Brothel

A brothel or bordello is a place where people may come to engage in sexual activity with a prostitute, sometimes referred to as a sex worker. Technically, any premises where prostitution commonly takes place qualifies as a brothel. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments sometimes describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub parlours, studios or by some other description. Sex work in a brothel is considered safer than street prostitution.

From the French bordel, ca. 1200 "bordel" sing. "prostitution place". The French word bordel comes from the Dutch word bord, which means "board". This word was used to describe the shacks made of boards in which prostitution occurred. The word bord was firstly transformed by the French to borde, then quickly became bordel.

Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, house of ill fame, house of prostitution, house of ill repute, strippy, knocking shop, pleasure house, strumpet house, sporting house, or whorehouse. Under English criminal law, a brothel is commonly referred to as a "disorderly house".

Attitudes around the world to prostitution and how it should be regulated (if at all) vary considerably, and have varied over time. Part of the discussion impacts on whether the operation of brothels should be legal, and if so, to the regulations they should be subjected to.

On 2 December 1949, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. The Convention came into effect on 25 July 1951 and as at December 2013 has been ratified by 82 states. The Convention seeks to combat prostitution, which it regards as "incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person." Parties to the Convention agreed to abolish regulation of individual prostitutes, and to ban brothels and procuring. Some countries not parties to the Convention also ban prostitution or the operation of brothels.

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