Red-light District - Origins of Term

Origins of Term

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known appearance of the term "red light district" in print is in an 1894 article from The Sandusky Register, a newspaper in Sandusky, Ohio. 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. This has not been proven, but the Dodge City use was likely responsible for the term becoming pervasive. A widespread folk etymology claims that early railroad workers took red lanterns with them when they visited brothels so that their crew could find them in the event of an emergency. However, folklorist Barbara Mikkelson regards this as unfounded.

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 a non-legal 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.

Apocryphal information exists indicating that the red light was used inside the bedchambers of brothels to obscure and conceal from patrons the red blemishes of various venereal diseases upon the skin of the prostitutes. The red light seen from outside through the curtains became known as a sign of the activities within.