When I was a senior at St. My assignment was to select one bill under consideration, research it and follow it through the session.
I chose the effort to legalize prostitution. At the time, Hawaii had a very active sex industry. My school was close to Hotel Street where the ladies of the night did business. Prostitute at the Mustang Ranch outside Reno, Nevada. Prostitution is already against the law in counties with more than , people, which includes Clark County home of Las Vegas and Washoe County home of Reno.
Senator Reid said that Nevada would be more business friendly if the state finally eliminated legalized brothel prostitution from the rural counties as well. The point of this blog is that this journey opened my eyes to the humanity of women who do this kind of work. Before I criss crossed Nevada visiting brothels I had a predictable response to prostitutes. They were messed up and misguided. Who could possibly do this kind of work?
Why would anyone sell their body to a stranger unless they needed the money to finance a drug addiction? They must have a crushing amount of baggage that would lead them to this lifestyle. And, of course, many do. But the ladies we met in the rural and suburban brothels that dot the landscape were attractive, smart, friendly, savvy, confident and defied stereotypes.
Most were not fallen women without other options. Many were educated and had goals in mind. They were wives and mothers. This was a means to a different end. And at least in the brothels, pursuing their careers as independent contractors, they were confident and satisfied. But in the safety of the legal brothels we found women who do this with class and dignity. She had been working illegally on the street for years with a pimp who eventually dumped her. Asya cried when she told us how painful that experience was.
