The owner of a brothel more than two hours' drive from Las Vegas said she hopes to hire Nevada's first legal male prostitutes within a month, now that state health officials have approved a method to test men for infectious diseases.
The world is ready for women, or even other men, to legally buy sex, said Shady Lady Ranch owner Bobbi Davis. Plus, being the first to offer male service could boost business in tough economic times, she said.
"With so many other male revues going on in Vegas, we thought it was time to give this a try," Davis told The Associated Press.
Regardless of how ready the world might be, Nevada's state health laws apparently weren't, because they required all prostitutes to have cervical testing. (No cervices, no services!) And as we all know, men do not have cervices. So it was time for a law change:
Until now, men have been effectively barred from legally plying the world's oldest profession in Nevada by the specificity of a state health law requiring prostitutes to undergo frequent cervical testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
The health board approved a regulation to allow urethral testing for men -- a crucial rule change by the state agency with ultimate power over whether prostitutes can or can't work.
For more than 25 years, no licensed female prostitute in Nevada has contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, said George Flint, a Reno wedding chapel owner and longtime lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Owners Association.
"My concern is that we continue to maintain that kind of record," he said.
Not surprisingly, concerns have been expressed about a legislative backlash.
Prostitution has been legal in rural Nevada counties since 1971 under strict state health board oversight but is against the law in the Las Vegas and Reno areas.
Flint said he feared the idea of male prostitutes serving male clients could spur a legislative backlash. He said he works to make the brothel industry socially acceptable to both libertarians and conservatives.
Hey, I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of Nevada politics, but I'll say this. If George Flint can actually figure out a way to make the brothel industry "socially acceptable to both libertarians and conservatives," that would be one of the greatest political feats in American history. It would go a long way towards ending the Culture War itself! Such a man deserves serious consideration as a presidential candidate.
They're still working on the pricing details. Women now run $300.00 per hour.
Davis said she wants to add two men to the three women she currently has living and working at her compound of trailers off U.S. 95 about 150 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
She said the women usually charge about $300 per hour for the five to 20 customers who visit on any given night.
"We don't know how to structure the men's pricing yet," Davis said.
Not to be facetious about such a serious matter, but I think a good argument can be made that prostitution is harder work for a man than it is for a woman.
So, I'm not sure that the doctrine of "equal pay for equal work" would apply.
Nor would "comparable worth," especially if you read the details:
A theory holding that compensation for job classifications filled chiefly by women should be the same as for those classifications filled chiefly by men if the jobs, albeit dissimilar, are regarded as having equal value. According to this theory, workers' salaries should be calculated on a scale of socioeconomic value that transcends traditional supply and demand.
I think asking the sex worker industry to transcend the laws of supply and demand goes too far.
As to the issue of "sustainability," don't laugh. In Copenhagen they're claiming that sex with prostitutes is not an environmentally "sustainable" activity:
Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard and the city council had postcards sent to 160 hotels urging people coming to town for next week's UN Climate Change Conference to "be sustainable -- don't buy sex," according to Spiegelonline.
it's time to get the government out of all of our emissions, for good.
Emissions are a human right!
Accusing sex workers of unsustainable conduct reveals that environmentalists not only have a Neo-Puritan agenda, but they probably have doubts about their own sustainability. I suspect their inability to sustain their own emissions is behind their obsession with the emissions of others.
It seems to me that prostitution should be a "green" alternative to sex in traditional marriage, seeing as sex with prostitutes is unlikely to produce those pesky, unwanted, emissions producing children. Fight Global Warming, Stop Overpopulation - Patronize a Brothel!
HTL · December 15, 2009 6:10 PM
"I think a good argument can be made that prostitution is harder work for a man than it is for a woman."
I assume we are talking about male prostitutes who are, themselves, into guys.
But in general I would say it depends on what John wants to do with the prostitute. Not all gay men, or even most, necessarily like to take it in the @$$. I assume you are familiar with Throbert's work?
Yes, I understand the point. (I can't stand to have even a prostate exam.)
But even if we put aside anal intercourse, most clients (whether male or female) of male prostitutes are hiring because they want something done to them, so when I say it is "harder" work, I mean that in every sense of the word. If the client is unattractive (which many are; hence they pay), female prostitutes have an easier time of it.
This site MUST have gone the way of others and is employing guest bloggers. I refuse to believe that Eric posted this.
Sounds more like something Andrew Sullivan would have posted. In fact since Andrew is on "vacation" I firmly suspect HE is the guest blogger.
Own up, Andrew. And forget the I can't stand to have even a prostate exam routine. We know better.
Frank · December 16, 2009 2:09 AM
Andrew Sullivan should stay the hell away from my prostate, and stick to his favorite uterus!
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Thank you for the best laugh I've had for a long time.