Tune in and you'd be forgiven for thinking that all prostitutes in Nevada are on to a good thing. The women speak coyly about loving their work, their customers, their bosses. During a two-year investigation, the author, Melissa Farley, visited eight legal brothels in Nevada, interviewing 45 women and a number of brothel owners.
Far from enjoying better conditions than those who work illegally, the prostitutes she spoke to are often subject to slave-like conditions. Described as "pussy penitentiaries" by one interviewee, the brothels tend to be in the middle of nowhere, out of sight of ordinary Nevadans. Brothels are officially allowed only in counties with populations of fewer than ,, so prostitution remains an illegal - though vast - trade in conurbations such as Las Vegas.
The brothel prostitutes often live in prison-like conditions, locked in or forbidden to leave. One pimp starved a woman he considered too fat. She made a friend outside the brothel who would throw food over the fence for her. Some are bipolar, some are schizophrenic.
Then there is the fact that legal prostitutes seem to lose the rights ordinary citizens enjoy. From , prostitutes in Nevada have been legally required to be tested once a week for sexually transmitted diseases and monthly for HIV. Customers are not required to be tested. The women must present their medical clearance to the police station and be finger-printed, even though such registration is detrimental: if a woman is known to work as a prostitute, she may be refused health insurance, face discrimination in housing or future employment, or endure accusations of unfit motherhood.
In addition, there are countries that will not permit registered prostitutes to settle, so their movement is severely restricted. Those who support the system claim that the regulations may help prevent pimping, which they see as a worse form of exploitation to that which occurs in brothels.
