Origin of Red-Light Districts

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Recommended: An introduction to the world of sex tourism

Imagine a mother and daughter spending the day window shopping, talking about all the hats and bags they want and comparing this shoe to that shoe and those pants to these skirts. This innocent scenario is seen all over the world, every day, and for a person to see this as dirty or immoral would be confusing and unimaginable. Now change the hats and bags into sex toys, the shoes into peep shows and erotic museums; and the pants and skirts into sex workers and prostitutes of nearly every origin imaginable. This kind of window shopping may seem unconscionable, but in fact has a long and sometimes governmentally sanctioned history in red-light districts around the world, and, perhaps surprisingly, in the United States.
A red light district can be defined as a district in which houses of prostitution are frequent or an area of a town or city containing many brothels, strip clubs, and other sex businesses (Merriam-Webster). The districts were so named because 19th century American railroad workers would hang their lanterns outside brothels to mark them as houses where their compatriots could enjoy drinking, gambling, and prostitution (Sally).
Brothels were typically classified in three different ways. First-class brothels, also called Parlor Houses, employed elegant, fashionably dressed prostitutes, and were frequented by successful business men and popular entertainers. Second-class brothels were more easily integrated into society and employed prostitutes that society typically called Street Walkers. They were clothed conservatively so as to seem more approachable. Both first- and second-class brothels were located on highly trafficked streets near respected businesses, while lower-class brothels, often called Bawdy Houses, were comm...

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Tyrrell, R. Emmett, Jr. "No Escaping the Sexual Revolution." Editorial. American Spectator Aug. 1997: 18. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Walt, Vivienne. "Vice Versa." Time International (Atlantic Edition) 172.10 (2008): 38-40. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Willman-Navarro A. "Money and Sex: What Economics Should Be Doing for Sex Work Research." Money and Sex: What Economics Should Be Doing for Sex Work Research. | POPLINE.org. N.p., June 2006. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.Willman-Navarro A. "Money and Sex: What Economics Should Be Doing for Sex Work Research." Money and Sex: What Economics Should Be Doing for Sex Work Research. | POPLINE.org. N.p., June 2006. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

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