Red+Light+Districts

Mary Ann Carlson ** Red Light Districts **  __**Red Light District Area**__  Red Light Districts are broadly known as areas in cities where there is prostitution and sex related shops. Sex is the main commodity in these areas. This often leads to a negative social stigma. Whether it’s in-your-face images of graphic sex, exploited immigrant women, whips and chains, passed-out drug addicts, the pungent smells of pot smoke and urine,or just the shameless commercialism of it all, it’s not enjoyed by everyone (Steves & Openshaw 2009). Because of an individual’s opinion on sex, the appropriateness of visiting a red light district could be an issue. Spaces associated with prostitution are sites where different sexual moralities are negotiated and constructed (Aalbers 2005). Red Light Districts are typically found in large cities. More specifically, Red Light Districts are located in ‘inner-city’ areas, which have stereotyped connotations of environmental degradation (Hubbard 1998). However, Steves& Openshaw found even small rural towns often have sex shops to satisfy their citizens’ needs (2009).

 __**Amsterdam Red Light District and Other Notable Districts**__ Amsterdam has a notorious Red Light District. Amsterdammers call it De Wallen, or “The Walls”, after the old city walls that once stood (Steves & Openshaw 2009). Amsterdam has a unique situation in regards to prostitution. In the Netherlands, prostitution is much more accepted as a social fact than elsewhere (Aalbers 2005). As a result of this mindset, legalization has taken place. In the Netherlands, prostitution has been legalized since 2000 (Alalbers 2005). Regulation has also been a major factor in legalization of prostitutes in the Netherlands. One example is the useof brothel licensing to control illegal immigration and taxation of registered prostitutes (Aalbers 2005).  Another progressive legislation that deals with prostitutes in the Red Light District protects prostitutes diagnosed with AIDS. If a prostitute is diagnosed with AIDS, she gets a subsidized apartment to encourage her to quit the business (Steves &Openshaw 2009). The legalization of prostitution has inevitably been r eflected in the general feelings surrounding Red Light Districts. De Wallen is not just associated with danger, immorality, drugs and crime, but also with tolerance, excitement, and freedom, making De Wallen one of Amsterdam’s major tourist attractions (Aalbers 2005). As a result of this open-mindedness towards the Amsterdam Red Light District, the seemi ngly typical visitor to these districts is no longer the case. The crowd on the street includes locals passing through on walks as well as couples, women, homosexual men, business people, and families with grandparents and children (Aal bers 2005). Geography of individual Red Light Districts could also play a role. In the case of the Amsterdam Red Light District, the area is not very strictly separated from it’s surroundings (Aalbers 2005). This lack of barriers allows a different population than one would think to enter the district with ease and without feeling overwhelmed. Another notable Red Light district is the infamous “Pig Alley” in Paris (Steves, Smith, and Openshaw (2011). This is located near Montmartre. This area was featured in the popular film //Moulin Rouge.// Bangkok also has a large Red Light District. Bangkok’s busiest Red Light District is Patpong, which is even popular with families (Agar 2006). Red Light Districts are often tourist sites.



**__Prostitutes in Red Light Districts__** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%;">Prostitutes are the main draw of Red Light Districts. Lining the streets of Red Light Districts are windows with prostitutes offering sexual services. Prostitutes, like the Red Light Districts that they work in, have been subjects of controversy in the role that they play in society. The figure of the female prostitute has played an important symbolic role in the definition of moral and sexual standards (Hubbard 1998). Because different cultures have varying views regarding what is appropriate to sexually communicate in public, opinions are formed about prostitutes based on what the culture has defined. Assumptions about the ‘immoral’ status of prostitutes in contemporary Western society are constructed (Hubbard 1998). Also a major influence on society’s view of the prostitute has been derived from the media. The mass media in Western societies has generally sought to perpetuate images that depict prostitutes as social pariahs, fallen women or ‘bad girls’ and to use such images to distinguish this ‘deviant’ group from ‘normal’ (Hubbard 1998). Stereotypes of prostitutes are easily found in our media, for example in movies such as //Taxi Driver//. Stereotyped images of prostitutes are that they are part of a desperate, criminalized underworld, drug-dependent and reliant on the protection of pimps (Hubbard 1998). However, according to Steves & Openshaw, these women are often entrepreneurs, renting space and running their own businesses (2009). The legalization of prostitution in the Netherlands had a large impact on this new role that the prostitute had as entrepreneurs. Prostitution is often not these women’s job of choice, circumstances economically and socially has an impact on the choice. Poverty, drug addiction, abusive men, and immigration scams are often causes of choosing to be a prostitute (Steves & Openshaw 2009). Often men see prostitutes in Red Light Districts as commodities; however, this can be reversed as the prostitutes have the option to adjust their prices. In a study by Aalbers, the fact that several women indicated that they would more easily lower their prices for men they find attractive refutes the idea that a prostitute “is indifferent not only to sexual pleasure but also to her partner” (2005). Initial interactions between the prostitute and the person hiring her proceed with some sort of order that is somewhat polite. In the prostitute-man communication in a red-light district, an introduction is desired, provided that it does not take too long. Not until the introduction is complete do price negotiations, which occur quietly, commence (Aalbers 2005). Within the red light district, sex and gender are key players in defining the prostitute. A heightened awareness of how sex and gender performances are constrained and enabled in specific sites might be useful for exploring the role of space and place in constructing the identities of prostitutes (Hubbard 1998).

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="height: 7px; margin-left: -20px; margin-top: 9px; position: absolute; width: 187px; z-index: -1;"> **__References__** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Aalbers, Manuel B. (2005). Big Sister is Watching You! Gender Interaction and the Unwritten Rules of the Amsterdam Red Light District. //The Journal of Sex Research, 42,// 54-62.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Agar, Charles. (2006). //Frommer’s Thailand: Volume 254 of Frommer’s Complete Frommer’s Series.// Frommers.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Hubbard, Phil. (1998). Sexuality, Immorality and the City: red-light districts and the marginalization of female street prostitutes. //Gender, Place and Culture, 5,// 55-72.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Pastirik, Ondrej. (2011). //Red Light District in Amsterdam.// Retrieved from http://www.amsterdam.info/red-light-district/

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Sneeringer, Julia. (2009). “Assembly Line of Joys”: Touring Hamburg’s Red Light District, 1949-1966. //Central European History, 42,// 65-96.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Steves, Rick, & Openshaw, Gene. (2009). //Rick Steves’ Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels (7th ed.).// Avalon Travel Publishing.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Steves, Rick, Smith, Steve, & Openshaw, Gene. (2011). //Rick Steves’ Paris 2011.// Avalon Travel Publishing.