Nevada Brothels
Web log entries about Nevada's legal brothels. (Also see our full coverage page on the book Brothel by Alexa Albert.)
ARTICLES
Retired police detective Chuck Lee has purchased Sheri's Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada, and plans to convert the establishment into the "Bellagio of cathouses". The current site is an expanded mobile home with few frills, but the new management hopes to build a sort of luxury resort brothel. "It's going to have a beauty salon for the girls, and tennis courts, riding stables, a restaurant and overnight facilities for the men -- more of a gentlemen's club," says one manager.
APB News (Nov 2000)
Dan Bell looks at the controversy surrounding retired detective Chuck Lee's purchase of a rural Nevada brothel. The article quotes representatives from opposed feminist positions on prostitution: some opposing all prostitution as exploitation of women, others supporting legalized prostitution because it allows greater health and safety for both prostitutes and clients.
Las Vegas Weekly (Dec 2000)
Rebecca Mead looks at the legal brothel business in Nevada and profiles Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunnyranch, who "aspires to update the [Nevada brothel] tradition, and to apply modern marketing principles to the commodity in which he deals, which is sex." (This article appeared in The New Yorker in April.)
The New Yorker (via Rebecca Mead; Apr 2001)
Interesting wire feature (with no byline) about Nevada's legal brothels. The article looks at the renovations of Sheri's Ranch, which a new owner plans to turn into a luxury resort brothel with a more public profile. Some in the brothel business fear this plan might upset the peaceful coexistence of legal brothels with their communities: "He cannot supermarket the brothel business without it eventually being made illegal in that county. The brothels survive by not being too visible. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's going to always be legal."
Court TV (Jul 2001)
A recent poll among Nevada residents shows continued support for legal prostitution, despite recent demographic shifts in the state's population. The poll conducted for the Reno Gazette-Journal and KRNV-TV found 52 percent of Nevadans opposed banning legal brothels, while 31 percent are against laws that allow prostitution in rural counties. Others were undecided or had no opinion. (Sep 2002)
