<P> A red - light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex - oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters are found . Areas in many big cities around the world have acquired an international reputation as red - light districts . </P> <P> The term red - light district originates from the red lights that were used as signs of brothels . </P> <P> Red - light districts are mentioned in the 1882 minutes of a Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting in the United States . The Oxford English Dictionary records the earliest known appearance of the term "red light district" in print as an 1894 article from the Sandusky Register, a newspaper in Sandusky, Ohio </P>

Where did the phrase red light district come from