United States. New York: The Century Company. p. 105–107. ISBN 978-0-217-03857-7.
  8. ↑ "The Red Light District of Amsterdam". CamsterDamn. Archived from the original on May 20, 2013. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Camera surveillance in red-light districts in The Hague". January 24, 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-10-08.

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