Editing Red (section)

=== Seduction, sexuality and sin ===
Red by a large margin is the color most commonly associated with seduction, sexuality, eroticism and immorality, possibly because of its close connection with passion and with danger.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|55}}

Red was long seen as having a dark side, particularly in [[Christianity|Christian]] theology. It was associated with sexual passion, anger, sin, and the devil.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Theology of the Old Testament|last=Oehler|first=Gustav Friedrich|date=2015|publisher=Arkose Press|isbn=9781345212341|editor-last=Day|editor-first=George E.|pages=320}}</ref><ref name="StClair">{{Cite book|title=The Secret Lives of Colour|last=St. Clair|first=Kassia|publisher=John Murray|year=2016|isbn=9781473630819|location=London|pages=136–137|oclc=936144129}}</ref> In the [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]], the [[Book of Isaiah]] said: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+1:18&version=KJV|title=Isaiah 1:18 - King James Version|website=Bible Gateway|access-date=Nov 26, 2018|quote=Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127022423/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+1:18&version=KJV|archive-date=November 27, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[New Testament]], in the [[Book of Revelation]], the Antichrist appears as a red monster, ridden by a woman dressed in scarlet, known as the [[Whore of Babylon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+17&version=KJV|title=Revelation 17 - King James Version|website=Bible Gateway|access-date=Nov 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126221622/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+17&version=KJV|archive-date=November 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Satan]] is often depicted as colored red and/or wearing a red costume in both iconography and [[popular culture]].<ref name="StClair" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Symbols of the Christian faith|last=Steffler|first=Alva W.|date=2002|publisher=W.B. Eerdmans Pub|isbn=978-0802846761|location=Grand Rapids|pages=132|oclc=48557619}}</ref> By the 20th century, the devil in red had become a folk character in legends and stories. The devil in red appears more often in cartoons and movies than in religious art.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

In 17th-century New England, red was associated with [[adultery]]. In the 1850 novel by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'', set in a [[Puritan]] [[New England]] community, a woman is punished for adultery with ostracism, her sin represented by a red letter 'A' sewn onto her clothes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The scarlet letter|last=Hawthorne|first=Nathaniel|date=2004|publisher=Pocket|isbn=978-0743487566|editor-last=Brantley|editor-first=Margaret|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/scarletletter0000hawt_p9a6/page/136 136]|oclc=55483830|url=https://archive.org/details/scarletletter0000hawt_p9a6/page/136}}</ref><ref name="StClair" />

Red is still commonly associated with [[prostitution]]. At various points in history, prostitutes were required to wear red to announce their profession.<ref name="StClair" /> Houses of prostitution displayed a red light. Beginning in the early 20th century, houses of prostitution were allowed only in certain specified neighborhoods, which became known as [[red-light districts]]. Large red-light districts are found today in [[Bangkok]] and [[Amsterdam]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Red Light District Amsterdam {{!}} Amsterdam.info |url=https://www.amsterdam.info/red-light-district/ |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=www.amsterdam.info |archive-date=2022-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326202309/https://www.amsterdam.info/red-light-district/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Finlay |first=Leslie |date=2018-03-27 |title=A Guide to Bangkok's Red Light Districts |url=https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/a-guide-to-bangkoks-red-light-districts/ |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=Culture Trip |archive-date=2023-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032323/https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/a-guide-to-bangkoks-red-light-districts/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[handkerchief code]], the color red signifies interest in the sexual act of [[fisting]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cornier |first=J. Raúl |date=2019-04-23 |title=Hanky Panky: An Abridged History of the Hanky Code |url=https://historyproject.org/news/2019-04/hanky-panky-abridged-history-hanky-code-0 |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=The History Project |archive-date=2024-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606044528/https://historyproject.org/news/2019-04/hanky-panky-abridged-history-hanky-code-0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In both Christian and Hebrew tradition, red is also sometimes associated with murder or guilt, with "having blood on one's hands", or "being caught red-handed.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/red-handed | title=red-handed | work=Cambridge Dictionary | access-date=26 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726212711/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/red-handed | archive-date=26 July 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
Whore of Babylon (XIV).jpg|The [[Whore of Babylon]], depicted in a 14th-century French illuminated manuscript. The woman appears attractive, but is wearing red under her blue garment.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 057.jpg|''Reine de joie'', (''Queen of Joy''), a book cover illustration by [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]] (1892) about a Paris prostitute
At the Devil's Ball 1.jpg|Sheet music for "At the Devil's Ball", by [[Irving Berlin]], United States, 1915
Amsterdam red light district 24-7-2003.JPG|The [[red-light district]] in Amsterdam (2003). Red is the [[sex industry]]'s preferred color in many cultures, due to being strongly associated with passion, love and sexuality.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|39–63}}|alt=The red-light district in Amsterdam (2003). Red is the sex industry's preferred color in many cultures, due to being strongly associated with passion, love and sexuality.: 39–63
Red lipstick (photo by weglet).jpg|Red [[lipstick]] has been worn by women as a cosmetic since ancient times. It was worn by [[Cleopatra]], Queen [[Elizabeth I]], and film stars such as [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Marilyn Monroe]].
</gallery>