(Las Vegas Weekly – EXCERPT) – Originally hailing from California, (Violet Vause and Kayden Blake) have been married for two years and together for eight. They just bought their first home in Las Vegas, where they spend half their time. The other half is spent at Sheri’s Ranch, a legal brothel in Pahrump, where they both work as prostitutes. . . .
Hundreds work in the Silver State’s brothels, which are permitted in counties with fewer than 700,000 residents. Nevada is the only state in which the practice remains legal in some form, but prostitution here has long faced its share of critics.
Although threats to the industry were heightened during this Nevada legislative session, legal brothels appear to have emerged relatively unscathed as the session draws to a close. A Senate bill that would have outlawed all brothels died in April.
The state is still grappling with a lawsuit filed by a former prostitute alleging that Nevada’s legal brothels facilitate and sanction sex trafficking, but the initial buzz around that suit has quieted down—at least for now.
In the midst of these controversies as well as the perpetual stigma associated with sex work, Kayden and Violet sat down with Las Vegas Weekly to share their personal experiences working at Sheri’s, their take on the politics of prostitution in Nevada and the unique details of their relationship.