Alice Little loves being a “luxury companion” and escort at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal, licensed brothel in Lyon County. The vivacious 29-year-old is passionate about sex work and sees the benefit it has on human intimacy — a basic need she feels often goes unmet.
“I have a college degree. I’ve literally been offered six figures to leave my job and go to work in the marketing department of another company, and I said no and turned it down,” she said. “I choose to do this every single day because I love it and I see the benefit it has for society.”
But Little feels her career is under attack after a federal law meant to curb sex trafficking on online personal sites has instead unleashed negative residual effects on her livelihood.
President Donald Trump signed two bipartisan bills, the Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) into law in 2018, making it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate or support sex trafficking.
The acts weakened the Communications Decency Act, which ensured legal protection for websites like Reddit, Craigslist or Backpage — where many sex workers posted ads — if a user should post what could be perceived as unsavory or offensive content. The websites provided the medium, but weren’t responsible for the content posted by its users’ own accord. Until now.