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A red-light district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc. is found. The term originates from the red lights that were used as signs of brothels. Areas in many big cities around the world have acquired an international reputation as red-light districts. ==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.〔Wellman, Paul Iselin (1988). (''The Trampling Herd: The Story of the Cattle Range in America'' ), p. 195. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-9723-8.〕 This has not been proven, but the Dodge City use was likely responsible for the term becoming pervasive.〔Barra, Allen(2009). "https://books.google.com/books?id=yxxHnAq50wsC&pg=PA88&dq=%22red+light+district%22%2B%22dodge+city%22&hl=en&ei=fOWzTtq_EJKjtgfn4_H2Aw&sa=X&oi=book&redir_esc=y"〕 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. One of the many terms used for a red-light district in Japanese is , 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 , 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. 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Red-light district」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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