Containing Commercial Sex to designated red light areas - An idea past its prime?

Abstract

In Singapore, the sale of sex is tolerated in selected spaces like Geylang, as part of a wider, pragmatic policy to contain prostitution. However, over the years, illegal prostitution activities seem to have expanded beyond the boundaries of designated red light districts, and into residential and commercial neighbourhoods like Joo Chiat and Duxton Hill—a phenomenon which points to the limits of governmental efforts to contain prostitution within clear geographical boundaries. How then, should policy makers address the problems that a pure strategy of containment seems ill-equipped to handle? To facilitate a discussion about Singapore’s policy towards prostitution, the case first provides a general description of the commercial sex market in Singapore, and more specific details about the evolution of Geylang, Joo Chiat and Duxton Hill. It then identifies some of the challenges and problems that have arisen from the current approach, and provides an overview of how other countries have sought to regulate the commercial sex industry.