Sex work is legal in 10 of the 17 Nevada counties.
Today there are 20 operating brothels in the state.
Nevada is the only state in the U.S. where sex work is legal. The women I spoke with are not victims of sex trafficking.
Sex work is illegal in Las Vegas.
Brothel regulations include:
Brothels must exist in counties with less than 700,000 people (Las Vegas is the only county these laws exclude).
They must be located further than 400 yards from any church, school, or “principal business street” (NRS 201.380, Wolfe & Blithe, 2015, p. 544).
The women obtain work cards that qualify them as independent contractors.
These cards are “issued by the local police or sheriff’s office” and, in most cases, are the same as those issued to hotel and casino employees (Brents et al., 2010, p. 9).
Working girls must also pass monthly blood testing and weekly testing for sexually transmitted infections (Wolfe & Blithe, 2015).
The sizes of the brothels vary in size from hundreds of women contracted at a time, to only three to five (Wolfe & Blithe, 2015; Blithe & Wolfe, 2017).
The industry first came to fruition in the 1850’s when large deposits of silver were discovered in Virginia City, Nevada. This discovery attracted miners from across the country who were willing to pay for female companionship. It was during this time brothel boardinghouses began appearing throughout the state to fulfill this need (Wolfe & Blithe, 2015). When outsiders first hear of legal sex work today, many ask “how does this still exist?” According to Barbara Brents, Crystal Jackson, and Kathryn Hausbeck, “Nevada built a tourist industry on turning deviance into leisure” (2010, p. 2). It is this attitude that motivates and sustains the brothel industry today. There are also great tax benefits for the Nevada communities where brothels are located (Brents et al., 2010).
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