ancient cities

As well as red-light districts, many cities have
specialist districts that embrace sexual activities or
looser sexual norms without being primarily
focused on sex, such as New York City’s Greenwich
Village. As noted, McCabe described different
“vice” districts in New York City, mentioning
Greenwich Village, as catering to markedly different
kinds of moral communities and sheltering
different kinds of vice aimed at different customers
and income groups. Whereas specialist districts
like Greenwich Village were once rare, today they
are found in most major cities. Some have a particular
sexual orientation but offer a wide range of
services. In the United States and Canada, recognizable
districts exist in Denver, Colorado;
Columbus, Ohio; San Francisco; Miami Beach;
Chicago; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; and
Atlanta. Identifiable districts exist in London
(Soho), Hamburg (the Reeperbahn and the area
behind the Main Station), and in Zurich, Paris,
Cologne, and elsewhere.
In some cities, red-light districts have become
conflated with gay districts. By the 1940s,
Greenwich Village had become one of several centers
of gay life in New York. In Toronto, the gay
district extends into what was once skid row, east
of Yonge Street. Specialist districts often include
other activities, such as clothing or furniture,
clubs, bars, and other venues. For example, beginning
in 2002, a London Fetish Map identified a
cluster of outlets in Camden Town and Vauxhall,
as well as Soho, London’s traditional vice zone.
Often, different zones serve different socioeconomic
groups, as well as people with different
sexual interests and sexual orientations.
The future of red-light districts is uncertain for
several reasons. To the extent that the lack of information
leads to clustering, one might hypothesize
that increased information about where stores are
and what services they provide will encourage the
dispersal of adult entertainment activities. Their
increasing dispersal also reflects increased mobility
and decentralization of population. Some products,
once only available from specialized outlets, are
now widely sold, and others are available through
the Internet. In the United States, Germany, and
Poland, for example, adult magazines can be purchased
from newsagents. Red-light districts are
increasingly rare in cities with a population under
250,000. Also, particularly in the United States and
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Britain, a changing moral climate has threatened
their future. Curb crawling is often illegal even
where prostitution is permitted.
Red-light districts are also threatened by changes
in licensing laws, land use controls, and the use of
land use zoning to control their growth. Many
jurisdictions have enacted legislation limiting the
number of adult outlets in any one area, restricting
proximity, and even banning them completely.
Red-light districts have also been affected by
changing travel and transport patterns, which
include the decline of traditional port areas due to
containerization and the removal of ports to the
urban fringe, as well as a reduction in the number
of people needed to crew ships. Increased car use
and a decline in traditional mass transportation
have reduced concentrated flows of people, reduced
the centrality of red-light districts, and led to less
concentrated demand. As well, as has been the case
in retailing in general, the number of shops and
services has declined due to the concentration of
outlets among a few large retailers and the rise of
national and international firms that produce their
own videos and other products and sell them
through their own outlets or the Internet.
Red-light districts are also threatened by the
rise of specialist holiday resorts, such as Cap d’Ag
in the south of France, where part of the resort is
entirely clothes-free. There are also fetish resorts
where rather than spending a short time watching
a film or buying a video or magazine, visitors can
spend several days pursuing sexual fantasies.
Many cities now have specialist clubs that are
open to members only or friends of members.
Often, such establishments deliberately locate
away from existing outlets, so as not to draw
attention to themselves. However, red-light districts
are perhaps most threatened by the rise of
the Internet, which obviates the need to visit a
particular area for services or goods. Internet use
has reduced sales of videos, books, magazines,
and other goods in shops. A 2002 study by
Datamonitor found that in the United States,
between 1999 and 2002, CD-ROM sales increased
by an estimated 93.8 percent and online sales by
89.1 percent, whereas magazine sales fell by 6
percent. Sales of CD-ROM and online material
rose from 12.2 percent of the total spent on adult
entertainment to 19.1 percent of an estimated
$13.2 billion. The share of magazine sales, strip