In every city around the world a 'red light' district exists. In Melbourne, it is the leafy bay-side suburb of St Kilda.

A head count undertaken by the Centre for the Study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases indicates that, on a busy night, there are about twenty-six sex workers on Grey Street (St Kilda) at any one time.

Traveling through the suburb, one uncovers a raging debate between residents and street sex workers. The local residents have had to put up for decades with their little hamlet's reputation as being a ‘red light' district and are sick and tired of their front yards being used as a dumping ground for discarded condoms and syringes. The local community feels unsafe due to the impact of the street sex work, gutter crawlers and the associated drug related crimes that threaten their neighbourhood.

In contrast, the street sex worker is usually working in appalling conditions, is confronted by ever present risk and danger whilst constantly being harassed by the police, community and even the clients he or she services.

From around 1960, specific areas within St Kilda became known for offering different services - male workers worked in Shakespeare Grove and Chaucer Street, transexuals worked Barkly, Irwin & Belford Streets and female workers worked Grey, Blessington and Greeve Streets.