brothels
Houses of prostitution
Brothels are establishments where people pay for sexual services.
The word carries a seedy, old-world connotation—you're more likely to encounter it in historical contexts or fiction than in contemporary news, where terms like massage parlor or sex work operate as euphemisms or reframings.
The police raided a brothel on the outskirts of town.
Commercial sex establishment
- cathouseSlang for brothel
- red-light districtZone of sex commerce
- madamFormal address for women
- parlorFormal room for visitors
house of ill repute · bawdy house · massage parlor · escort agency · rooms · customers · clients · discreet
Paid aristocratic companion
- concubineSecondary female partner
- haremWives' sequestered quarters
- seraglioSecluded women's quarters
- ancient RomeEarly Italian empire city
Pompeii · Victorian · Wild West · saloon · tavern · port town · sailor · colonial
Making something lawful
- decriminalizationEnding criminal status
- regulationOfficial rules governing conduct
- licensingGranting official permission
- zoningSectioning areas by use
health inspections · registration · taxation · law enforcement · trafficking · exploitation · consent · worker rights
Provider of paid intimacy
- prostituteOne who sells sex
- escortOne who accompanies another
- madamFormal address for women
- pimpProstitution manager
manager · bouncer · receptionist · driver · working conditions · safety · screening · income
whorehouse
Commercial sex establishment
- cathouseSlang for brothel
- red-light districtZone of sex commerce
- madamFormal address for women
parlor · house of ill repute · bawdy house · massage parlor · escort agency · rooms · customers · clients · discreet · entrance
courtesan
Paid aristocratic companion
ancient Rome · Pompeii · Victorian · Wild West · saloon · tavern · port town · sailor · colonial · regulated
legalization
Making something lawful
- decriminalizationEnding criminal status
- regulationOfficial rules governing conduct
- licensingGranting official permission
zoning · health inspections · registration · taxation · law enforcement · trafficking · exploitation · consent · worker rights · Nevada
sex worker
Provider of paid intimacy
- prostituteOne who sells sex
- escortOne who accompanies another
- madamFormal address for women
pimp · manager · bouncer · receptionist · driver · working conditions · safety · screening · income · independence
- vicevice, debauchery, prostitution, depravity, immorality
- human traffickinghuman trafficking, trafficking, traffickers, trafficking victims, victims
- prostitutionbordellos, sex work, sex workers, prostitutes, streetwalkers
- New OrleansFrench Quarter, Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, Jackson Square, jazz
- nuisancespest, ants, bugs, flies, roaches
- urban lifesidewalks, neighborhood, apartments, skyline, buses
brothelschurches
Christian houses of worship
temples · monasteries · convents · mosques · synagogues
brothelsconvents
Houses for religious sisters
family homes · wedding chapels · monasteries · honeymoon suites · maternity wards