Bad reputation – bad reality? The intertwining and contested images of a place

Abstract

In the early 1990s, prostitution became a visible element in Helsinki and caused a big stir in the Finnish media. Street prostitution became concentrated in a densely-built-up residential area north of the city centre. The prostitution debate stigmatised the area effectively. This article explores the area by interpreting its images in cultural artefacts and in people’s minds. The history of the area will be described in order to make the present images understandable. Three types of images will be analysed: images of the place for ordinary people, images of the dangerous neighbourhood and images of bohemian romanticism, which are all associated with the history of the area and reproduced in the prostitution debate.