Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry (46 page)

. . . We take care of them here; the girls need that. It’s safer for the men, too, from a health perspective. Guys are afraid of getting something from the street girls; you never know what they have.” In our interviews with brothel prostitutes, we found that the regulatory oversight and public scrutiny of the brothels decrease the women’s perceived risks to health and safety, and that the workers thus feel empowered. Celeste explained, “We are independent contractors, we have the right to refuse anybody for any reason.” Misty
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KATHRYN HAUSBECK AND BARBARA G. BRENTS

concurred, “We can stop them here, we can stop them at the bar.” In fact, in addition to mandatory condom usage and constant security, health and safety are important reasons why many women choose to work in Nevada brothels.11

And despite the restrictions placed on them, the women cited benefits of living and working in a legal brothel. Emili, for example, described the brothel atmosphere this way: “We’ve got a cook, we’ve got a sun deck back there, we have a garden, we have a Jacuzzi room—we try to treat each other good.”

STR U C TU R E O F TH E B R OTH E L I N D U STRY

Today, Nevada is home to 28 licensed brothels in 10 counties. The legal contexts in which brothels are organized vary significantly by county and proximity to metropolitan areas. Table 11.1 summarizes, by county, the regulations regarding brothel prostitution in Nevada. Clark County is the only county where state law prohibits licensing brothels. A few other counties have ordinances prohibiting prostitution, including Washoe County, which surrounds Reno.

The county is the licensing and regulating body. As shown in Table 11.1, brothels are currently licensed in the unincorporated areas of Churchill, Esmeralda, Lander, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, and Storey counties. Four other counties—Elko, Humboldt, Pershing, White Pine—prohibit brothel prostitution in unincorporated areas but allow it by municipal option; the towns of Elko, Ely, Wells, and Winnemucca license brothels.

The geography of the state has a significant impact on the structure of the industry. Nevada is one of the most rural states in the country, with only two metropolitan areas, Reno and Las Vegas. Most of the state’s population resides in these two areas. The average distance between towns is 100 miles, and as much as 200 miles in the more isolated counties. In 2006, 11 of Nevada’s counties had fewer than six people per square mile.12 Of these 11 sparsely populated, frontier counties, 7 have legal brothels. One of the most significant splits within the brothel industry is between brothels in the sparsely populated “frontier” counties and those in the “suburban” counties closest to urban areas.

The largest and most profitable brothels are located in the suburban counties closest to Reno and Las Vegas—Storey, Lyon, and Nye. The brothel industry statewide earned around $45 million in 2008, according to the Nevada Brothel Association, but the eight largest brothels in these suburban counties account for approximately three-quarters of the state’s brothel
260

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Calculated using data on 2006 Nevada County Demographics, from U.S. Census Bureau facts.census.gov/qfd/states/32000.html. Last updated: Friday Income from prostitutes’ work cards is estimated, as the county issues the same work cards as for other workers.

License fees are paid on two brothels though only one is currently operating.

This total is based on 35 work cards issued, and an estimated 15 renewals at $15 plus 65 new issues.

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Notes
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NEVADA’S LEGAL BROTHELS

income.13 The largest employ up to 80 women at a time. The remaining frontier brothels bring in far less income, and most employ 2 to 10 women at a time.14

The economy of both the frontier and suburban brothels remains a migrant economy, just as it was in the Old West. But the nature of that migrant economy is changing. While the small and isolated towns in northern and eastern Nevada have grown since the 1870s to become primarily dependent on service jobs in gambling and tourism, their economies are still far more dependent than those in urban areas on traditional, rural occupations.

Seven of Nevada’s frontier counties are still primarily dependent on Old West industries of mining, farming, or ranching.15 But in addition to their economic dependence on the young men who have temporarily left home to earn big paychecks in the mines, frontier counties are increasingly dependent on several new migrant groups—construction workers, the military, truckers, and tourists. Depending on where each brothel is located, it relies heavily on customers from one or more of these groups. These working-class men are considered the core brothel clientele.

But there is also a new type of tourist demanding more “cultured”

entertainment in the New West.16 The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering brings 10,000 people to Elko each winter, and the Burning Man festival in the Blackrock desert north of Reno attracts nearly 35,000 visitors. The rugged amenities that surrounded the migrant miner are being replaced by espresso shops and the Ruby Mountain Brewery in Elko. California’s elite have been purchasing ranches near popular areas offering fly fishing, mountain biking, and rock climbing—increasing the cost of living for many locals. The remote, dusty, desert community described at the beginning of this chapter is becoming engulfed in a larger, global tourist culture, complete with its economic shifts toward service-based, leisure businesses.

In some ways, the new breed of tourists who visit the brothels may be no different than the customers in times gone by. However, this new Nevada culture may bring to the brothels customers who are less immersed in the cultural climate of the rugged American West and more accustomed to pop-cultural depictions of commercial sex, or who hold more global and cosmopolitan expectations about the emotional, sexual, and commercial experience of prostitution. As one new owner told us, “I bought this brothel because it reminded me of what an Old West brothel ought to look like.”