Archives for September 2018

(Christina Parreira) – Prostitution has been legal in Lyon County, Nevada for over forty years. In that time, the Nevada model for licensed and regulated prostitution has proven to be a time-tested and remarkably successful social experiment, where, under an umbrella of strict legislation, sex workers operating out of rurally-located brothels thrive harmoniously with their Lyon County neighbors. Now, after all these years, a small group of Lyon County residents have decided that they have a beef with the bordellos.

The group calling itself “No Little Girl” is petitioning to close the legal brothels in Lyon County, and remove the livelihood of hundreds of women who have made an informed choice to work in these establishments. On the “Issues” page of this group’s website, they make claims that the legality of brothels does nothing to make women any safer, and that prostitution is inherently violence against women.

However, the page cites data that either has been debunked or has nothing to do with legal prostitution. The handful of individuals that submitted the petition represent faith-based organizations, and seem to be more concerned with pushing their specific moral agenda onto the whole of Lyon County than with the actual safety of the women in the brothels. Let’s take a closer look at the information on the group’s website…

The group suggests that large tech companies won’t move to the county and boost the local economy because of the existence of legal brothels, but they neglect to mention that Lance Gilman, owner of the Mustang Ranch brothel, helped bring Tesla to Nevada. The massive Tesla Gigafactory is located seven miles from the Mustang Ranch, proving that tax incentives and smart dealmaking are what bring big name tech companies into an area.

Brothels are clearly not a factor in the decision making, especially when one considers that a brothel owner played a key role in convincing a tech giant to choose Nevada for its factory location.

Concerning the safety of women in the brothels, the website cites Melissa Farley, a researcher whose work was debunked years ago. Farley claims to have interviewed 45 women in the Nevada brothels but discounts their comments in her 2007 book, writing “I knew that they would minimize how bad it was” (p. 22).

Farley writes that her data does not support her conclusions because women “ignore bad things or they pretended that unpleasantness will go away, or they call the degrading abuse of prostitution by another name that sounds better” (p. 22).

Farley did not listen to the women and instead formed her conclusions based on her own moral agenda. In 2011 Dr. Calum Bennachie, a gender studies scholar, sent a 115 page formal complaint to the American Psychological Association requesting that Farley be disqualified for professional misconduct. In his complaint he detailed evidence to show that “Dr. Farley is repeating unsubstantiated rumour as fact” and “is deliberately misleading people” (2011).

Farley has a long and well-known history of discounting the voices of sex workers in an effort to push her ideological agenda. The website also cites a 2004 study by Potterat, but the sample is from women working independently in Colorado; a very different group of women with work conditions that are nothing like those in the legal Nevada brothels.

Women who work illegally are subject to rape and assault because they do not have protections under the law. Criminalization forces them to work in unsafe settings and unlike in the legal Nevada brothels, they cannot call for help when they are raped or assaulted. This speaks to the harms of criminalization, not of prostitution.

On the FAQ page, it states that women are often raped in the legal brothels. This is grossly inaccurate. In my own doctoral research of 53 women working in 5 Nevada brothels, I did not encounter a single woman who had reported being raped by a client in the brothel, and I was certainly never raped during my years working in the brothels.

Perhaps the most inflammatory claim on the FAQ portion of the website is that most of the women in the brothels are under the control of pimps. This is simply not true.

Of the 53 women I interviewed, 5 reported that they had pimps BEFORE they worked in the brothels but since coming to work legally were able to escape this coercion and freely offer intimate services. One worker told me of the horrific abuse she endured at the hands of a pimp, and she was grateful to have escaped him and be in a place where she could work safely and legally. She credited her newfound safety and freedom to the brothel. She feared that if she went back to her home state, her former pimp would find her, kidnap her, and force her back on the streets.

The FAQ section claims that legalization does not improve conditions for prostitutes or women in the community. We can look to Rhode Island as a case study: In Rhode Island prostitution was decriminalized from 2003-2009. A study done by Cunningham & Shah (2014) shows that rates of rape and gonorrhea plummeted with decriminalization; 824 fewer rape offenses (31 percent decrease) and 1035 fewer cases of female gonorrhea (39 percent decrease) from 2004-2009.

The FAQ section also asks the question “has anyone asked the women what they want?” My fellow workers and I have reached out to this organization over the past 2 weeks, desperately trying to make our voices heard. We tell them that we are happy with our chosen careers and that we do not want to lose our jobs, but they are not listening, and continue to push their moral agenda onto us.

As a licensed prostitute and PhD student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, I can tell you that what I want is to continue to have the freedom to choose to work in a safe environment, where I can practice a trade that I love, lawfully and prosperously. Sex work is definitely not my last resort or my only option — it is my choice. I’d like to continue to have the opportunity to make that choice legally.

If you really care about us, just listen to us.

Christina Parreira, M.A., is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In addition to being an instructor and researcher, she is a proud legal courtesan.

(Alice Little) – My name is Alice Little. I’m the top booking lady at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch and I’d like to talk to you about a movement that was started in the local community to close the brothels in Lyon County.

The movement claims to want to protect and liberate legal sex workers under the assumption that we are helpless, trafficked by pimps and participating in the adult industry against our will. The movement was originally started by a group called “No Little Girl” (the idea being that “no little girl” dreams of being a sex worker when she grows up).

To try to gain momentum for their political movement, they have canvassed churches, attended county functions and posted horrible ads that imply that legal sex workers are pieces of meat to be bought and sold.

I want to start by telling you this group has never — not once — tried coming to the ranch to talk to the ladies and ask them about the working conditions there. This entire campaign is simply fueled by questionable religious morality, society’s stigma about sex, and misinformation.

It’s illegal sex work that exploits children. It’s illegal sex work that traffics. It’s illegal sex work that sees women exploited and abused by pimps. The irony is that the legal system these people are trying to attack actually creates a safe haven from the dangers of the illegal industry. The idea that a group that wants to advocate for the “rights” of women by taking away their right to work and trying to tell them who they may or may not choose to be physically intimate with is irony that borders on deranged.

The legal sex work industry not only solves more problems than it creates, we are among the largest taxpayers in our county and frequently make donations and create events for the local community, including funding the Dayton Dog Park, charitably supporting the Boys and Girls Club and advocating for positive change in our community. We are involved, intelligent, conscientious citizens, not pieces of meat.

Has it really been so long since the 18th Amendment and Prohibition that those who believe their morality should be forced on others forget that when you make basic human behaviors and proclivities illegal, you only create crime? Making alcohol illegal only created speakeasies, mobsters and dangerous moonshine. Making brothel work illegal only creates illegal massage parlors, violent pimps and unsafe sexual practices.

Consider that porn is legal almost everywhere in the United States and that it is simply consensual sex between adults with money involved in front of a camera. Taking away the camera doesn’t magically change what is going on. What is going on is safe, consensual, documented sex between adults.

Nevadans are forward thinkers. We recognize that industries like gambling and recreational marijuana create less negative social impacts when they are legalized and regulated. Does anyone really think that if we made recreational marijuana illegal tomorrow, people would stop using it? You would simply create crime again and deny the revenue and positive social impact that is so crucial to help mitigate any negatives brought about by legalization. This is no different.

Legal brothels are heavily regulated; every woman is of age, is there of her own free will, and tested weekly after being registered with the sheriff’s department. Are some of the ladies survivors of abuse or trafficking? I haven’t personally heard stories, but given that literally every other state of the union forces women underground into an illegal industry, is it really that surprising?

The question in front of us is whether or not Nevada’s legal, regulated system creates more problems than it solves, and given that myself and my co-workers are happy, healthy, voluntarily employed and not being exploited, what are we really accomplishing here?

The momentum of this group’s petition has forced the commissioners to place an advisory question on the local ballot as to whether or not the legal brothels should remain open. It is fully within the purview of the commissioners to close down the brothels once that issue is voted on, so I would urge anyone who really believes that we are being exploited to talk to the girls and hear in their own words how they are treated by the legal, regulated system and if it needs to be dismantled.

We offer free tours at the ranches and will jump at the opportunity to show you that our facilities are clean, professional and regulated – and never mistreat or exploit the ladies who choose to work there.

Being against the closing of the brothels does not mean we are for sex trafficking. That makes no sense. A legal regulated system prevents exploitation; it doesn’t encourage it.

Don’t cost the county millions in tax revenue and compromise the safety of legal county residents. Please vote “NO” on Lyon County Question 1.

Alice Little is a sex worker at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Mound House

(Ruby Rae) – In 2003, when I was approaching my teenage years, my family moved to Northern Nevada to escape the financial stresses and economic turmoil of California.

We moved to a quiet town in Lyon County, where life was slower, smaller and completely gentle. I spent my adolescent years attending middle school and high school in this charming county, which I grew to love.

When I was 20, I had made the move from Lyon County to Washoe County and was living in Reno attending college. I was working a full-time job, not getting through my classes fast enough and losing steam and passion for my future. I wanted a life that was made on my own terms — and more freedom.

I had known about the legal brothels in Nevada, but decided to research more about them to see if I thought it would be a good fit for me. I came to the conclusion as an open-minded, sexually adventurous young woman, that yes, I believe I could be a legal prostitute and succeed.

I started working in one of Dennis Hof’s brothels at the age of 20 as a result of my own well-researched and thought-out decision. Now at the age of 27, I have been working in the brothels for seven years.

Since starting my career as a legal prostitute in Nevada, I can truthfully say it was one of the best decisions I have made, even though a risky one, as I had no idea if I was going to sink or swim. I took a big leap of faith and thankfully, it worked out better than I had ever anticipated.

I am the kind of the woman who is okay with this line of work. I don’t see it as selling sex or myself, but more so, selling an experience to those who desire or need it. I have clientele that have been seeing me since I started seven years ago, and I see them as good friends. I have enriched their lives through passion, compassion and joy.

They have helped me become a more well-rounded, empathetic and successful young woman. I have come to consider myself a savvy businesswoman who manages my own marketing, brand and clientele.

Since entering this line of work, I have completed my B.A. from UNR – paid for solely on my own. I am currently a graduate student pursuing my M.A. from UNR, and I will graduate next spring. I am a published author in a top academic journal in my field. I am well-traveled and have explored nine countries, with three more this summer, all because I had the financial means and freedom in my schedule to make those trips.

I am able to help my grandmother with caring for my aging grandfather who has dementia, because I have the freedom of scheduling and support from management to go and help care for him. Everything good in my life up until this point has come from my career in sex work – from working in the Lyon County brothels.

When I heard about the petition that is being started by No Little Girl to put an end to the Lyon County brothels, I was angry, saddened and confused. Not only is this group trying to take away my livelihood, success and freedom, but also they are trying to take that away from the hundreds of women I work with and the hundreds of staff that these four brothels employ.

The women and staff I work with are like family to me, and I care deeply about their happiness and want their success just as much as my own. To see this petition being started when none of us asked for this was a maddening realization.

The women I work with are not engaging in survival sex work (street-based prostitution) and are not desperate women. They are mothers who are caring for their families and choose this line of work because it gives them flexibility when choosing their schedules so they can spend more time with their children. They are women who have worked in corporate America and wanted a job that was the complete opposite. They are young women, like myself, funding their college educations and other passions.

In the brothels, we have the choice, always, to say which clients we will say yes and no to. We have staff that would never let a man hurt us, and we have a clientele that do not come here to hurt us.

The women who are not here for right reasons do not stay long, because this is not easy money in the sense of the all the background work that goes with it, such as marketing, branding and administration. Many women succeed in this business because they learn to be good at negotiating, to be a part of a team and to learn undeniable business skills.

In addition to all the benefits for the women I work with and myself, Lyon County also heavily benefits. Not only do the brothels pay taxes and fees that fund the county’s vehicles, but we also give back to local charities and organizations regularly, either as a company or by individual lady.

A woman I worked with recently gave back to a Lyon County senior center through donations from her clients. Many girls before me, myself included, have started canned food drives that our clients contribute to. Currently, all four brothels are raising money for the Lyon County Boys and Girls Club. Last winter, three other ladies and myself delivered an SUV full of toys and gifts for the Lyon County toy drive, which we do yearly.

Charity aside, the brothels also bring a great deal of tourism dollars to the area spanning Washoe County, Carson City and Lyon County, and, like myself, many of my fellow sex workers live in Northern Nevada. Restaurants, hotels, housing and more – all in the local area – benefit from the brothels every single day, whether from individual ladies who are touring, the women who live here or from our clients.

The brothels, ladies and staff deeply care about this community and do a lot for the community that the average person does not see. To know there is an organization such as No Little Girl that does not recognize these facts and experiences, will not acknowledge them and instead puts out inaccurate facts about our industry is not only offensive, it hurts deeply.

My immediate family currently lives in Lyon County, and my grandparents have lived in the county for over twenty years. My entire family knows about my occupation and they fully support my decision to work in the licensed brothels of Lyon County.

My roots and history are deep in this community, and I urge Lyon County, from one resident to another, please acknowledge that the brothels here are for the good of everyone involved — the ladies who choose to work here, the staff that is employed by them and the community that absolutely benefits from them.

We need support. Do we have yours?

Ruby Rae has lived in Nevada for 15 years with her parents, grandparents and siblings. She has worked in a brothel for seven years and is now an M.A. student at UNR. This column was originally published in the Nevada Independent on April 18, 2018.

(Suzette Cole) – Thank you all in advance for reading my post, I want to introduce myself as we have not yet met. After you are done reading this post you will know me well. 

I am not one to go out and publicly speak, I tend to concentrate on managing our business’s instead. But, I did want to come forward on this subject instead of answering a question or stating something here and there.  It took me a while to gather up the history and facts about the Lyon County brothels and have posted this letter in multiple social media platforms to better educate the public on how the brothels work and what the procedures are. No one has better knowledge on this subject than myself, after all, I am the general manager of all the Lyon County brothels and have been since Feb. 1993. I understand you are already aware of some of the items but maybe some items you are not aware of that I would like to share.

I have listed a little of the history and facts of the brothels because I am sure that the general public is unaware of where it all started. 

History of Lyon County Brothels

• 1955 Moonlight Ranch
• 1970 Starlight Ranch and is moved and renamed Miss Kitty’s Guest Ranch
• 1971 Prostitution became legal
• 1992 Dennis Hof purchases Moonlight and becomes The Moonlight BunnyRanch
• 1996 Dennis Hof purchases Miss Kitty’s Guest Ranch
• 2013 Dennis Hof purchases SageBrush Ranch
• 2016 Dennis Hof opens Kit Kat Ranch

Please refer to Lyon County Business and License regulations to be able to own and have a brothel license. 

Not everyone who applies can get one. It’s an extensive federal background check.

• 1992 Sheriff Sid Smith approves Dennis Hof to have a brothel license.
• 2011 Sheriff Allen Veil approves Suzette Cole to be on all Lyon County brothels licenses after reviewing extensive back ground check. Investigation reporting fees are $4,000 paid by submitted.

License and Business fees that are paid Annually

• Business Licenses $356,000
• Room and board tax $12,000
• Silver Springs medical Center $26,000
• Over $50,000 for licenses for employees and working girls
• Employees and Working girls who live in Lyon County pay personal taxes.

Statement from Jeff Page, Lyon County Executive

June 2010 to present

“Brothels don’t pay business taxes, but contribute nearly $500,000 in other fees to the county which goes toward paying the county fleet of vehicles. With only 52,000 residents, the county would be hard pressed to make up that revenue if the brothels were banned. From a financial perspective, it means it has to come from someplace else.” 

That place would be coming from the Lyon County citizen’s pockets. 

Some have stated that we are only 1% of the yearly budget, this is just not true.  The yearly budget is 30 million, but first all mandatory bills and expenses have to be paid out of that budget.  For instance, all county employee’s salaries and county expenses  etc;  have to come right off the top.  Then after those are paid thats when our fees  that we pay in are factored and it’s more like 30 % of the left over budget.   

Sheriff Sid Smith and Sheriff Allen Veil neither had an issue with the brothels in Lyon County. Is it to be said that Sheriff Smith, Sheriff Veil and the previous sheriffs did not know what was best for their county? Seems people are trying to force their religion upon others. I believe in freedom of speech and the freedom of religion.

Lyon County Brothels are the biggest donators in the County

• Animal parks
• Food banks
• Sheriff’s ARK program
• Boys and girls club
• High School
• Toys for Tots
• Personal hardships and numerous others.

We always have had a donation box in the foyers of all our ranches to give back to the community. Over the years it has added up into tens of thousands of dollars. 

Please refer to Lyon County Legal Prostitution Fees and Requirements for a legal prostitute to get her license, She first has to have a

• Hepatitis test, which is done once a year.
• HIV and Syphilis tests, which are done once a month
• Chlamydia and gonorrhea tests, which are done once a week.

All these fees are paid for by the working girl, that goes into hundreds of thousands of dollars a year which are handled through the Silver Springs Renown Medical Center on top of the $26K that we pay towards every year. That keeps the medical center open for all the Lyon County citizens to be able to visit.     

After the lab tests has come back with negative results, the working girl goes to the sheriff’s station and fills out an application.

Lyon County has the strictest rules out of all the counties in Nevada to be able to obtain a sheriff’s card. It is easier to become a Lyon County Deputy than it is to become a legal prostitute.

And more importantly, there has NEVER EVER been a case of HIV positive in the history of legalized prostitution and you cannot say that about any other profession in the United States. Lyon County has been doing it right by legalizing it and regulating it.

I have never in the 26 years of working in the brothels have never tried to recruit a lady to work here. They all have contacted us. I receive over 1,500 emails a month from ladies who want to work. The ladies are never held against their will. They can come and go as they please. They are never asked to do something that they don’t want to on any level.

Current history and facts in Las Vegas, NV on Illegal prostitution.

• More than 3,000 active pimps and over 32,000 girls come to Las Vegas to be in illegal prostitution.
• 300 girls under the age of 16 that are being trafficking all the time.
• Sexually transmitted diseases as HIV are the highest in Las Vegas than any other city.
• Unsafe for customers and girls who are in illegal prostitution. Rapes, trafficking, scams, theft, drugs and of course, murder.

IF the brothels are banned, those numbers will surely go up.

Brief Summary of Dennis Hof

Born in Arizona in 1947, he comes from a hard working lower class family. His mother worked in the school cafeterias and his father was a mail man. Dennis always had worked all his life for the better life.

He has worked and purchased many gas stations in the Arizona, Lake Tahoe and Reno areas. He became involved with the time share condo business and saved up enough money to purchase the Moonlight BunnyRanch. A legal business in which he saw could make it a better place.

You can read all about his life in his autobiography, The Art of a Pimp. A no holds bar about his life. What you see what you get. He has no secrets. He has made himself a self made millionaire by being the media genius with his unique business sense.

 

Brief Summary of Suzette Cole

Born in Oakland 1955, moved to Lake Tahoe in the late fifties. She was always in business with her family and had a business sense and worked well with others. Worked as a cocktail waitress at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe for several years in the mid eighties and was top trainer and spokes person for the new hires for the entire human resource dept.

Moved to Carson City from Lake Tahoe. In Feb 1993, answered a little ad in the newspaper stated hostess wanted. Curiously she applied and started as a hostess, bartender, cashier, asst. manager and general manger to present, opening up all of Dennis’s brothels over the years.

 

 

 

The Banning of Lyon County Brothels

Every once in a while we have a few people who want the brothels gone. But this time, it has been politically targeted personally towards Dennis Hof.

First off, the “No little girl “ committee is based out of Reno. Why are they not targeting the Mustang Ranch? Because they said themselves, they want Dennis Hof out of business. They say no local big businesses want to be in the same county. What about Telsa next to Mustang Ranch? On their website, they have faq’s.  They made up the questions, then they made up the answers. If they were to ask me the same questions, they would get different answers.  They are talking about illegal prostitution.  You can not compare the illegal and legal prostitution.  It is apples and oranges.

The ladies, employees, and all the people in Lyon County have their own religion. One religion is not better than another. But most importantly, they all come from the same core belief, Do good, be good within our hearts.

There’s a reason why The County Commissioners are in position. They get all the facts then they vote to make the right decision. The public does not have all the facts and are not educated enough to be able to make that decision. What happens when the public wants to out law guns? Liquor, gaming, whats next, the color that you wear? Are they going to vote that people can’t wear black after 8pm? What about religion and race? Is that next that it has to be a certain religion or race to be able to live in Lyon County? That appears to be the route that this is going.

People make statements that just are not true about legal prostitution and others automatically believe what they hear.

For instance there is a girl named Rebekah Charleston who is working with No little Girl, and I have no idea who she is. I personally not ever seen her before and do not recall her working with us. I have had our accounting department run her name and nothing comes up. If she did come out here it was not long enough to receive a tax form.

Another is a person named Deanne Holliday.  She is a disgruntled former employee who has been spreading lies about us and the brothels for years. People say something and people automatically believe that it is gospel.

If it goes on the ballot, and if the brothels are shut down, they take it out of the commissioner’s hands, they have to wait until the next vote goes back on the ballot on the following year. And the Commissioner’s hands are tied even to vote on the smallest issue.  Which doesn’t make too much sense.  Especially, when it might be an urgent situation that has to be resolved quickly.   

We employ over 550 independent contractors every year and over 125 employees. They are dependent on their jobs to take care of themselves and their families. We have employees that have been with us over 15 years and longer. We do business with the local businesses in Lyon County because we want to keep it in the community.

“No little Girl” states, the prostitutes will just go home. No, they won’t, the ladies will go out on the streets and get caught up in the illegal side of prostitution. That’s why the girls come here to the brothels in the first place, to try and do the right thing and be legal. Prostitution is the oldest profession and it will not go away, this is why Lyon County legalized it so that way it can be regulated and keep it under control.

The Working Girls are here to make a better life for themselves, their children and their families. They are going to school, getting Masters Degrees, buying homes, putting their children through school, taking care of their families. How and Why do I know this? Because it has been my life, my whole life for the last 26 years. I do not have a husband or a boyfriend. I have no children, these girls are my children and family. I work hard and I keep a tight ship. I do not have a record or issues with the Law, not even a parking ticket. I respect the law and live a clean life. I do not drink, smoke and have a zero tolerance on all drugs. The ladies respect me as their Mother, because in a way I am their mother and do not pass any judgment upon them. I do not allow excess drinking and any drug of any kind is intolerable, even marijuana. I do not allow on the property among the girls and clients. They are not even allowed to cuss in the parlor, this includes the clients as well. I do not let things get out of control because I am always in control of it in the first place.

I have never let a girl work that did not have a sheriff’s card or was not cleared from the doctor first. I would never put our brothel licenses in jeopardy. And yes, we have to coordinate the doctor visits with the lab results and with the sheriffs station. And if one doesn’t come through, they will have to wait. The ladies come from all over the country, sometimes they fly in and have to wait until they are cleared. This can sometimes up to a week if something falls thru the cracks. These are good girls, they have all passed the federal background check and have no diseases.

We check ID’s of all our customers to ensure they are of legal age to walk inside and also to drink, this is true for the ladies as well.

Sadly, people tend to be hypocrites. They go on dates, they have dinner, give flowers and then have sex after their date. That seems to be ok in people’s eyes but when the almighty dollar is exchanged, all of a sudden its bad. Lyon County has been doing it right since 1971 when they took it out of the criminal’s hands and put it into a highly regulated industry.

I have meetings called Tea Parties every week with the Ladies, where we bring in business people to help them succeed; bankers, insurance, accounting executives, and more to help them with their every day lives.

We celebrate birthdays every week and some of the girls say this is the first time that they have ever had a birthday cake or a party.

We have craft days where the girls get to just have fun and we even have karaoke so the girls and the clients can sing their little hearts out.  We have clients come in here just to celebrate their birthdates, the clients are also considered family. We treat people with respect and never judge anyone by race, gender, religion, or anything else.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this. I know all of you are very busy and it means a lot to be able to voice not only my opinions but the Facts.

Suzette Cole is General Manager for the Bunny Ranch, Love Ranch, Kit Kat Ranch & Sagebrush Ranch brothels in Lyon County, Nevada