There he’ll be introduced to another woman. Once she brings him to her room, the negotiation begins, and prices and services are decided. If no agreement is reached, the woman escorts the client to the bar. The customer picks the woman he prefers, she then takes him by the hand and gives him a tour of the ranch. They include all ethnicities and body types.Ĭustomers (mostly men) enter the brothel and are greeted with a lineup of women (most clad in skimpy underwear and high heels) who introduce themselves. They range in age from 18 to well into their 50s. But like Uber drivers, only a fraction of them are working a shift at any one time. ( Lamar Odom overdosed at a Hof brothel.) But most of the clients I saw seemed like regular guys you’d see at a company picnic there was even a sweet-looking, preppy couple (they wore polo shirts) seeking a wild BDSM three-way.Ībout 500 women are in rotation and available to work out of a Hof brothel. The women set prices and services every time they see a client. That means women, sometimes as young as 18, regularly make deals with rich, older men for tens of thousands of dollars. I was told celebrities, famous businessmen, and lottery winners often patron the ranch. Legal prostitutes must work out of brothels where they are independent contractors. Brothels have been licensed and tightly regulated since the early 1970s. Nevada has a long history with brothels, dating back to the old west. “It is not sex,” he says then, and at several other times during the visit.”It’s an adventure.” By car, you turn onto a winding road and are immediately greeted with fake street signs featuring small rabbits in compromising positions and a fake 69 mile per hour speed limit. The ones I saw are located off a busy, multi-lane road lined with pawn shops and gun stores. By law, brothels must be in a remote location, far from schools or churches. The four brothels I visited are located in Lyon County, Nevada, just outside the state capital, Carson City. When it comes to negotiation, what goes on at a brothel offers unique insights into the power dynamics of women asking for what they believe they are worth and what makes some more successful than others. At their request, we used sex workers’ stage names instead of their real names. Those nuances are often much more apparent in extreme markets, like vice. We don’t always see the small, important subtleties that make markets work in the conventional economy. It is important to study the darkest parts of the economy. Their job, unlike for other prostitutes, is legal, yet they still endure a stigma worse than any welfare mother. ❞ They work in an environment on the one hand as exploitative as any Walmart, yet these places pay more than any service worker ever dreamed. The most vulnerable and the most powerful women both fully choose and only sort of choose to come here to work. ❝ It is an understatement to say that Nevada’s legal brothels are contradictory places for women. UNLV sociologist Barbara Brents, who spent years studying Nevada brothels, describes the mixed emotions (pdf) and contradictions the brothels provoke: And so, I’m not trying to glamorize sex work-many aspects of this story are uncomfortable and disturbing. It’s one thing to hear about women selling their bodies, and another to see near-naked women be looked over by prospective clients. Yet even Hof’s brothels, in this state that regulates prostitution, offer a charged environment it often felt tense, sad, and seedy. I also learned how they develop self-esteem and self confidence, along with financial management skills. I talked to more than a dozen sex workers, and a PhD candidate who worked in a Hof-owned brothel for her dissertation research. I learned how they negotiate with occasionally spectacular results. I visited his flagship location and first brothel, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, and three other brothels he owns nearby. I wasn’t just going to take his word for it. “It is an understatement to say that Nevada’s legal brothels are contradictory places for women.”
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