Category: Featured

I have had a fascination with the sex industry since youth, first with strippers and porn stars. When I turned 18, I immediately visited the local strip club, awed by the air of confidence and “I-don’t-give-a-shit” attitude of the brazen women on stage. I wanted to be around them, get to know them, be one of them. The fascination quickly turned to legal prostitutes as soon as I saw HBO’s Cathouse series. Who were these fierce women in the desert selling sex, and open enough to be on television? Shortly after first seeing Cathouse, I completed a Masters in clinical psychology and began a doctorate in the same. I was receiving clinical training via an Ivy League university and excelling in the program. At that time I also discovered webcam work, and began to play with dildos on the internet for strangers to pay for school. I was always terrified that a patient from the hospital would see me online. Despite my apprehensions, my desire to study the industry grew as did my involvement in it. I became more public about my interest in sex work. This was not popular in my current academic program. So, I did what seemed natural to me but insane to everyone else; dropped out of a doctorate program with very little notice and moved over 2,000 miles away to the one state where I could study legal prostitution- Nevada.

Christina, the PhD student

 When I dropped out, I had not even been accepted into another doctorate program yet, which is probably why one of my professors asked me if I was on drugs. I was obsessed with getting into UNLV’s Sociology program; a program with prominent prostitution researchers, also known to be sex-worker friendly. In case of rejection, my back-up plan was to keep trying. I got in on my first try, but now I needed a way to get into the brothels. My goal was to interview legal prostitutes in several brothels to find out more about their lives at work, thoughts on clients, and the mechanics of intimacy and authenticity in their line of work.

Naively, I went to a few brothels and explained who I was, and asked if I could live in the brothel from time to time, pay rent, and interview any girls who were willing. After a few rejections, I went to Dennis Hof’s Alien Cathouse with the same speech. The manager told me that I would be able to conduct interviews as a working girl. What!? I had secretly entertained the possibility, but was nervous about the professional ramifications. I had some in-depth conversations with advisors, and went through the proper procedures to gain approval from the University’s ethics committee. The project was ready to go! I was to live in the brothel, work as a prostitute, and interview other working girls.

This was almost 3 years ago, and in that span of time I have collected over 50 interviews from 5 (out of 7) of Hof’s brothels, and have worked on and off in 3 of them. I just completed my third year in the PhD program, and also teach sociology and statistics to undergraduates. My students and professors all know what I do; I am free. I no longer have to hide, and I am proud to say that I am a legal prostitute. I love the job, the environment, and the other women. It has been an incredible experience, both working in and studying the industry. I am still collecting data, but I will share what I believe to be one of my most surprising findings. Approximately 70% of legal prostitutes are having orgasms with their clients, rather than faking. The melding of the authentic and the commercial continues to be a topic of interest.

Vienna, the sex worker

 In the brothels, I work under the name Goddess Vienna, and specialize in BDSM/fetish, the “porn star experience,” Nuru massage, and couples parties. I get a rush every time I put on my leather or lingerie; curl my hair and glue on those big fake lashes. Essentially, I am playing a character, living out a fantasy while fulfilling those of others. Christina the researcher is still under the surface though, fascinated and taking mental field notes. When Christina is tired from grading and studying all day, Vienna can come out to play, and my day goes from books about bordellos to being a Goddess in one. I can leave the books behind, and that can be a huge relief. As a PhD student, most days are quite high stress, but as a Dominatrix, I can resolve the urges to scream and tear my hair out by being a sadist at work with consenting adults who also feel relieved by the service I provide. I remember having a man on the St Andrew’s Cross at the Love Ranch Vegas, thrashing him at full force with my leather flogger. He was relieved to not be in control, and I felt powerful playing out the scene while also making his fantasy into a reality. There is a beauty and relief in the power exchange.

The truest benefit of Vienna is that she allows me to see the industry from the inside out; I am much more than an objective observer. I am living it, breathing it, working it, having sex for it. Few prostitution researchers have taken the leap from researcher to prostitute, and while I wholeheartedly believe it is possible to study the industry as an “outsider,” my insider perspective affords me a different kind of knowledge; an experiential knowledge, and that is priceless.

 

In January of 2016, during an interview with the Howard Stern Show, reality TV star Khloe Kardashian opened up about her marriage with NBA player Lamar Odom and how she felt about his much-publicized drug overdose at Dennis Hof’s Love Ranch brothel.

“I said [to Lamar], ‘listen, you do whatever the fuck you want to do but please promise me you’ll never go back to a disgusting brothel again,” Kardashian told Howard Stern. “And if you want to pay someone, you could pay someone in the privacy of your hotel!”

Apparently the fashion and fitness icon has some pretty negative opinions of legal Nevada sex dens. So negative that she prefers her cheating spouses to procure the services of illegal prostitutes over the licensed variety.

Let’s look at a few brief facts about these “disgusting” legal brothels and the Lamar Odom scandal, and see if we can help Kardashian see things more clearly.

Legal brothels are safe, professional, and healthy

The prostitutes working at the Love Ranch and Dennis Hof’s other legal brothels are far from “disgusting,” at least as far as their health and professional standing are concerned. Sex workers are required by law to be tested weekly for sexually transmitted diseases. All prostitutes at Nevada brothels practice safe sex and condoms are mandatory. There has never been a case of a customer contracting an STD or HIV as a result of visiting a Nevada brothel.

Legal Nevada hookers also undergo a strict background check in order to receive their Sheriff’s card and business license. No one with a serious criminal history is permitted to be a legal sex worker. There are stricter health and legal requirements imposed on licensed Nevada prostitutes than on reality TV performers like Kardashian. In other words, it’s safer for Lamar Odom to have sex with one of Dennis Hof’s prostitutes than it is for him to have sex with Khloe.

Legal brothels are drug-free

Nevada brothels like the Love Ranch do not allow any illegal substance on brothel property. All of Dennis Hof’s establishments are drug-free. Which is why when Hof invited Lamar to return to the Love Ranch, it was under the condition that Odom does not bring illegal drugs into the bordello.

Customers are not searched when they arrive at a Nevada brothel, just like visitors aren’t searched when they check in to most hotels. So, unfortunately, it is possible for a customer to bring illegal drugs into a brothel. As in Odom’s case, if the customer uses drugs while alone in his private suite, his clandestine drug use can go undetected for a long time.

Sadly, addicts like Lamar Odom often overdose. They can overdose in a five-star hotel, in the bathroom of a Walmart, or in a Nevada brothel. It’s not the location that’s at fault, it’s the addict. Sorry Khloe, but the only person to blame in the Love Ranch situation is Odom himself.

Lamar Odom is Alive BECAUSE he went to a Legal Nevada Brothel

Lamar Odom OD’d at a legal establishment that has no reason to fear law enforcement. Because of this fact, when Odom was discovered unconscious, brothel employees immediately called 911 and took steps to get Odom the medical attention he needed.

Imagine if he overdosed with an illegal prostitute at any hotel in Las Vegas. How can Kardashian be so sure that an illegal escort would call 911 to save Odom (and risk getting arrested) instead of fleeing the scene of the overdose? Kardashian seems to believe that Odom would be better off with an unlicensed street walker in a hotel. Why?

No one expects Khloe Kardashian to go public as an advocate for legalized prostitution, that’s probably not good for her image as a high-class sex tape maker. But to call legal brothels “disgusting” while at the same time advocating the hiring of an illegal prostitute is just moronic. Kardashian should be thanking the brothel workers who saved her husband’s life, not insulting them.

Photo of Kardashian By Toglenn (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons