Prostitution in Nevada
Encyclopedia
Nevada
is the only U.S. state
to allow some legal prostitution
, in the form of regulated brothels. Prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal.
The brothels are situated in isolated rural areas, and the vast majority of Nevada's population lives in counties where all forms of prostitution are illegal, namely Clark
, Washoe
, Douglas
, and Lincoln
counties, and Carson City
(an independent city
). The other counties allow brothels, but some of these counties currently have no active brothels (brothels are in operation in only 8 counties); as of June/July 2008 there were 28 legal brothels in Nevada
.
has been in business since 1902. In 1937, a law was enacted to require weekly health checks of all prostitutes. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
issued an order to suppress prostitution near military bases—affecting the red-light districts of Reno
and Las Vegas
. When this order was lifted in 1948, Reno officials tried to shut down a brothel as a public nuisance; this action was upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in 1949. In 1951, both Reno and Las Vegas had closed their red light districts as public nuisances, but brothels continued to exist throughout the state.
In 1971, Joe Conforte
, owner of the brothel called Mustang Ranch
near Reno
, managed to convince county officials to pass an ordinance which would provide for the licensing of brothels and prostitutes, thus avoiding the threat of being closed down as a public nuisance.
Officials in Las Vegas, afraid that Conforte would use the same technique to open a brothel nearby, convinced the legislature in 1971 to pass a law prohibiting the legalization of prostitution in counties with a population above a certain threshold, tailored to apply only to Clark County.
In 1977, county officials in Nye County
tried to shut down Walter Plankinton's Chicken Ranch
as a public nuisance; brothels did not have to be licensed in that county at the time, and several others were operating. Plankinton filed suit, claiming that the 1971 state law had implicitly removed the assumption that brothels are public nuisances per se. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed with this interpretation in 1978, and so the Chicken Ranch was allowed to operate. In another case, brothel owners in Lincoln County
protested when the county outlawed prostitution in 1978, having issued licenses for seven years. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the county had the right to do so.
A state law prohibiting the advertising of brothels in counties which have outlawed prostitution was enacted in 1979. It was promptly challenged on First Amendment
grounds and the Nevada Supreme Court declared it to be constitutional in 1981. (Princess Sea Industries, one of the parties involved in the case, was Plankinton's company that owned the Chicken Ranch.) In July 2007 the law was overturned by a U.S. District judge as "overly broad" and advertising in Las Vegas started soon after. The district judge's decision was reversed by a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2010. The ACLU has appealed to the full Ninth Circuit Court.
While brothels and prostitutes are subject to federal income tax
and also pay local fees, there is no state income tax
in Nevada and brothels are exempt from the state entertainment tax and don't pay any other state taxes. In 2005 brothel owners lobbied to be taxed in order to increase the legitimacy of the business, but the legislature declined.
In November 2005, Heidi Fleiss
said that she would partner with brothel owner Joe Richards to turn Richards' existing Cherry Patch Ranch
brothel in Crystal, Nye County, Nevada into an establishment that would employ male prostitutes and cater exclusively to female customers, a first in Nevada. In 2009 however, she said that she had abandoned her plans to open such a brothel.
On December 11, 2009, the Nevada State Board of Health unanimously agreed to add urethra
l examinations to the guidelines, thus allowing male sex workers to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
Under Nevada state law, any county with a population under 400,000, as of the last decennial census, is allowed to license brothels if it so chooses. Incorporated towns and cities in counties that allow prostitution may regulate the trade further or prohibit it altogether.
Currently eight out of Nevada
's 16 counties have active brothels (these are all rural counties). As of June/July 2008, 28 legal brothels existed in Nevada. All forms of prostitution are illegal in Las Vegas
(and Clark County
which contains its metropolitan area), Reno
(and Washoe County
), Carson City
, and a few other places.
As of 2009, prostitution is illegal under state law in Clark County (which contains Las Vegas) and under county or municipal law in Washoe County
(which contains Reno), Carson City
(an independent city
), Douglas County
, and Lincoln County
. The other 12 Nevada counties permit licensed brothels in certain specified areas or cities, with the exception of Eureka County, which has no law on the books either permitting or prohibiting licensed brothels. All 12 of these rural counties have had at least one legal brothel in operation subsequent to 1971, but many of these brothels were financially unsuccessful or ran afoul of State health regulations. As of 2009, only eight of these counties have active brothels, while the other four (Churchill County
, Esmeralda County, Eureka County
, and Pershing County) no longer do.
The precise licensing requirements vary by county. License fees for brothels range from an annual $100,000 in Storey County
to an annual $200 in Lander County
. Licensed prostitutes must be at least 21 years old, except in Storey County
and Lyon County
(where the minimum age is 18).
The brothels and their employees must register with the county sheriff and receive regular medical checkups. Brothels have existed in Nevada since the old mining days of the 1800s and were first licensed in 1971. The legendary Mustang Ranch
operated from 1971 through 1999, when it was forfeited to the federal government following a series of convictions for tax fraud, racketeering, and other crimes.
Nevada law requires that registered brothel prostitutes be tested weekly (by a cervical specimen) for gonorrhea
and Chlamydia trachomatis, and monthly for HIV
and syphilis
; furthermore, condom
s are mandatory for all oral sex
and sexual intercourse
. Brothel owners may be held liable if customers become infected with HIV
after a prostitute has tested positive for the virus. Women work a legally mandated minimum of nine days for each work period.
Nevada has laws against engaging in prostitution outside of licensed brothels, against encouraging others to become prostitutes, and against living off the proceeds of a prostitute.
Nevada brothels are restricted from advertising their services in counties where brothel prostitution is illegal, despite the fact that this state law was ruled unconstitutional in 2007. U.S. District Judge James Mahan voided the state ban on advertising by legal brothels on grounds the state did not offer any compelling interest in support of the policy, but the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the state law in March of 2010. FN#13. This law is presently under appeal by the ACLU. FN#14
In June 2009, then-Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons signed the most stringent punishments nationwide for child prostitution and pandering. The Assembly Bill 380, which allows for fines of $500,000 for those convicted of trafficking prostitutes younger than 14 and $100,000 for trafficking prostitutes ages 14 to 17. Both the House and the Senate unanimously approved the bill, that went into effect October 1, 2009.
Twenty-eight legal brothels existed in the state as of July 2008, employing about 300 female prostitutes at any given time. In some locales, there exist multi-unit complexes of several separate brothels run by the same owner. Examples of this include "The Line" in Winnemucca
, Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa
in Storey County, and the (now defunct original) Mustang Ranch
.
All but the smallest brothels operate as follows: as the customer is buzzed in and sits down in the parlor, the available women appear in a line-up and introduce themselves. If the customer chooses a woman, the price negotiations take place in the woman's room, which are often overheard by management. The house normally gets half of the negotiated amount. If the customer arrives by cab, the driver will receive some 30% of whatever the customer spends; this is subtracted from the woman's earnings. Typical prices start at US$
200 for fifteen minutes. Some may charge up to $10,000 an hour for "parties" with well known or novelty women, or more for parties with multiple women. The prostitutes almost never kiss on the mouth.
Brothels do not have preset prices, the only known exception being Shady Lady brothel on Route 95, approximately 30 miles north of Beatty
. Generally, the closer a brothel is to Las Vegas, the higher the prices. Thus Sheri's Ranch
and Chicken Ranch
, both located in Pahrump
, are on the whole more expensive than other brothels. Sheri's Ranch is the larger of the two, and may have upwards of 20 prostitutes on its premises at any given time. It is also the more high end of the two, and generally the most expensive legal brothel in Nevada.
Brothel prostitutes work as independent contractor
s and thus do not receive any unemployment, retirement or health benefits. They are responsible for paying Federal income tax and their earnings are reported to the IRS via form 1099-MISC. Nevada does not have a state income tax. The women typically work for a period of several weeks, during which time they live in the brothel and hardly ever leave it. They then take some time off. It has been argued that the tight control that brothels exert over the working conditions precludes the women from legally being classified as independent contractors.
Since 1986, when mandatory testing began, not a single full-time brothel prostitute has tested positive for HIV, although earlier tests required seven days to obtain the test results for new prostitutes, with a few eventually not being hired full-time after positive HIV test results were obtained. The mandatory condom law was passed in 1988. A study conducted in 1995 in two brothels found that condom use in the brothels was consistent and sexually transmitted diseases were accordingly absent. The study also found that few of the prostitutes used condoms in their private lives.
Prostitution outside licensed brothels is a misdemeanor
in Nevada. The big casino towns of Las Vegas and Reno have worked to expand their tourism base by attracting families to the hotels and casinos. Accordingly, the state legislature has made prostitution illegal in Clark County, and law enforcement agencies have tried to eliminate the once rampant street prostitution. Nevertheless, prostitutes continue to work in casinos, where they wait in bars and attempt to make contact with potential clients.
Escort services offering sexual services euphemistically as 'entertainment' or 'companionship' are ubiquitous, with about 140 pages of the Las Vegas yellow pages
devoted to "entertainers". Similar ads are present in newspaper boxes all along Las Vegas Boulevard
. From the Strip to downtown Fremont Street
at most bus stops and many street lights, a large collection of free flyers offering escort services with semi-nude pictures are available. Moreover, smaller hand sized flyers are dispensed to tourists and others along the Las Vegas Strip, often right in front of the most luxurious hotels and casinos, by freelance workers. These flyers also graphically depict female 'personal' entertainers or escort services. Despite the attempt to make Las Vegas more family-friendly, such advertising for these services goes on undisturbed by police or hotel security.
In 2009 Las Vegas was identified by the FBI as one of 14 cities in the U.S. with high rates of child prostitution. Las Vegas police claimed that "roughly 400 children are picked off the streets from prostitution each year."
The U.S. Justice Department has also named Las Vegas among the 17 most likely destinations for human trafficking
.
's rural counties have been criticized by journalists, sex worker activists, feminists, social and religious conservatives and politicians.
Columnist Bob Herbert
wrote "A grotesque exercise in the dehumanization of women is carried out routinely at Sheri's Ranch, a legal brothel about an hour’s ride outside of Vegas. There the women have to respond like Pavlov
’s dog to an electronic bell that might ring at any hour of the day or night. At the sound of the bell, the prostitutes have five minutes to get to an assembly area where they line up, virtually naked, and submit to a humiliating inspection by any prospective customer who has happened to drop by".
The working conditions from these brothels have also been criticized by many. During the 1970s and early 1980s, several towns had enacted rules prohibiting local brothel prostitutes from frequenting local bars or casinos or associating with local men outside of work. After a lawsuit was filed in 1984, these regulations had to be abandoned, but as a result of collaboration between sheriff
s and brothel owners, they remain in effect unofficially. For instance, most brothels do not allow the prostitutes to leave the premises during their work shifts of several days to several weeks.
In 2009, an article was published in the Guardian
, in which it was written that some brothels "impose some extraordinary restrictions on commercial sex workers" in order to "separate sex workers from the local community": some places forbid prostitutes to leave the brothels for extended periods of time, while other jurisdictions require the prostitutes to leave the county when they are not working; some places do not allow the children of the women who work in the brothels to live in the same area; some brothel workers who have cars must register the vehicle with the local police, and workers are not permitted to leave the brothel after 5pm; in some counties registered sex workers are not allowed to have cars at all.
The Nevada brothel system has also been criticized by activists associated with the sex worker rights
movement, who are otherwise supporters of full decriminalization
of prostitution. Organizations and individuals supporting the rights of prostitutes
typically favor deregulation and oppose Nevada-style regulation, mainly for three reasons:
Teri, a prostitute who has worked in a Nevada brothel (and who would like prostitution to be decriminalized), stated that "The brothel owners are worse than any pimp. They abuse and imprison women and are fully protected by the state".
Another former prostitute who worked in four different brothels from Nevada
attacked the system, saying that "Under this system, prostitutes give up too much autonomy, control and choice over their work and lives" and "While the brothel owners love this profitable solution, it can be exploitative and is unnecessary". She described how the women were subject to various exaggerated restrictions, including making it very difficult for them to refuse clients, not being allowed to read books while waiting for customers and having to deal with doctors who had a "patronizing or sexist attitude" (the brothels discouraged and in many cases forbade prostitutes to see doctors of their own choosing).
In an article published in the Guardian in 2007, Julie Bindel
wrote: "If you believe their PR, Nevada's legal brothels are safe, healthy – even fun
– places in which to work. So why do so many prostitutes tell such horrific tales of abuse?"
In her 2007 report, Prostitution and trafficking in Nevada: making the connections, Melissa Farley
presents the results of numerous interviews with brothel owners and prostitutes, she states that most brothel prostitutes are controlled by outside pimps and that they suffer widespread abuse by brothel owners and customers. Farley said that "What happens in legal brothels is sexual harassment
, sexual exploitation and sometimes rape
"; she also stated that more than 80% of the women she had interviewed told her they wanted to leave prostitution.
Alexa Albert, a Harvard medical student who has conducted a public-health study inside one of Nevada's brothels, and authored Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women, wrote in her book that the brothel owners used to require the prostitutes to have outside pimp
s, because the pimps were thought to make the women work harder: "The involvement of pimps enabled brothel owners to leave discipline to men who wouldn't hesitate to keep their women in line."
Bob Herbert
also stated that many brothel prostitutes are controlled by outside pimps: "Despite the fiction that they are “independent contractors,” most so-called legal prostitutes have pimps — the state-sanctioned pimps who run the brothels and, in many cases, a second pimp who controls all other aspects of their lives (and takes the bulk of their legal earnings)."
In 1998, some pimps from Oregon
managed to place at least four underage girls in Nevada's legal brothels; they were arrested and convicted.
Detective Greg Harvey, from Eugene, Oregon
, said such cases were in reality, very common; he said "It's happening right now, it's amazing how many girls are shipped from here to different brothels in northern and southern Nevada. Many are underage." Another detective, Sgt. Pete Kerns, supported Harvey's claims: "Never buy the line that nobody under 18 works in (Nevada brothels)," he said. "It's happening."
Former Nye County Commissioner Candice Trummell, director of the Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking, said "It is way past time for Nevada to be the last state in the United States of America to finally stand against all forms of slavery
."
Assemblyman Bob L. Beers
said that "A brothel owner is somebody who, when it gets down to the very essence, is nothing more than a slave-owner."
Some brothel owners themselves have been involved in criminal activities: in March 2009, a Nye County brothel owner pleaded guilty to fraud charges for paying bribes to a former Nye County Commissioner; in 2008, a former brothel owner was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on two child pornography
charges; in 1991 Joe Conforte
fled to Brazil
in order to avoid a conviction on tax fraud charges.
s and other large businesses, claiming that legalized prostitution harms the state's image. The Nevada Brothel Owners' Association, led by George Flint, a retired Assemblies of God minister from Reno, lobbies against these laws. Rural lawmakers normally oppose these laws as well, despite the fact that legal brothel prostitution does not provide a significant amount of income for counties.
One particularly colorful opponent of legalized prostitution in Nevada was John Reese. Initially arguing on moral and religious grounds, he switched to health hazard tactics, but had to back down in the face of a threatened libel suit. In 1994, he tried to get a license for a gay brothel in a thinly veiled attempt to galvanize opposition against all brothels. Then in 1999 he staged his own kidnapping near the Mustang Ranch. His efforts to collect enough signatures to repeal the prostitution laws have so far failed.
Nevada politicians can (and generally do) play both sides of the prostitution dispute by declaring that they are personally opposed to prostitution but feel it should be up to the counties to decide. As almost three-quarters of the population of Nevada lives in a single county (Clark County, where prostitution is illegal), county control over local matters is a hot-button issue. Legislators from the northern counties will often reflexively oppose what is seen as "meddling" from the majority in the south, and the legislators from the south have been too divided on the issue to push through a state-wide ban.
Since 2003, Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman
has repeatedly stated that he favors legalization of prostitution in the city, perhaps turning East Fremont Street into a little Amsterdam. Goodman said there are pragmatic reasons to back legalized prostitution. Those include the acknowledgement that illegal prostitution is occurring and that brothels could provide safer, regulated and revenue-generating sex, he said.
The brothel owners' organization, supported by Democratic State Senator Bob Coffin
, has been pushing for taxation of the brothels, to increase the industry's legitimacy. The proposal, which would have instituted a $5 tax per act of prostitution, with the proceeds partly being used for a sex worker counseling agency, was voted down in the Taxation Committee in April 2009.
In 2004, after the closure of the last brothel in Churchill County, a county ballot initiative to permanently ban prostitution in that county was defeated by a 2–1 vote.
A July 2011 Public Policy Polling
survey found that 56% of Nevada voters thought that prostitution should be legal, while only 32% thought it should be illegal and 12% were not sure.
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
is the only U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
to allow some legal prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, in the form of regulated brothels. Prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal.
The brothels are situated in isolated rural areas, and the vast majority of Nevada's population lives in counties where all forms of prostitution are illegal, namely Clark
Clark County, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...
, Washoe
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...
, Douglas
Douglas County, Nevada
Douglas County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of 2000, the population was 41,259. As of 2010, the population was estimated to be 46,997.- History :...
, and Lincoln
Lincoln County, Nevada
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 4,165. Its county seat is Pioche.-History:...
counties, and Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
(an independent city
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
). The other counties allow brothels, but some of these counties currently have no active brothels (brothels are in operation in only 8 counties); as of June/July 2008 there were 28 legal brothels in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.
History
Brothels have been allowed in Nevada since the middle of the 19th century. One brothel in ElkoElko, Nevada
Elko is a city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 18,297 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Elko County. The city straddles the Humboldt River....
has been in business since 1902. In 1937, a law was enacted to require weekly health checks of all prostitutes. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
issued an order to suppress prostitution near military bases—affecting the red-light districts of Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
and Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
. When this order was lifted in 1948, Reno officials tried to shut down a brothel as a public nuisance; this action was upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in 1949. In 1951, both Reno and Las Vegas had closed their red light districts as public nuisances, but brothels continued to exist throughout the state.
In 1971, Joe Conforte
Joe Conforte
Joe Conforte was the owner of the Mustang Ranch, a Nevada brothel that was the first legal brothel in the United States. The brothel was closed by the Internal Revenue Service in 1999, but is now reopened under new management...
, owner of the brothel called Mustang Ranch
Mustang Ranch
The Mustang Ranch, originally known as the Mustang Bridge Ranch, is a brothel in Storey County, Nevada, about fifteen miles east of Reno. It is currently located at 1011 Wild Horse Canyon Dr Sparks, NV 89434....
near Reno
Reno
Reno is the fourth most populous city in Nevada, US.Reno may also refer to:-Places:Italy*The Reno River, in Northern ItalyCanada*Reno No...
, managed to convince county officials to pass an ordinance which would provide for the licensing of brothels and prostitutes, thus avoiding the threat of being closed down as a public nuisance.
Officials in Las Vegas, afraid that Conforte would use the same technique to open a brothel nearby, convinced the legislature in 1971 to pass a law prohibiting the legalization of prostitution in counties with a population above a certain threshold, tailored to apply only to Clark County.
In 1977, county officials in Nye County
Nye County, Nevada
-National protected areas:* Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge* Death Valley National Park * Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest * Spring Mountains National Recreation Area -Demographics:...
tried to shut down Walter Plankinton's Chicken Ranch
Chicken Ranch (Nevada)
The Chicken Ranch is a legal, licensed brothel located about west of Las Vegas near the town of Pahrump, in Nye County, at 10511 Homestead Road. The 17 bed brothel sits on of land...
as a public nuisance; brothels did not have to be licensed in that county at the time, and several others were operating. Plankinton filed suit, claiming that the 1971 state law had implicitly removed the assumption that brothels are public nuisances per se. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed with this interpretation in 1978, and so the Chicken Ranch was allowed to operate. In another case, brothel owners in Lincoln County
Lincoln County, Nevada
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 4,165. Its county seat is Pioche.-History:...
protested when the county outlawed prostitution in 1978, having issued licenses for seven years. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the county had the right to do so.
A state law prohibiting the advertising of brothels in counties which have outlawed prostitution was enacted in 1979. It was promptly challenged on First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
grounds and the Nevada Supreme Court declared it to be constitutional in 1981. (Princess Sea Industries, one of the parties involved in the case, was Plankinton's company that owned the Chicken Ranch.) In July 2007 the law was overturned by a U.S. District judge as "overly broad" and advertising in Las Vegas started soon after. The district judge's decision was reversed by a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2010. The ACLU has appealed to the full Ninth Circuit Court.
While brothels and prostitutes are subject to federal income tax
Income tax in the United States
In the United States, a tax is imposed on income by the Federal, most states, and many local governments. The income tax is determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income as defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and...
and also pay local fees, there is no state income tax
State income tax
State and local income taxes are imposed in addition to Federal income tax. State income tax is allowed as a deduction in computing Federal income tax, subject to limitations for individuals. Some localities impose an income tax, often based on state income tax calculations. Forty-three states...
in Nevada and brothels are exempt from the state entertainment tax and don't pay any other state taxes. In 2005 brothel owners lobbied to be taxed in order to increase the legitimacy of the business, but the legislature declined.
In November 2005, Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Lynne Fleiss is an American former madam, and also a columnist and television personality regularly featured in the 1990s in American media. She is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam"....
said that she would partner with brothel owner Joe Richards to turn Richards' existing Cherry Patch Ranch
Cherry Patch Ranch
The Cherry Patch Ranch is one of two brothels in Crystal, Nye County, Nevada, USA and is located on Ranch Road. The ranch is owned by Joe Richards.-External links:*, home page*Articles by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on plans by Heidi Fleiss****...
brothel in Crystal, Nye County, Nevada into an establishment that would employ male prostitutes and cater exclusively to female customers, a first in Nevada. In 2009 however, she said that she had abandoned her plans to open such a brothel.
On December 11, 2009, the Nevada State Board of Health unanimously agreed to add urethra
Urethra
In anatomy, the urethra is a tube that connects the urinary bladder to the genitals for the removal of fluids out of the body. In males, the urethra travels through the penis, and carries semen as well as urine...
l examinations to the guidelines, thus allowing male sex workers to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
Legal situation
Currently eight out of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
's 16 counties have active brothels (these are all rural counties). As of June/July 2008, 28 legal brothels existed in Nevada. All forms of prostitution are illegal in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
(and Clark County
Clark County, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...
which contains its metropolitan area), Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
(and Washoe County
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...
), Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
, and a few other places.
As of 2009, prostitution is illegal under state law in Clark County (which contains Las Vegas) and under county or municipal law in Washoe County
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...
(which contains Reno), Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
(an independent city
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
), Douglas County
Douglas County, Nevada
Douglas County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of 2000, the population was 41,259. As of 2010, the population was estimated to be 46,997.- History :...
, and Lincoln County
Lincoln County, Nevada
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 4,165. Its county seat is Pioche.-History:...
. The other 12 Nevada counties permit licensed brothels in certain specified areas or cities, with the exception of Eureka County, which has no law on the books either permitting or prohibiting licensed brothels. All 12 of these rural counties have had at least one legal brothel in operation subsequent to 1971, but many of these brothels were financially unsuccessful or ran afoul of State health regulations. As of 2009, only eight of these counties have active brothels, while the other four (Churchill County
Churchill County, Nevada
Churchill County is a county located in the western U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 23,982. As of July 1, 2007, the population of Churchill County was estimated at 27,190. The county, named after Mexican-American War hero brevet Brigadier General Sylvester Churchill,...
, Esmeralda County, Eureka County
Eureka County, Nevada
Eureka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,651. Its county seat is Eureka.Eureka County is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, and Pershing County) no longer do.
The precise licensing requirements vary by county. License fees for brothels range from an annual $100,000 in Storey County
Storey County, Nevada
Storey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 3,399, which was estimated to have risen to 4,110 in 2006...
to an annual $200 in Lander County
Lander County, Nevada
Lander County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 5,794. Its county seat is Battle Mountain.-History:...
. Licensed prostitutes must be at least 21 years old, except in Storey County
Storey County, Nevada
Storey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 3,399, which was estimated to have risen to 4,110 in 2006...
and Lyon County
Lyon County, Nevada
Lyon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2010 census, the population was 51,980. Its county seat is Yerington.-History:...
(where the minimum age is 18).
The brothels and their employees must register with the county sheriff and receive regular medical checkups. Brothels have existed in Nevada since the old mining days of the 1800s and were first licensed in 1971. The legendary Mustang Ranch
Mustang Ranch
The Mustang Ranch, originally known as the Mustang Bridge Ranch, is a brothel in Storey County, Nevada, about fifteen miles east of Reno. It is currently located at 1011 Wild Horse Canyon Dr Sparks, NV 89434....
operated from 1971 through 1999, when it was forfeited to the federal government following a series of convictions for tax fraud, racketeering, and other crimes.
Nevada law requires that registered brothel prostitutes be tested weekly (by a cervical specimen) for gonorrhea
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
and Chlamydia trachomatis, and monthly for HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
; furthermore, condom
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
s are mandatory for all oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
and sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
. Brothel owners may be held liable if customers become infected with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
after a prostitute has tested positive for the virus. Women work a legally mandated minimum of nine days for each work period.
Nevada has laws against engaging in prostitution outside of licensed brothels, against encouraging others to become prostitutes, and against living off the proceeds of a prostitute.
Nevada brothels are restricted from advertising their services in counties where brothel prostitution is illegal, despite the fact that this state law was ruled unconstitutional in 2007. U.S. District Judge James Mahan voided the state ban on advertising by legal brothels on grounds the state did not offer any compelling interest in support of the policy, but the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the state law in March of 2010. FN#13. This law is presently under appeal by the ACLU. FN#14
In June 2009, then-Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons signed the most stringent punishments nationwide for child prostitution and pandering. The Assembly Bill 380, which allows for fines of $500,000 for those convicted of trafficking prostitutes younger than 14 and $100,000 for trafficking prostitutes ages 14 to 17. Both the House and the Senate unanimously approved the bill, that went into effect October 1, 2009.
Legal brothels
Winnemucca, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 7,174 people, 2,736 households, and 1,824 families residing in the city. The population density was 867.5 people per square mile . There were 3,280 housing units at an average density of 396.6 per square mile...
, Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa
Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa
The Wild Horse Adult Resort and Spa is an adult entertainment complex about 14 miles east of Reno, Nevada, USA which currently is home to two separate legal, licensed brothels: the Wild Horse Ranch and the Mustang Ranch...
in Storey County, and the (now defunct original) Mustang Ranch
Mustang Ranch
The Mustang Ranch, originally known as the Mustang Bridge Ranch, is a brothel in Storey County, Nevada, about fifteen miles east of Reno. It is currently located at 1011 Wild Horse Canyon Dr Sparks, NV 89434....
.
All but the smallest brothels operate as follows: as the customer is buzzed in and sits down in the parlor, the available women appear in a line-up and introduce themselves. If the customer chooses a woman, the price negotiations take place in the woman's room, which are often overheard by management. The house normally gets half of the negotiated amount. If the customer arrives by cab, the driver will receive some 30% of whatever the customer spends; this is subtracted from the woman's earnings. Typical prices start at US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
200 for fifteen minutes. Some may charge up to $10,000 an hour for "parties" with well known or novelty women, or more for parties with multiple women. The prostitutes almost never kiss on the mouth.
Brothels do not have preset prices, the only known exception being Shady Lady brothel on Route 95, approximately 30 miles north of Beatty
Beatty, Nevada
Beatty is a census-designated place along the Amargosa River in Nye County in the U.S. state of Nevada. U.S. Route 95 runs through the CDP, which lies between Tonopah, about to the north, and Las Vegas, about to the southeast. State Route 374 connects Beatty to Death Valley National Park, about ...
. Generally, the closer a brothel is to Las Vegas, the higher the prices. Thus Sheri's Ranch
Sheri's Ranch
Sheri's Ranch is a legal brothel, resort and spa in Pahrump, Nevada. Unlike many other brothels in the state, it styles itself as a "resort", with upscale rooms and furnishings, tennis courts, a spa and outdoor swimming pool...
and Chicken Ranch
Chicken Ranch (Nevada)
The Chicken Ranch is a legal, licensed brothel located about west of Las Vegas near the town of Pahrump, in Nye County, at 10511 Homestead Road. The 17 bed brothel sits on of land...
, both located in Pahrump
Pahrump, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 24,631 people, 10,153 households, and 7,127 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 82.7 people per square mile . There were 11,651 housing units at an average density of 39.1 per square mile...
, are on the whole more expensive than other brothels. Sheri's Ranch is the larger of the two, and may have upwards of 20 prostitutes on its premises at any given time. It is also the more high end of the two, and generally the most expensive legal brothel in Nevada.
Independent contractor
An independent contractor is a natural person, business, or corporation that provides goods or services to another entity under terms specified in a contract or within a verbal agreement. Unlike an employee, an independent contractor does not work regularly for an employer but works as and when...
s and thus do not receive any unemployment, retirement or health benefits. They are responsible for paying Federal income tax and their earnings are reported to the IRS via form 1099-MISC. Nevada does not have a state income tax. The women typically work for a period of several weeks, during which time they live in the brothel and hardly ever leave it. They then take some time off. It has been argued that the tight control that brothels exert over the working conditions precludes the women from legally being classified as independent contractors.
Since 1986, when mandatory testing began, not a single full-time brothel prostitute has tested positive for HIV, although earlier tests required seven days to obtain the test results for new prostitutes, with a few eventually not being hired full-time after positive HIV test results were obtained. The mandatory condom law was passed in 1988. A study conducted in 1995 in two brothels found that condom use in the brothels was consistent and sexually transmitted diseases were accordingly absent. The study also found that few of the prostitutes used condoms in their private lives.
Illegal prostitution
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
in Nevada. The big casino towns of Las Vegas and Reno have worked to expand their tourism base by attracting families to the hotels and casinos. Accordingly, the state legislature has made prostitution illegal in Clark County, and law enforcement agencies have tried to eliminate the once rampant street prostitution. Nevertheless, prostitutes continue to work in casinos, where they wait in bars and attempt to make contact with potential clients.
Escort services offering sexual services euphemistically as 'entertainment' or 'companionship' are ubiquitous, with about 140 pages of the Las Vegas yellow pages
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...
devoted to "entertainers". Similar ads are present in newspaper boxes all along Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas Boulevard
State Route 604 is the route number designation for parts of Las Vegas Boulevard, a major north–south road in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada in the United States best known for the Las Vegas Strip and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S...
. From the Strip to downtown Fremont Street
Fremont Street
Fremont Street is a street in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas metropolitan area after the Las Vegas Strip...
at most bus stops and many street lights, a large collection of free flyers offering escort services with semi-nude pictures are available. Moreover, smaller hand sized flyers are dispensed to tourists and others along the Las Vegas Strip, often right in front of the most luxurious hotels and casinos, by freelance workers. These flyers also graphically depict female 'personal' entertainers or escort services. Despite the attempt to make Las Vegas more family-friendly, such advertising for these services goes on undisturbed by police or hotel security.
In 2009 Las Vegas was identified by the FBI as one of 14 cities in the U.S. with high rates of child prostitution. Las Vegas police claimed that "roughly 400 children are picked off the streets from prostitution each year."
The U.S. Justice Department has also named Las Vegas among the 17 most likely destinations for human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
.
Views on the Nevada brothel industry
The brothels in NevadaNevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
's rural counties have been criticized by journalists, sex worker activists, feminists, social and religious conservatives and politicians.
Columnist Bob Herbert
Bob Herbert
Robert “Bob” Herbert is an American journalist op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times. His column was syndicated to other newspapers around the country. Herbert frequently writes on poverty, the Iraq war, racism and American political apathy towards race issues...
wrote "A grotesque exercise in the dehumanization of women is carried out routinely at Sheri's Ranch, a legal brothel about an hour’s ride outside of Vegas. There the women have to respond like Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a famous Russian physiologist. Although he made significant contributions to psychology, he was not in fact a psychologist himself but was a mathematician and actually had strong distaste for the field....
’s dog to an electronic bell that might ring at any hour of the day or night. At the sound of the bell, the prostitutes have five minutes to get to an assembly area where they line up, virtually naked, and submit to a humiliating inspection by any prospective customer who has happened to drop by".
The working conditions from these brothels have also been criticized by many. During the 1970s and early 1980s, several towns had enacted rules prohibiting local brothel prostitutes from frequenting local bars or casinos or associating with local men outside of work. After a lawsuit was filed in 1984, these regulations had to be abandoned, but as a result of collaboration between sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
s and brothel owners, they remain in effect unofficially. For instance, most brothels do not allow the prostitutes to leave the premises during their work shifts of several days to several weeks.
In 2009, an article was published in the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, in which it was written that some brothels "impose some extraordinary restrictions on commercial sex workers" in order to "separate sex workers from the local community": some places forbid prostitutes to leave the brothels for extended periods of time, while other jurisdictions require the prostitutes to leave the county when they are not working; some places do not allow the children of the women who work in the brothels to live in the same area; some brothel workers who have cars must register the vehicle with the local police, and workers are not permitted to leave the brothel after 5pm; in some counties registered sex workers are not allowed to have cars at all.
The Nevada brothel system has also been criticized by activists associated with the sex worker rights
Sex worker rights
The term sex worker rights encompasses a variety of aims being pursued globally by individuals and organizations that specifically involve the human and labor rights of sex workers....
movement, who are otherwise supporters of full decriminalization
Decriminalization
Decriminalization or Decriminalisation is the abolition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts, perhaps retroactively, though perhaps regulated permits or fines might still apply . The reverse process is criminalization.Decriminalization reflects changing social and moral views...
of prostitution. Organizations and individuals supporting the rights of prostitutes
Sex worker rights
The term sex worker rights encompasses a variety of aims being pursued globally by individuals and organizations that specifically involve the human and labor rights of sex workers....
typically favor deregulation and oppose Nevada-style regulation, mainly for three reasons:
- the licensing requirements create a permanent record which can lead to discrimination later on;
- the large power difference between brothel owner and prostitute gives prostitutes very little influence over their working conditions;
- while prostitutes undergo legal and health background checks, their customers do not; the regulations are thus designed to protect customers, not prostitutes.
Teri, a prostitute who has worked in a Nevada brothel (and who would like prostitution to be decriminalized), stated that "The brothel owners are worse than any pimp. They abuse and imprison women and are fully protected by the state".
Another former prostitute who worked in four different brothels from Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
attacked the system, saying that "Under this system, prostitutes give up too much autonomy, control and choice over their work and lives" and "While the brothel owners love this profitable solution, it can be exploitative and is unnecessary". She described how the women were subject to various exaggerated restrictions, including making it very difficult for them to refuse clients, not being allowed to read books while waiting for customers and having to deal with doctors who had a "patronizing or sexist attitude" (the brothels discouraged and in many cases forbade prostitutes to see doctors of their own choosing).
In an article published in the Guardian in 2007, Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel is an English writer, feminist and co-founder of the group Justice For Women, which opposes violence against women from a feminist viewpoint....
wrote: "If you believe their PR, Nevada's legal brothels are safe, healthy – even fun
Fun
Fun is the enjoyment of pleasure and, according to Johan Huizinga, "an absolutely primary category of life, familiar to everybody at a glance right down to the animal level." Fun may be encountered in many human activities during work, social functions, recreation and play, and even seemingly...
– places in which to work. So why do so many prostitutes tell such horrific tales of abuse?"
In her 2007 report, Prostitution and trafficking in Nevada: making the connections, Melissa Farley
Melissa Farley
Melissa Farley is an American clinical psychologist and researcher and feminist anti-pornography and anti-prostitution activist. Farley is best known for her studies of the effects of prostitution, trafficking, and sexual violence....
presents the results of numerous interviews with brothel owners and prostitutes, she states that most brothel prostitutes are controlled by outside pimps and that they suffer widespread abuse by brothel owners and customers. Farley said that "What happens in legal brothels is sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
, sexual exploitation and sometimes rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
"; she also stated that more than 80% of the women she had interviewed told her they wanted to leave prostitution.
Alexa Albert, a Harvard medical student who has conducted a public-health study inside one of Nevada's brothels, and authored Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women, wrote in her book that the brothel owners used to require the prostitutes to have outside pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
s, because the pimps were thought to make the women work harder: "The involvement of pimps enabled brothel owners to leave discipline to men who wouldn't hesitate to keep their women in line."
Bob Herbert
Bob Herbert
Robert “Bob” Herbert is an American journalist op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times. His column was syndicated to other newspapers around the country. Herbert frequently writes on poverty, the Iraq war, racism and American political apathy towards race issues...
also stated that many brothel prostitutes are controlled by outside pimps: "Despite the fiction that they are “independent contractors,” most so-called legal prostitutes have pimps — the state-sanctioned pimps who run the brothels and, in many cases, a second pimp who controls all other aspects of their lives (and takes the bulk of their legal earnings)."
In 1998, some pimps from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
managed to place at least four underage girls in Nevada's legal brothels; they were arrested and convicted.
Detective Greg Harvey, from Eugene, Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
, said such cases were in reality, very common; he said "It's happening right now, it's amazing how many girls are shipped from here to different brothels in northern and southern Nevada. Many are underage." Another detective, Sgt. Pete Kerns, supported Harvey's claims: "Never buy the line that nobody under 18 works in (Nevada brothels)," he said. "It's happening."
Former Nye County Commissioner Candice Trummell, director of the Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking, said "It is way past time for Nevada to be the last state in the United States of America to finally stand against all forms of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
."
Assemblyman Bob L. Beers
Bob L. Beers
Bob L. Beers is a member of the Nevada Assembly representing District 21 in Clark County, Nevada. Prior to his election in 2006, he was an author involved in graphic arts and illustration....
said that "A brothel owner is somebody who, when it gets down to the very essence, is nothing more than a slave-owner."
Some brothel owners themselves have been involved in criminal activities: in March 2009, a Nye County brothel owner pleaded guilty to fraud charges for paying bribes to a former Nye County Commissioner; in 2008, a former brothel owner was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on two child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
charges; in 1991 Joe Conforte
Joe Conforte
Joe Conforte was the owner of the Mustang Ranch, a Nevada brothel that was the first legal brothel in the United States. The brothel was closed by the Internal Revenue Service in 1999, but is now reopened under new management...
fled to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in order to avoid a conviction on tax fraud charges.
Politics
Occasionally, lawmakers attempt to introduce legislation outlawing all prostitution in Nevada. These efforts are typically supported by owners of casinoCasino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
s and other large businesses, claiming that legalized prostitution harms the state's image. The Nevada Brothel Owners' Association, led by George Flint, a retired Assemblies of God minister from Reno, lobbies against these laws. Rural lawmakers normally oppose these laws as well, despite the fact that legal brothel prostitution does not provide a significant amount of income for counties.
One particularly colorful opponent of legalized prostitution in Nevada was John Reese. Initially arguing on moral and religious grounds, he switched to health hazard tactics, but had to back down in the face of a threatened libel suit. In 1994, he tried to get a license for a gay brothel in a thinly veiled attempt to galvanize opposition against all brothels. Then in 1999 he staged his own kidnapping near the Mustang Ranch. His efforts to collect enough signatures to repeal the prostitution laws have so far failed.
Nevada politicians can (and generally do) play both sides of the prostitution dispute by declaring that they are personally opposed to prostitution but feel it should be up to the counties to decide. As almost three-quarters of the population of Nevada lives in a single county (Clark County, where prostitution is illegal), county control over local matters is a hot-button issue. Legislators from the northern counties will often reflexively oppose what is seen as "meddling" from the majority in the south, and the legislators from the south have been too divided on the issue to push through a state-wide ban.
Since 2003, Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman
Oscar Goodman
Oscar Baylin Goodman is an American lawyer and politician. He was the mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada from 1999 to 2011. Mayor Goodman is an Independent and a former member of the Democratic Party.-Biography:...
has repeatedly stated that he favors legalization of prostitution in the city, perhaps turning East Fremont Street into a little Amsterdam. Goodman said there are pragmatic reasons to back legalized prostitution. Those include the acknowledgement that illegal prostitution is occurring and that brothels could provide safer, regulated and revenue-generating sex, he said.
The brothel owners' organization, supported by Democratic State Senator Bob Coffin
Bob Coffin
Bob Coffin is a Las Vegas city councilman, representing the city's east side in Ward 3. He was previously a Democratic member of the Nevada Senate, representing Clark County District 10 from 1987-2011. Previously he was a member of the Nevada Assembly from 1983 through 1985. Mr...
, has been pushing for taxation of the brothels, to increase the industry's legitimacy. The proposal, which would have instituted a $5 tax per act of prostitution, with the proceeds partly being used for a sex worker counseling agency, was voted down in the Taxation Committee in April 2009.
Public opinion
The opinions of Nevada residents vary, but the majority appears to support the status quo of prostitution: they support laws allowing licensed brothels in the rural areas but oppose the legalisation of prostitution in Las Vegas. A poll conducted in Nevada in 2002 found that 52% of the 600 respondents favored the existing legal and regulated brothels, while 31% were against laws that allow prostitution and the remainder were undecided, preferred fewer legal constraints on prostitution, or did not offer an opinion. The trend seems to be that new arrivals to Nevada tend to oppose legal prostitution while long-time Nevadans tend to support it. However, nearly 60% of Nevada residents oppose the legalization of brothels and prostitution in Las Vegas (59% oppose this idea, 35% support it and 6% don't know or didn't answer). Again, support is stronger in the rural areas (where most people were born in Nevada) and weaker in Clark County and Washoe County; women are more opposed to the idea than men.In 2004, after the closure of the last brothel in Churchill County, a county ballot initiative to permanently ban prostitution in that county was defeated by a 2–1 vote.
A July 2011 Public Policy Polling
Public Policy Polling
Public Policy Polling is an American Democratic Party-affiliated polling firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina. PPP was founded in 2001 by businessman and Democratic pollster Dean Debnam, the firm's current president and chief executive officer...
survey found that 56% of Nevada voters thought that prostitution should be legal, while only 32% thought it should be illegal and 12% were not sure.
Museum
Crystal, Nye County, Nevada has a somewhat limited brothel art museum associated with two local brothels.See also
- List of brothels in Nevada
- Prostitution in the United StatesProstitution in the United StatesProstitution in the United States is illegal except in some small rural communities in Nevada. In the United States, each state has the power to regulate prostitution in that state. Only in parts of Nevada is prostitution legal. In all other states prostitution is usually classified as a...
Further reading
- Alexa E. Albert, David Lee Warner, and Robert A. Hatcher: "Facilitating Condom Use with Clients during Commercial Sex in Nevada's Legal Brothels", American Journal of Public Health, 88(4), 1998, pages 643–646, online abstract
- Brents, Barbara G. and Kathryn Hausbeck, "Violence and Legalized Brothel Prostitution in Nevada: Examining Safety, Risk and Prostitution Policy", Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(3): 270–295, 2005
- Brents, Barbara G. and Kathryn Hausbeck, "'Pro-family, Pro-prostitution': Discourses Of Gender, Sexuality & Legalized Prostitution in a Nevada Town", presented at the Midwest Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, April 2000.
- Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale and Jacqueline Lewis, "Escort Services In A Border Town", Literature and Policy Summary Windsor: University of Windsor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 1999. Study containing a section on prostitution in Nevada.
- Farley, MelissaMelissa FarleyMelissa Farley is an American clinical psychologist and researcher and feminist anti-pornography and anti-prostitution activist. Farley is best known for her studies of the effects of prostitution, trafficking, and sexual violence....
. Prostitution and trafficking in Nevada: making the connections. San Francisco: Prostitution Research and Education, 2007. ISBN 0-615-16205-3 - Hausbeck, Kathryn and Barbara G. Brents, "Nevada's Legal Brothels", pp. 255–281 in Ronald Weitzer, ed., Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry. (2nd Edition) NY: Routledge, 2010.
- Shaner, Lora, Madam: Inside a Nevada Brothel, Bloomington, Ind.: 1stBooks, 2001.
- Vogliotti, Gabriel R., The Girls of Nevada, Secaucus, NJ: The Citadel Press, 1975.
External links
- Sex-in-Nevada.com – Information on commercial sex in Nevada, particularly legal brothels.
- NVBrothels.net (Archived version on the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
, December 23, 2003) – Directory and some historic information on legal Nevada brothels. - Current Nevada Brothels Map – Google Map of all currently operating brothels in Nevada.
- Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking
- "Former Prostitutes Wage War Against Prostitution" by Edward Lawrence, KLAS-TVKLAS-TVKLAS-TV, virtual channel 8 , is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Las Vegas, Nevada market; it is owned and operated by Landmark Media Enterprises...
Eyewitness News, September 5, 2007.