The Las Vegas Courtesan

Even though the small survey that was posted in the Las Vegas Review Journal late last month said that 64% of 405 people didn’t want prostitution legalized in Las Vegas (or Clark county as a whole,) there have been recent moves in the closest legal county next door to revamp two of the brothels out in Crystal, Nevada, since Dennis Hof of the famous Moonlight Bunny Ranch near Carson City bought them. There’s another brothel being built (wow when was the last time they built a brand new building for a new brothel??) south of Beatty. The two are in different directions when leaving Las Vegas but both businesses are in Nye County. I’m definitely going to have to add these stops to my brothel tour I want to take once they open!

I find it interesting that it took this long for Dennis Hof to do something in southern Nevada. His name and reputation are famous from the Cathouse series on HBO over the years and many local vistors get his brothels nearly 450 miles away from Las Vegas confused with the brothels located about 70 miles away. In fact I almost giggle when guys almost threaten me with a, “Well I’ll just go to the Bunny Ranch!” when they can’t agree on entertainment and a lower price. I say, “Ok you can definitely drive 450 miles one way if you want to!” That usually warrants the response of, “What? 450 miles?!” Nye County is also happy about the Dennis Hof movement since the previous owner of the brothels out in Crystal, Nevada, was convicted of bribery of a local commissioner (bribing a commissioner in Nevada? Never heard of such a thing!) These brothels in the county (if they have a certain number of girls) bring in an average of $126,000 annually to the county in fees! I also was digging around and found out each girl must pay a fee every quarter to the county as well. These fee figures vary by county, but in the end they bring a lot of money in to help out with county services (apparently the Veterans Association even gets a good chunk.) I’m curious though how the out-of-the-way brothels in Crystal and Beatty will do. The Denis Hof purchase is 17 miles past the turn off for Sheri’s and the Chicken Ranch while Beatty is a whopping 120 miles from downtown Las Vegas to the new location. The lucky thing about Mound House, where the famous northern Nevada brothels are located, is that they are one split hair away from the Carson City limits and 35 miles from Reno. The little community of brothels gets the advantage of being so conveniently located. That sort of convenience can’t really happen for Las Vegas to Nye County, so will these brothels ever be really busy out there? And why isn’t there another mini-community set up right on the Nye county border on the way out to Pahrump?

Though from my previous post on legalizing prostitution in Las Vegas, I wasn’t much of a fan of actual houses in a certain part of town, but really, if we had some sort of standardization then we wouldn’t be so criticized in the news like prostitution in Las Vegas was just running rampant and some random figure of 3,000 sex workers roaming the streets working here like this is the wild west. I don’t think a lot of people realize how much money the business brings in for the rural counties. In the end I think it could bring a better opinion to the sinfulness of Sin City and keep the shady operations, like the ones just shut down, from scamming our visitors.

I got a little hate mail from a woman a few weeks ago which is really my first email of the sort. It brought up some things that I have issues with — how oftentimes police and governmental agencies, special interest groups of all sorts, and even society as a whole place blame on all sex workers for some of the dark sides of humanity. They all want to believe that any sort of prostitution is a bad thing and all prostitutes are to blame for horrible child prostitution and sex trafficking that goes on in the world. The act of prostitution is even compared to a parasite by the author of the email. Furthermore, she says that we (read: sex workers) are selling ALL of women’s sexuality. Really? I don’t remember forcing or imposing myself, my personal choices, and my occupation on any other women in this world or anyone else, for that matter. My existence in the sex industry does not mean that I am hurting or damaging fellow females, to say nothing of the other horrible criminal acts she mentions. In fact, I see it as quite the opposite. I am doing something that they do not want to do and I am not imposing myself on anyone and their sexual lives. Just because some husbands or partners decide to see a sex worker does not make me guilty of forcing them to call an escort agency or meet a working girl in a bar. They act in their own freewill and do as they please as a rational human searching for something they feel like they lack in their own private lives.

As far as the “parasite of human trafficking and forced prostitution” goes, you can only blame those who try to abuse the system and the girls and boys that they affect. To say someone like myself is somehow guilty by association of trade is not only terribly offensive, it is just illogical and plain wrong. This same sort of blame could be placed on a lot of other industries, but it’s usually forgotten or not done.  Let’s take, for example, the sneaker or shoe making market. There are people who consider themselves masters of this trade, true craftsmen, and sell their product to the general public. Just because this cobbler makes shoes ethically while there are children forced to work in factories in many countries for pennies a day to make similar shoes (for large U.S. corporations at times, no less,) you can not place blame on the cobbler for his trade having a dark side by greedy people who want to make money at the hands of those children or even underpaid workers. It would be completely ludicrous to blame the local shoe repair guy for indirectly “encouraging” the inhumanity going on in some countries. It’s the same with prostitution. You can’t blame a local sex worker for the greedy and inhumane practices that these criminals are known for, but this is all you see in the news or in the papers. Our society is heavily biased against prostitutes to the point of dehumanizing us, and the people writing the “news” articles or “reporting” on television are themselves very often biased just like most of the rest of our culture.  It’s so commonplace and accepted as “okay,” it seems sometimes that sex workers are the last “special interest group” in the United States that is still – daily – dehumanized in the media and not treated with the same care as every other group that gets coddled to.  Just think about it for a minute before you make up your mind if I am right or wrong – when was the last positive news article you read or television “exposé” you watched that was not heavily slanted? The government convinces everyone that the sex industry is only filled with bad people and abusers of fellow humans to make a buck and if it isn’t the government it’s people like this allegedly “pro-women” person who is attacking another woman.  They never point out the good people or the educated women making a decision for themselves to make a business out of pleasure. It all gets twisted into us selling our bodies like we sold ourselves to the devil unintentionally or someone forced us to do it because we are powerless – helpless, even. We can and have made up our own minds, and of our own accord, to be in this industry. We are not selling the sexuality of other women because that is their own decision to make. Our job doesn’t influence them just like their desk job at a corporation doesn’t influence me.  I think we need to stop pointing the finger at the profession and point them at the true criminals.

I have never seen anything of the sort since becoming a sex worker, but in case you ever doubted, let me make this point very clear: if I EVER come across criminal activity involving children in any shape or form, and in particular prostitution, I will be the first person to report it to the authorities.  That makes me sick.

Here’s this woman’s original email:

Beyond your cute “ha ha prostitution is such a crazy gig!!” blog entries, I have no doubt that underneath it you know that what you do is hideous. Making a buck for yourself off of how lucrative women’s bodies are in this world?   Besides the obvious issue of the parasite human trafficking/forced prostitution industries that will always follow that lucrativeness, there are lots of intelligent women who understand that what you are really selling is all women’s sexuality. And we don’t appreciate it one bit. While all of us have to put up with the consequences of our bodies being commodities (a concept you wholly endorse and encourage by being a hooker) we kind of really disdain women who, as I said, use that damaging image to make few bucks for themselves, selling what is not theirs to sell.  It’s very selfish and frankly, very ignorant of you.

So I opened up the Las Vegas Sun website last week and saw this article plastered to the front page. Just by the mug shot blaring me in the face I knew it was prostitution/vice related, but when I read the headline a little part inside of me rejoiced! I was glad to see that the county had finally grown tired and caught on to these massage clubs scamming tourists out of money all at the expense of the trust of the local cabbies (which is why Nevada Taxicab Authority got involved). Here’s a previous blog post I wrote about it warning any readers about the huge scam.

At first I was glad about the raids, but then I started thinking about the effects this would have on other legitimate businesses in the industry as well. Over the years the scams the cabbies have pulled on these tourists have echoed throughout people’s thoughts on Vegas. More and more I hear of disappointed tourists and have had more verbally aggressive clients because they never want that same event to happen to them again. All in all it makes people have a soured mood about this town like we are all out to scam people out of whatever money they have. They already feel taken by the blackjack tables and now they can’t even have a good time with a girl without feeling like someone is out to get them. I always try to prove clients wrong that those clubs are different than us, but it’s hard to overcome. I know a lot of phone girls who have to sway the client’s opinion and explain that having a stripper come to their room is a totally different experience.

What I am really afraid of is how the local law enforcement will get the idea that ALL of us are bad. Like the agencies who sell strippers to client’s rooms legally, but the client ends up assuming something completely different because he didn’t listen and thought that prostitution is legal here. They then get upset and report us to police or security because of their own ignorance, and in turn we could all be thought of as a public nuisance. The difference between us and these clubs who were raided is this: the clubs sell men the thought that they are getting something much much more while dancing on the line of soliciting (I’ve heard of some places selling “hand jobs” when in fact they receive a hand massage) when in fact these girls never strip, dance or anything else. The agencies will tell you straight up that prostution is illegal here and the girl comes out for a striptease for a fee. People still read into this basic line and assume something different, but really there are no lines to read in between.

The other businesses that are hurt by these scam clubs? The legit massages therapists, reflexology specialists, and massage businesses. These “sex” clubs operate under several different types of business licenses that are all obtained under false pretenses. Several examples of these completely off licenses that are on paper with the county are: bookstores, art galleries, massage therapy parlors, snack stores, fitness clubs, and reflexology specialists. The real massage parlors and masseuses deal with crazy legal battles just to prove that their business that they want to open will not be a rub and tug joint. I even know of a personal friend who had to deal with months of issues with the county because she wanted to set up some massage chairs in a public area.

During the weekend I didn’t notice any real difference, but had one phone girl comment that calls seemed to be easier to book. Besides the clubs that were named in the article as being raided, I’ve noticed the rest of the sex clubs coming back and reopening, sometimes leaving their open signs off but taxis still are dropping unsuspecting clients off at the front and driving away as fast as possible once they are inside. My hopes is that the local government shuts these places down and doesn’t mess with the businesses that are running themselves properly. They are a real public nuisance and constantly use our tax dollars by calling police or clients calling police *constantly*. These places are constantly held up and robbed, pose a threat to other local businesses nearby, and most importantly gives Vegas a bad name (and even taxi drivers). The local economy has a long way to go to rebuild itself and more negative attention and reputation with the tourists is not what this town needs. This is Sin City afterall! Keep it Sin City and not Scam City.

Been getting some great questions sent to me… I got quite a few in one email that I thought would be great to answer. Actually I’m going to have to split it up into two entries! Hope the answers interest some others as well! :

Dan Writes: “Do you keep a fairly standard schedule, or do you consider yourself ‘on call’ most of the time? Judging from your tweets your day doesn’t seem to start until late and it seems you may go until sunrise if there’s business. Have you ever even done a call in the middle of the day? You also don’t seem to take many days off, other than vacation.”

I consider myself on call quite a bit because realistically, you can never judge how a day or week is going to go. It could be an early day (calls between 3-9pm) or a late night (3am-8am). There are always lulls in the night so it’s not like you are working for 12 hours straight. The only times that I have had that happen are during huge fight weekends or some convention+event that had a consistent stream of early calls plus late night calls. I do middle of the day calls (which I love because less alcohol is involved!) and I do take days off besides vacation. Every one needs a break! It might seem that I don’t get afternoon or daytime calls because those people don’t seem to do as many funny or crazy things to share with people. They are more cut and dry calls with not much to report on.

“Do you pack outfits when you go to a gig? Keep some spares in the car? How does it work if a guy wants spike heels or a schoolgirl and you don’t have time to go home? And how do you find a balance between looking sexy for first impressions with a client and not screaming “working girl” when you walk into a lobby? Then again, it’s Vegas, maybe walking into the lobby of the Palazzo dressed as “Bo Peep” might help you fit in…”

I don’t typically keep too much in my car as far as outfits go. Sometimes I put some more plain clothes to keep in case I am out until it is daytime and I don’t want to look like a long lost girl who left the nightclub hours before. Some girls keep little bikini type of outfits with them on the weekends (more bachelor parties) but other than that any special outfit requests would need to give us an ample amount of time to go home and change. The only requests I have gotten really are for stockings, which is much easier to pick up on the way to a call than drive all the way home. I’m sure anyone would be able to make outfit requests so long as they made an appointment in advance and not trying to do something last minute. As far as how I like to dress, I think there is a delicate balance between looking good and sticking out as a working girl. I try to dress appropriately to the time of day and the day of week so clients don’t feel so uncomfortable and I fit in. Hard to go pick up a girl at noon wearing spiked heels and a cocktail dress!

In relation to a tweet I sent the other night about a call: “You went to the Travelodge tonight. Gotta be honest, that kinda creeps me out. Is there a direct correlation between the client and their hotel every time? Or can you get a good client at the Travelodge and a shitty one at the Four Seasons?”

Usually, there is no direct correlation between a hotel and a client’s budget. Often times the small, funky hotels surprise you since a lot of people go to them not to sleep in but to have side entertainment since someone else is staying in their regular five star hotel room. There have been times I have gone to suites that cost upwards of $10,000 a night (usually comped because they gamble so much) that don’t work out and then the next call could be a funky place downtown and the client has fun for a few hours. I always say the common phrase, ” You can never judge a book by its cover” because you can’t attribute age, attire, level of inebriation, race, hotel, or room size to the success of the call.

Thanks for the questions and I will continue them in my next post!