What are your thoughts?

‘Activists, lawyers and Christian pastors are leading a petition drive to ban brothels in two Nevada counties, Nye and Lyon, and if successful the potential ballot initiatives would close nearly half the state’s bordellos…

But Madam Sonja, a manager and courtesan at the Love Ranch, said outlawing brothels would displace women, leading some to ply their trade illegally in places like Las Vegas, where street prostitutes and escorts are vulnerable to trafficking, rape and abuse by pimps.

In legal brothels, she pointed out, women had a freedom to set their own schedules and prices in a more safe, controlled environment that included security cameras, “panic buttons”, and the ability to vet clients who booked through the internet.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, sociology professor Barb Brents echoed that point. “The individuals with fewer resources are going to hit the streets. You still got to pay for rent, you still got to pay for food … It’s sad to see the Nevada brothels potentially closing right when the #MeToo movement has women standing up to say: ‘I have the right to work without being harassed no matter what job I do.’”

…Nevada’s brothel industry is already shrinking due in part to competition from escort services marketing through the internet. In the 1980s, 35 cathouses played host to miners, truckers, local residents and tourists alike. Now, just 18 remain, 12 of which are owned by the “Trump of Pahrump”– the reality television star and state assembly candidate Dennis Hof.

“This is totally politically driven,” said Hof, wearing a gun on his waist and speaking from the parlor of his Love Ranch brothel, adding: “This is the Mormon mafia in the political establishment trying to throw me off my game while I’m running for office… I’m the anti-establishment guy, and they can’t buy me, so they want to ruin me,” he said.’

[theguardian.com]