Green lighting a red light district

A few years ago I put together a story on Durban’s proposed Red Light District. Back then Mike Sutcliffe was the city manager and in an interview with him he expounded why he thought it was a good idea to formalise an area from where adult entertainment businesses would operate. And the debate raged for and against, predictably so. 

There were also a number of rumours and guesses flying around about where this area would be exactly. Since the urban renewal of the Point area and subsequent exodus of escort agencies, massage parlours and street sex workers, suburbs like Glenwood and Durban North have seen an increase in this type of trade in their neighbourhoods. The fact is, one of the rumours was that lower Glenwood had been earmarked for this proposed Red Light District, since most of the adult entertainment businesses were now operating from there, but this was of course, exactly that, a rumour.

But the community was already up in arms. So much so that a meeting was arranged as a joint intervention by the commission for Gender Equality, Sisonke Sex Workers’ Movement and the Umbilo Community Policing Forum. They planned to address the issue of sex workers operating in the area and to discuss what they called “the areas descent into official red light district status, and the need to “fight for our children and homes!”

Of course none of this was actually based in any kind of fact, just rumours fuelled by the ever-increasing sex workers and escort agencies in the Glenwood and Umbilo areas. But a flyer was circulated, which read: “Most of us are aware of the decay and rise in prostitution on our doorsteps. Do you want your children to grow up in Durban’s Red Light District?”  

And a similar uprising is taking place now, this side of the river. uMlhanga residents appear to be up in arms about the opening of a strip club in Lagoon Drive. Again, they’re hauling out the argument that this is going lead to moral decay and that children and families are going to be affected. But are they really? 

A couple of years ago I did a story about a woman and her partner who bought a quaint semi-detached house in a part of Durban North that was showing signs of rejuvenation. As first time home buyers with a limited budget, the couple spent 3 back-breaking years renovating the house. 
When her neighbour sold off his half of the building to a bed and breakfast operator, they thought nothing of it, believing it would fit in just fine. But instead of a charming old world B&B, they say the new owner opted for what local residents call bed and brothels, where sex workers hire rooms by the hour to service clients. They blame the municipality’s inner city clean up operations, which have pushed sleazy elements into the suburbs. 

The point I’m making is that this is not a new phenomenon. This kind of practice has been around for years, so what’s the big fuss now? 

The fact of the matter is that are a lot of factors to consider when looking at a Red Light District. For one, in Durban, escort agencies, adult entertainment shops, clubs and bars all have the same licence. So in theory, all these businesses should be relocated to the proposed Red Light District. But club and bar owners don’t want their establishments alongside sex shops and brothels. Traditionally, red-light districts are associated with the sex industry and sex-oriented businesses like sex shops and strip clubs and in some of these places prostitution may legally take place. 

So unless the parameters on licences are changed, the proposal of a red-light district will remain just that; an idea. There are red-light districts in many major cities across the world, not all of them necessarily legal yet some actual must-see tourist attractions. 

Geylang is a major center of gastronomy in all of Singapore, as well as a renowned red-light district. The district is home to hundreds of bars and karaoke joints, most of which are in fact brothels. Some are regulated and others illegally carry on business behind the scenes. Normally, customers will pick their desirable girls form the bars and take them to the cheap hotels nearby. The sex shops here are well-decorated and have everything to be expected inside.  

Walking the streets in Las Vegas, you may see a large number of posters and flyers printed with half-naked girls posing in front of the most luxurious hotels and casinos. Someone once even said that there are only two types of jobs available for women in Las Vegas: making up the beds or offering sexual services on top of them. The woman's body has become a symbol of the city next only to the casinos. It is said that there are over 10,000 female students and dancers giving strip shows in Las Vegas.

Soi Cowboy is one of the three largest red-light districts in Bangkok -- the other two are Nana Plaza and Patpong. It is a 400-meter-long street with some 40 bars lining both sides, with girls soliciting in front of the bars. Alcoholic drinks are served inside and topless or even nude dancing takes place on the stage. Most dancers are also prostitutes and customers take them away for their sexual services after paying the required fees to the bars. Lady boys are also available inside the bars.

And of-course, the most famous of all; De Wallen is the largest and best known red-light district in Amsterdam, as well as a famous tourist attraction in the city. It consists of a network of alleys containing some 300 one-room cabins rented out by prostitutes who offer their services behind a window or a glass door illuminated with red lights. The city also features a sex museum, a cannabis museum, a number of sex shops, sex theatres and the so-called coffee shops which sell marijuana.

Do you think Durban should create its own red-light district? You can email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him in Twitter: @terencepillay1 and interact with him there.