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Attack on Las Vegas Sex Industry

Recently, Bob Herbert wrote an opinion piece in the NYT about a new self-published book by Melissa Farley entitled, "Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections." Herbert and Farley claim that not only is all prostitution bad for women, but that Nevada's sex industry is degrading and demeaning to all women in Nevada, and that somehow women here are worse off because of it.

We have collected all the articles on this we could find, and you can see them all here.

First, here is the nonprofit coalition set up with Melissa Farley, and the rest are articles and blog entries.

The Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking
(NCAST)

The Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking (NCAST) is a non-governmental, nonprofit organization. NCAST's mission includes educating Nevadans and other concerned citizens about the harms of prostitution, including the underlying and fundamental human rights violations of prostitution, the link between prostitution (both legal and illegal) and human trafficking, and developing and promoting policy and functional alternatives to current laws and practices within the State of Nevada.

NCAST will build a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to achieving progressive reform of Nevada's laws on prostitution and trafficking. NCAST will also establish an education and assistance program for women leaving the sex trade. We will collaborate with survivors of prostitution to determine what programs currently exist and then evaluate those programs to determine gaps in service. Once the gaps have been identified, we will work collaboratively with our partners to develop innovative solutions that would assist women in transitioning out of the sex industry and also discourage others from entering prostitution.

Addressing men’s demand for prostitution is also critical. We seek to reduce the demand for sexual exploitation by developing educational programs and campaigns aimed at men and boys and by supporting the enforcement of existing laws against solicitation.

The work of NCAST will be a multi-year project.  We hope to establish some best practices to dealing with these egregious forms of sexual exploitation that can be replicated elsewhere.

Candice Trummell serves as the executive director of NCAST. Trummell is the former chairman of the Nye County Commission. We welcome members and partners committed to the mission of NCAST. Please contact us at web@nevadacoalition.org. Our first event will take place later this year. Time and location are to be announced.

Here is a snapshot of our action plan in Nevada:

Build a strong coalition of survivors, organizations with similar goals and interests in the areas of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, and leaders from Nevada (political, community, church, business, and labor).

NCAST will identify and recruit members from all spectrums who are dedicated to our organization's mission and values. Survivors will be an integral component of the leadership of our organization.

Seek enforcement of existing laws on prostitution and trafficking, especially with respect to arresting men who buy women and children for sex.

NCAST will initially seek enforcement of existing laws related to pimps and johns. This is not a solution to the problems in Nevada as the laws themselves need to be reformed. However, as we work through the political and legal reform movement, this step will serve to help raise the awareness of individuals and leaders regarding the prevalence of prostitution and sex trafficking in Nevada and will start helping hold the perpetrators of these crimes against women accountable.  

Advocate for political reform that replaces Nevada's legalized prostitution laws with progressive laws such as those in Sweden that address men’s demand.

NCAST has learned via research and via the experience of other countries that the problem of prostitution and sex trafficking is best addressed not through legalization or decriminalization but through establishing and vigorously enforcing laws that hold perpetrators - johns and pimps - accountable with felony-level charges while at the same time provide safe housing and long term services for the victims. Prostitution and others who benefit from sex trafficking in Nevada are well entrenched in the political system. Many of the local citizenry have been programmed to believe that prostitution is a victimless crime. Achieving reform in Nevada will be a major campaign against much better funded and sometimes dangerous opponents.

Educate women and youth alternatives to prostitution and assist them in transitioning out of prostitution.

NCAST will work with survivors, service providers and other partners to develop an education and assistance program for women and youth in prostitution. Those involved in this industry will have a wide range of needs that must be met in order for them to escape this life including, but not limited to the following types of services:

Basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter

Health services such as drug and alcohol addiction treatment, psychological counseling, treatment of violence-and-trauma-related injuries

Job training and placement

Educate the general public on the harms of prostitution and trafficking 

By and large, the citizens of the State of Nevada see prostitution as either a victimless crime or a legitimate industry in which women are paid and treated well and brothel owners give back to the communities. One tenth of one percent (0.1%) is an extremely conservative estimate of the number of citizens who know what women and girls in prostitution, even in legal brothels, endure. Educating the Nevada public in a way that makes them care about those in prostitution will be a challenging process.

Work in collaboration with survivors of prostitution to develop educational and outreach programs for women considering entering the business of sexual exploitation.

Develop a campaign to end men's demand for prostitution.

There are a number of campaigns that confront men's demand for prostitution as the driver of the sex industry.  We will explore the use of educational and legal approaches.

Educate the general public and key policy makers on the link between prostitution and trafficking.

Currently, the general public and key policy makers seem willing to take on the challenge of human trafficking. In order to successfully reform Nevada's legal system, we will need to educate Nevadans on the inextricable links between prostitution and human trafficking.

http://www.nevadacoalition.org/

City as Predator

September 4, 2007

OP-ED COLUMNIST

By BOB HERBERT

Las Vegas

There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than in Las Vegas.

The tone of systematic, institutionalized degradation is set by the mayor, Oscar Goodman, who told me in an interview that the city would reap “tremendous” benefits if a series of “magnificent brothels” could be established to cater to johns from across the country and around the world.

“I’ve said there should be the beginning of a discussion of that,” said Mr. Goodman, a former defense lawyer for mobsters who unabashedly describes his city as an adult playground where “anything goes — as long as you don’t go over the line.”

Most of the lines in Vegas have long since been erased. It is without a doubt, as the psychologist and researcher Melissa Farley, says, “the epicenter of North American prostitution and sex trafficking.”

Vegas is a place where women and girls by the tens of thousands are chewed up by the vast and astonishingly open sex trade. You can be sitting at a traffic light and a huge mobile billboard will drive past, promising, “Hot Babes — Direct to Your Room.”

I was drawn to this story by an advance copy of Ms. Farley’s book-length report, “Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections.” It’s being published online today.

The report explores what Oscar Goodman doesn’t appear to understand: the horrendous toll that prostitution, legal or illegal, takes on the women and girls involved. If you peel back the thin, supposedly sexy veneer of the commercial sex trade, you’ll quickly see the rotten inside, where females are bought, sold, raped, beaten, shamed and in many, many cases, physically and emotionally wrecked 

Start with the fact that so many of those who are pulled into the trade are so young — early-20s, late-teens and younger. Child prostitutes by the hundreds pass through the Family Division courtroom of Judge William Voy, who views the hapless, vulnerable girls as victims and tries to help them. The girls he sees are as young as 12, with the average age being 14.

He told me about a 14-year-old who was seven months pregnant by her pimp. She was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease, had a drug problem, was undernourished and still craved a relationship with the pimp. “These cases will tear your heart out,” the judge said.

Ms. Farley was asked to study the Nevada sex trade and its consequences 2 ½ years ago by John Miller, who at the time headed the U.S. State Department’s effort to fight human trafficking around the world. Prostitution is legal in some parts of Nevada but not in Vegas, where 90 percent of the state’s prostitution occurs. Vegas is a world-class embarrassment to any U.S. official attempting to reduce prostitution and trafficking in foreign countries.

“We did surveys of people on the street,” said Ms. Farley, “and nearly half thought prostitution was legal in Las Vegas. Guess why that is? Massive advertising.”

There are more than 150 pages of ads in the Las Vegas yellow pages for “college teens,” “mature women,” “mothers and daughters,” “petite Japanese women,” “Chinese teens in short skirts” and every other variation imaginable. I asked Mayor Goodman about that, and he said: “We’ve changed that a little bit. They used to have pictures.”

Sex clubs with teenage girls dancing nude and offering lap dances to johns are legal, ubiquitous and widely advertised. Many of those girls are either prostitutes or one short step away.

What is not widely understood is how coercive all aspects of the sex trade are. The average age of entry into prostitution is extremely young. The prostitutes are ruthlessly controlled by pimps, club owners and traffickers. In the case of legal prostitution, they are controlled by their own pimps and the brothel owners — pimps who have been legalized by the state.

The women are exploited in every way. Most of the money they receive from johns goes to the pimps, the brothel owners, the escort service managers and so forth. Strippers and lap dancers have to pay for the right to dance in the clubs, and the money they get in tips has to be shared with the club owners, bartenders, bouncers, etc.

Huge numbers of foreign women are trafficked into Vegas. The legions of Asian women in the massage parlors and escort services did not come flocking to Vegas from suburban U.S.A.

Mayor Goodman said that he is no fan of illegal prostitution, but is convinced the legal variety could be a boon. He is proud of his city’s tourist slogan: “What happens here, stays here.”

Back in the ’90s, Las Vegas tried hard to promote a family-friendly image.

“That ended when I became mayor,” said Mr. Goodman.

-----

This article was originally published in the NYT. It is viewable here also:

http://screwsubwalls.blogspot.com/2007/09/city-as-predator.html

http://greenpagan.blogspot.com/2007/09/city-as-predator.html

http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/09/bob-herbert-city-as-predator.html

http://www.ohio.com/editorial/commentary/9579667.html

www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_6840160

http://www.franklinnow.com/blog/index.aspx?blogid=296&month=09&year=2007&entryid=42973

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1891045/posts (partial story, with comments and link to NYT)

John Ralston's Face to Face

Link to videos in which Farley and Barb Brents appeared**:

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=1560638

**When you click on link above, scroll to bottom and look for these titles, and pay particular attention to "Demeaning City?":

And it won't get you tossed from the Senate either...

.. 09/04/2007

..so long as it's with a girl.

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert takes a wide-ranging swat at a staple of our local economy: whoring. No, not political whoring. The real whoring.

Herbert draws on the work of Melissa Farley, whose career has focused on researching prostitution the world over and who finally turns an eye toward Nevada. Yes, you'd think she would have started here.

If there's one way to make a column about prostitution in Nevada even more offensive and outrageous to people around the country living and working under the blissfully mistaken impression that the economics of sexual oppression and exploitation isn't happening in their town, it's including a substantial number of brain-dead quotes from Las Vegas' ass clown of a town drunk, Oscar Goodman. So of course that's exactly what Herbert did.

Thanks to Goodman's customary wallowing-in-sin schtick, hizzoner finds himself joking about how he's presiding over a market in human rights violations — seriously, he can't be this much of a moron so he must have been hammered when he gave the interview. But Goodman in performance mode should not detract from the more significant concerns in Herbert's column, concerns that don't get enough attention 'round here.

The column is hidden by the New York Times' ridiculous firewall, almost as if the paper deliberately wants to make sure that nobody ever sees it. So we posted it after the jump — courtesy of somebody who would probably prefer not to be mentioned because spreading the Times' firewall-secure copy around on the internets for free is illegal or some crap like that.

Comments

*sigh*...but, this is who the small minority of populace, those who bothered to go vote, selected, with the help of donors who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in reported and non-reported contributions.

I didn't know there were "sex clubs" in LV and I never bothered to look at the yellkow pages for escort service, let alone know there are 150 pages of advertising broken down into perversions. Maybe there are so many unseemly billboards on the roadside (and Reid had an ammendment to keep them there), that many of us don't even look at them anymore.....

Wonder if the MSM will comment on this book?

Posted by: What?! | 09/04/2007 at 11:09 AM

Unquestionably, prostitution in Las Vegas is legitimized by the mainstream corporate media here. Pick up a copy of the Greenspun newspaper "Las Vegas Weekly" or the magazine "944" and check out all the legitimite full-page glossy ads featuring near-naked young women in seductive "come-f*ck-me" poses. There is no difference between advertisements for strip joints or casino nightclubs. The unmistakable message goes out to girls in this community that their worth will be based on how much they doll themselves up to look like big-breasted Tijuana hookers.

Posted by: RussBBinVegas@aol.com | 09/04/2007 at 12:00 PM

Thing is, it just ain't for locals anymore. Wait at the airport for arriving relatives sometime and observe how many of our nubile young visitors enter baggage claim dressed like hookers. Vegas = getting laid no matter what. Except for us locals, of course.

Posted by: The Penguin | 09/04/2007 at 01:17 PM

I'm not here to defend Las Vegas. But I do feel better knowing that prostitution and sex clubs and advertising for them have totally disappeared from the rest of the country.

Posted by: Keeping Them Honest | 09/04/2007 at 02:32 PM

Those poor, exploited strippers, forced to drive Lexuses and carry Bulova. Those poor Pahrump prostitutes, dragged -- er, I mean, emotionally coerced -- into a life of selling their bodies. Herbert's moral indignation only clouds his inability to paint Nevada with anything other than a mile-wide brush. I don't know what's worse: his creeping paternalism or his strident condescension. Guess what? There's underage drinking, too. Close all the bars! Close all the bars! And underage gambling. Close the casinos! Close the casinos!

I think the working arrangement he describes in brothels could fit the model of any functioning office. Like, say, the New York Times.

Posted by: whore | 09/05/2007 at 01:41 PM

Herbert couldn't have hit the nail any straighter! To reiterate, "There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than in Las Vegas." THAT folks is the pure, unadulterated truth. It is not just about the prostitution. It is the male attitudes all over this town. From the police, to the DA, to the Judges. VERY unfriendly to women overall. And, women, if you divorce in this town, RUN! Don't live here! Get out of this cesspool of slime.

Posted by: sanctity | 09/05/2007 at 09:05 PM

It is about time someone took on the thugs and pimps who run Vegas. Almost everyone has their hand in the cookie jar. Girls of 17 and 18 years old are seduced in with the promises of fancy cars and big houses. Once they discover they are expected to service a quota of at least 5 men a day, give them whatever they want, and split the money with pimps and cabdrivers and bartenders, the reality sets in. And once you're in, it is very difficult to get out. And if you have a violent pimp or work for a violent strip club owner you can just forget it, you are theirs. And can you call the police for help? NO! There need to be some services for women in Vegas who are trying to escape prostitution. Vegas has to stop using women like this. It is not right.

Posted by: Jason | 09/10/2007 at 02:49 PM

http://www.lasvegasgleaner.com/las_vegas_gleaner/2007/09/and-it-wont-get.html
 

City as Predator

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

An article about Las Vegas appeared in today’s New York Times. Online, the story is available only to those who subscribe to “Times Select,” but that didn’t prevent its immediate appearance in toto on a numbers of blogs (like this one). I received the story by email last night. My first thought after reading “City as Predator” was that it was another annoying rant against Las Vegas by a parachute journalist on an expense account. Now, in the harsh light of a hot Vegas day, I still think that, but I also feel inspired to tap out a comment or two.

“City as Predator” is the work of columnist Bob Herbert. To be fair, he did drop in on Las Vegas long enough to flip through a Yellow Pages, interview the mayor, talk to a judge, and notice that rolling billboard that says “Hot Babes -- Direct to Your Room.” Which of these pieces of research led him to open his article with “There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than in Las Vegas,” I don’t know. He also gives no evidence for this statement: “Vegas is a place where women and girls by the tens of thousands are chewed up by the vast and astonishingly open sex trade.” Both sentences are charmingly sensationalistic, but without something more than a New York Times byline to support them, they’re – well, I guess the traditional term for such declarations is “yellow.”

Herbert’s underlying thesis is that all prostitution – legal or not – hurts all women, and prostitution includes not only the sale of sex acts, but also exotic dancing. Okay, it’s an op-ed piece, and that’s his “op.” It’s still an unusual definition, almost as odd as when he refers to patrons of gentlemen’s clubs as “johns.” It’s a designation I think would surprise the men and women who frequent them, and I certainly didn’t consider myself a “john” the time I went to the Olympic Garden.

Perhaps the most disheartening feature of Mr. Herbert’s piece is the troubling story provided by Judge William Voy of a 14-year-old girl who was seven months pregnant by her pimp. “These cases will tear your heart out,” Herbert quoted the judge as saying. Well, yes, and well they should. Which is why it isn’t helpful to lump them together with activities that don’t involve the abuse and exploitation of children.

I suppose by now it seems like I’m a big fan of the Nevada sex industry. Well, I’m not. I’ve toured a legal brothel or two, and I’ve gotten a feel for the challenges facing sex workers, and they’re as varied as they are in any other industry. Is there exploitation? Of course. Because it exists in a shadow world, caught between legal and illegal and naughty and proper, there’s ample opportunity for bad behavior.

Herbert writes, again in enchantingly provocative prose, “If you peel back the thin, supposedly sexy veneer of the commercial sex trade, you’ll quickly see the rotten inside, where females are bought, sold, raped, beaten, shamed and in many, many cases, physically and emotionally wrecked.” Is he right? I’m sure plenty of people reading his article will instantly agree, ignoring the obvious fact that Herbert didn’t do what he suggests. Looking at the Yellow Pages, observing a billboard, chatting with a judge, and interviewing our happily garrulous mayor does not constitute peeling back the veneer, especially since he obviously arrived with his mind made up. I can’t help seeing him in my mind’s eye, jumping out of a plane. A bright yellow parachute billows above him, and when he lands, I see his matching goggles.

Bob Herbert has a way with words. Maybe someday he’ll spend long enough in Las Vegas to shed the ‘tude, peel the veneer, and actually take a look at what’s here. Maybe then his observations would be worth pondering.

posted by Megan Edwards @ Tuesday, September 04, 2007   3 Comments Links to this post   

3 Comments:

At 4:08 PM , Mark Sedenquist said...

I think the most outrageous and asine comment he makes is this one:
"...“ Vegas is a place where women and girls by the tens of thousands are chewed up by the vast and astonishingly open sex trade...” Let's see I haved lived and worked in Las Vegas for nearly eight years which is a little longer than this columnist and somehow I have missed meeting any of these "tens of thousands" of women. Maybe they are simply incognito -- but I see mothers, daughters and other family members every day on my appointed rounds and I really don't think ANY of them are engaged in the sex trade. I think this writer is a disgrace to the journalism community and his rants should be recoginized for what they are. I find it especially bizarre that he never seemed to have interviewed any women. Great work, guy.

At 7:21 AM , Andre said...

To Megan and Mark: I don't know what kind of research Mr. Herbert did regarding Vegas. If he did none does that mean that the exploitation of Women in Las Vegas does not go on? I don't care if Mr. Herbert is "Yellow" - I've never been to L.V. yet I've no doubt the sex trade is alive and well there, as it is in New York City - that is the real issue. Now, Mark: It's quite possible for a person to live in NYC for 100 years and claim to have never seen a drug dealer, gang-banger, prostitute or a hungry/sick/homeless child. I wouldn't doubt that person's veracity just there powers of perception. Now, I love NY (BKLYN!)but I'm not in denial. If a writer hasn't done his research yet writes about the tens of thousands of sick people that are here I'm not down on attacking the writer. Because I recognize - NY is what it is - "Good" and "Bad". Just like Las Vegas. Whether you notice the sickness or not depends on your level of consciousness. So, focus on the messenger if you want to. Me, I think there is a lot of "good" in L.V. AND, a lot of "Bad".

At 6:29 PM , GeoTrix said...

As for me, my favorite part is, "The legions of Asian women in the massage parlors and escort services did not come flocking to Vegas from suburban U.S.A." !!! I agree with Megan that the author lumps too much into the category of "sex work." He doesn't mention that a lot of the sex ads promise a payoff that never comes. I think that the tease of sex is often presented as a way to bilk more money out of the tourists. Sure, the sex workers are out there, but I think many of his "tens of thousands" are employed at making people THINK they're going to get sex, when in reality, they are not.

 http://www.meganedw ards.com/ blog/2007/ 09/city-as- predator. html  

Vegas the epicenter of North American prostitution?

Sep 5, 2007 05:50 PM PDT

Prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas, but a new book says Las Vegas is a magnet for human trafficking for prostitution.

The book, released Wednesday, says women and children are brought here from other states, as well as, from all over the world for legal and illegal prostitution.

"Women are moved for sale to buyers in Las Vegas."

Dr. Melissa Farley says Las Vegas is the epicenter of North American prostitution and human trafficking. Farley spent two years researching and writing her new book: Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections.

She says her research dispels myths that legalizing prostitution decreases organized crime, rape rates, sex trafficking, or disease. And she doesn't see a difference between legal or illegal prostitution.

"Legal prostitution does not protect women from the violence, the verbal abuse, physical injury or diseases, such as HIV, that occur in illegal prostitution," Dr. Farley says.  

"People want to limit to thinking that strip dancing is not prostitution, yes it is, most of the women are being forced to do things, they're not there because they're great dancers, they're there to provide a service in the backroom," says Olivia Howard who knows about the grim reality of selling her body.

Howard was a heroin addict and a prostitute for 19 years. "I was in prostitution from the whole gamut from strip dancing, escort service, massage parlors to street prostitution."Howard now helps women in Chicago get out of prostitution.

Both Farley and Howard say the buying, selling, and trading of women for sex is what makes prostitution a human rights violation. "It's no different if it's legal or illegal prostitution, women are being abused and victimized and no one has the right to sell another human being," Howard said.

Dr. Farley says more money needs to be spent on services to help women get out of prostitution, including more drug and alcohol treatment programs specifically for prostitutes, as well as tougher laws against men who pay for sex.

http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=7032570

Former Prostitutes Wage War Against Prostitution

Sep 5, 2007 09:49 PM PDT

Edward Lawrence, Reporter

A new non-profit group, made up of former prostitutes, is going after the legal and illegal prostitution industry in Nevada. 

The group, Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking, is headed up by former Nye County Commissioner Candice Trummell, who says a brothel owner tried to bribe her. Another member of the group, Kathleen Mitchell, was a prostitute for 21 years.

"I left that business with nothing but rage and anger. I could have hurt someone at the drop of a hat. I ended up going to jail," Mitchell said.

Mitchell was arrested in Las Vegas and decided to call it quits. She quickly found out that there are few services for prostitutes who want to leave their lifestyle behind.

Although prostitution is not legal in Clark County, that doesn't stop it from happening. According to a recently released report by the U.S. State Department, there is nine times more illegal prostitution in Nevada than where prostitution is legal in the state. It also says 90-percent of prostitution in the state is happening in Las Vegas whether it's in illegal brothels or private homes. 

According to Melissa Farley who has written a book based on the report says she found that  there's $24 million worth of advertising in Las Vegas where prostitution is illegal. In addition,  the local phone book has 173 pages of advertising for the sex industry alone.

"There is a lot of prostitution in Las Vegas because there is a lot of advertising for prostitution in Las Vegas."

Farley says the report estimated that the sex industry in Las Vegas generates between $1 billion and $6 billion a year.

Last August, prostitutes were bussed in from all over the United States and seen parading down West Tropicana. The U.S. State Department report shows that they have quotas amounting to more than 1,800 customers a year. That money gets split between taxi drivers, pimps and bell hops at casinos, leaving very little for the prostitutes.

Farley's book, Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections, is being used as a launching pad for the coalition's efforts raise awareness about prostitution in Nevada. What they would really like to see is some help for prostitutes who want to get out of the business. They would also like tougher penalties against people who pay for prostitutes.

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7029088&nav=menu102_9_2_3

Prostitution in Nevada Panel Discussion Held at UNLV

Sep 6, 2007 09:41 PM PDT

Edward Lawrence, Reporter

Legalizing prostitution in Nevada has now become a national debate.

Thursday afternoon, former prostitutes, UNLV professors and other interested parties held panel discussions about the sex industry at the UNLV campus.

The UNLV professor holding the discussion invited Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Doug Gillespie. He told some of his officers to attend the discussion.

"I don't think the convention goers who are going to the big casinos are being arrested for buying women," said Melissa Farley, author of Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections.

Farley researched prostitution for the past few years before writing her book. She and a group of former prostitutes contend that police officers look the other way in Las Vegas.

Metro's vice unit says that's not true, and they will be working casinos this weekend because of the MTV Video Music Awards.

The former prostitutes and Farley belong to the new non-profit group called The Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking.

The police officers who conduct the sting operations are listening to their comments.

The group, who is opposed to legal and illegal prostitution, has sparked debate on the controversial issue. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says he does not oppose legal prostitution, but says the city will not push for it.

"My constituents are not ready for it," he said. "They are always ready to have a good discussion because they are smart people, but they are not ready to legalize prostitution because they have moral objections."

But he did say having a sort of red light district for the legal sex industry in Las Vegas may be a way to keep from having children see revealing advertising that can currently be found all over the valley.

"I often said that maybe we should have a red light district. A zone where people who didn't want to see this kind of nonsense, they don't have to see it," Goodman said.

The mayor says if women are not forced into prostitution they should be allowed to make their own choices.

The former prostitutes say even legal brothels victimize women. They say selling your body like that takes away your soul and causes physical problems.

The non-profit plans to get aggressive in banning all prostitution in Nevada.

A new book about the sex trade in Las Vegas says our city have more advertisements for illegal prostitution than any other major city.

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/global/story.asp?s=7038035

Outlaw industry, ex-prostitutes say
Sep. 06, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Researcher spotlights human trafficking

By LYNNETTE CURTIS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Kathleen Mitchell worked as a prostitute for more than two decades before her pimp was finally sent to jail.

"I wasn't a drug addict; I was addicted to a man," Mitchell, now 64, said. "That's the worst drug there is."

Mitchell, who often saw her boyfriend pimp beat up other prostitutes, escaped prostitution 18 years ago. But its effects are lasting.

"If I have a relationship, it's probably going to be a bad one," she said.

Her story was one of several shared by former prostitutes Wednesday morning at a Sawyer Building news conference to announce the release of researcher Melissa Farley's book, "Prostitution & Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections," published by the San Francisco-based nonprofit Prostitution Research and Education

The event also served as the introduction of a new local anti-trafficking organization, Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking.

The women joined Farley, former Nye County Commissioner Candice Trummell and Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Henderson, in attacking prostitution in all its forms and calling for it to be outlawed in all of Nevada, not just in certain counties such as Clark and Washoe.

"Prostitution is not work," said Farley, a psychologist who has spent years researching prostitution and its psychological effects. "Rather, it's a human rights violation."

The group argued that legal prostitution can be just as harmful to women as illegal prostitution because both involve kinds of abuse and cause long-lasting psychological damage.

"What happens in legal brothels is sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and sometimes rape," Farley said. "Despite the claims to the contrary, legal prostitution does not protect women from the violence, verbal abuse, physical injury or diseases such as HIV that occur in illegal prostitution."

Brothel industry lobbyist George Flint later attacked the idea that women who work as legal prostitutes are abused.

"Anybody that has an ounce of brain or intelligence has to know they (legal and illegal prostitution) are two different things," he said. "We don't traffic women. We don't hire trafficked women. We don't work with pimps. We treat the girls with respect and dignity and we take care of them."

Kate Hausbeck, senior associate dean of UNLV's graduate college and an associate professor of sociology, also differed with some of Farley's conclusions.

Hausbeck said she supports an adult woman's right to "choose how they want to use their bodies in the marketplace."

"My goal is to always protect the rights of women," she said. "We have to ask the women involved and take their answers seriously."

But Farley said prostitution is "not a freely made choice."

"When women say, 'I'm happy. I'm making money,' that's just the tiniest bit of the surface," she said. "Under duress from legal and illegal pimps, women hide their coerced status in prostitution. Many people refuse to believe just how bad it is for women."

Hausbeck said disbelieving women who say they are happy in prostitution is "really condescending."

"It's frankly dismissive of women as uninformed, silly children, which is exactly the perspective we should have moved far beyond."

She said the word "trafficking" is often misused to indicate anyone who is involved in prostitution, instead of only those who are forced into sex work against their wills.

If an adult "is walked across the state line or a national border intending to do sex work of their own free will, without any force, they are making this decision, and to me that's very different," she said.

But Farley and others argue a clear link exists between legal and illegal prostitution and sex trafficking.

"Sex trafficking happens when men demand the right to buy women," Farley said.

Terri Miller, director of the Anti-Trafficking League Against Slavery, which formed last year within the Metropolitan Police Department, said that Nevada is a ripe environment for human trafficking because it is the only state that has legalized prostitution.

"I don't believe all prostitution is sex trafficking, but I believe the majority of women who are prostitutes have been the victim of sex trafficking at some point in their lives."

Miller said each time a prostitute engages in a sex act, "it is very much victimizing."

"The reality is that they are having to engage in a sex act with a complete stranger as many times as 30 times a day. It is not a victimless crime."

Those who want to leave prostitution have a difficult time finding help, especially in Nevada, Farley said.

"Most women in prostitution want to escape it," she said. "In prostitution, the conditions that make choice possible are absent. If we really want to say it's a choice, women need a range of options."

Jody Williams, a former prostitute and member of the Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking, agreed.

"When women quit prostitution, they ... suffer from a broad range of physical and emotional disorders," she said. "Women in prostitution suffer from the same combat stress that Vietnam and combat vets do, but they have fewer services than vets do."

Former prostitutes "wind up on welfare, disability, public housing and on the street," Williams said.

She joined Farley and others in calling for harsher penalties against those who hire prostitutes, instead of arresting the prostitutes themselves.

Farley's book is based on a U.S. State Department-sponsored study of prostitution and trafficking in Nevada.

The U.S. Department of Justice has recognized Las Vegas as one of 17 cities where human trafficking is a concern.

The book includes interviews with and demographics of women working in legal Nevada brothels. It explores the link between legal brothels and psychological distress and disease, the trafficking of legal and illegal prostitutes in Nevada, escort and strip club prostitution in Las Vegas, advertising for prostitution and barriers to escaping prostitution.

The Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking will work to educate people about trafficking, identify services for victims and change Nevada laws related to prostitution, said Trummell, the organization's director.

"It is way past time for Nevada to become the last state in the United States of America to finally stand against all forms of slavery," Trummell said. "It is time for Nevada to start adhering to the U.S. government's own official and very strong stance against legalized prostitution."

Attempts to outlaw prostitution in all of Nevada have cropped up but have not gotten far in the Legislature, which has shown a preference for letting rural communities handle the issue themselves.

Beers said he would support making prostitution illegal in all of Nevada.

A brothel owner, he said, is "somebody who, when it gets down to the very essence, is nothing more than a slave-owner."

Find this article at:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/9612332.html  

Let's talk about prostitution

By Steve Sebelius, City Life
September 6, 2007

Mayor Oscar Goodman says we should be able to have a conversation about legalizing prostitution in Las Vegas. We happen to agree. So let's do it.

First, let us make one observation: While we suspect Goodman's heart may be inclined in the direction of legalized brothels in Sin City, it's clear he's not going to put his money where his mouth is on the issue. Goodman said at his regular news conference today that Las Vegans have too many moral or religious objections to prostitution to legalize the practice, which is legal in certain counties in Nevada, including nearby Nye County. (In order to be legalized in Las Vegas, the state Legislature would have to approve it.)

"It's a legitimate topic to be discussed," Goodman says, noting that illegal prostitution is going on all around us every day. "To pretend that it doesn't exist is to be an ostrich," he added.

OK, fine. We're perfectly willing to admit that there's as much prostitution going on inside high-class hotels on the Strip as there is on Fremont Street. It's just that Fremont Street gets more police attention, one of many myriad hypocrisies that attend this issue in Las Vegas.

After going through some of the benefits of legalized prostitution (we'll go into more detail below), Goodman concluded "My constituents aren't ready for it, though. … Rational people could conclude that legalization is fine, except for the religious and moral aspects."

OK, fine. We can deal with that right now: If you have religious objections to prostitution, don't visit prostitutes. Discourage your friends and associates from visiting prostitutes, too, if you'd like. Protest on the sidewalk out in front of a brothel, if you feel very strongly about it. Ditto for those with non-religious moral objections.

So, what's the problem?

Our take on the mayor's stance is this: He's right in saying the issue should be discussed. But if he's already decided that religious and moral objections are too great to allow for the legalization of prostitution in town, why should we have a discussion about it? It's a waste of time, unless that discussion is going to lead to more education, more enlightenment and the possibility of eventually legalizing brothels in Clark County.

And here's why we think we should do that. (Call us a misogynist if you will; we'll deal with that later.)

1.) Ending exploitation. Anti-prostitution advocates are swift to note that women — especially underage women — are often exploited by human traffickers and sexual slave traders. Far from choosing to use their bodies to make money, these women are exploited and used by others for profit. But the reason is that prostitution is illegal; if it were a legal, licensed and regulated business — as it is in some other counties in Nevada — there would be far less profit in sexual slavery. Moreover, violence against women by pimps would be eliminated.

2.) Public health and safety. Currently, if a man wants to use the services of a prostitute, he cruises down to a stroll, pulls over, negotiates a deal and trades money for a sex act. (This is what we hear, you understand, and see on TV. With our incredible good looks and sexy bald head, we've no need of prostitutes. Not that we're condemning it or anything.)

In this process, the customer risks catching a sexually transmitted disease, getting robbed by either the prostitute or her pimp, being extorted for even more cash, not to mention being arrested and having his name and booking photo become a public record.

If prostitution were legal, the sex workers at brothels would be regularly tested by the state for STDs, and would be required to practice safe sex. Customers would feel much more comfortable in legal, regulate brothels, which would have special privileged licenses granted by the state. License holders (similar to gambling license holders) would have a built-in incentive to avoid any kind of crime in their establishments, including drug use by sex workers, lest they lose a lucrative license. And underage prostitution, like underage gambling, would be virtually wiped out.

3.) Tax revenue. It's guaranteed that all the money changing hands between illegal prostitutes and customers is untaxed revenue; licensing brothels would eliminate that problem. Goodman said at his news conference that he's had casino owners tell him that, if prostitution were legalized, they'd build nice brothels. If you gaze at some of the nicer strip clubs around town (which we never do; we're off the market, ladies!) we totally believe that's true.

4.) Hooker "strolls." There would be no need for prostitutes to congregate on street corners or in certain areas of town, dragging down redevelopment efforts and property values. Business would be conducted in legal, licensed establishments, the way gambling and drinking is conducted now. How many illegal craps games or moonshine operations did police have to investigate this year? Not a lot, we'd guess, when you can legally gamble and drink inside places built for those purposes.

5.) Proven track record. Everything we've said up until now isn't just us popping off, as usual. We have a real-life, American example of these things at work, in Nevada's legal brothels. The model used there could easily be expanded to other counties, with similar results.

6.) Elimination of a fiat crime. Ever notice that neither person involved in a prostitution transaction calls the cops? That's because there's no direct "victim" in this crime, save for the peace, dignity and morals of the state. That's why cops have to do "stings" to catch the perpetrators, who are consenting adults who've come to a mutually agreeable business transaction. There's no real victim here.

(Some will argue that wives who are cheated on and families that disintegrate because of prostitution are victims, and that's true in a moral sense, if not a legal one. But by that standard, we should also outlaw adultery, since it has the same effects.)

7.) Philosophical consistency. If you say you're "pro-choice," you have to mean more than just "in favor of abortion rights." You have to mean that you believe a woman (or a man, for that matter) should be able to do with her body what she wishes. If that means being a homemaker and stay-at-home mom, fine. If that means posing for Playboy, fine. So long as the choice is free and not coerced, then being pro-choice means respecting the choices that women make. Goodman said as much when he noted that "I believe a woman has a right to choose."

So, what to make then of New York Times columnist Bob Herbert's column slamming Goodman and Las Vegas for mistreating women? (Our hearty thanks to the Las Vegas Gleaner for posting the text which is ordinarily available only to rich Times subscribers.)

"There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than Las Vegas," Herbert begins. "The tone of systematic, institutionalized degradation is set by the mayor, Oscar Goodman, who told me in an interview that the city would reap 'tremendous' benefits if a series of 'magnificent brothels' could be established to cater to johns from across the country and around the world."

Now, we've had our differences with Goodman, but not on this issue. Here, we must ask: What degradation? Unless, of course, you believe that all prostitution is de facto degrading to women. Some people believe that. (We suspect that a bill to legalize the practice in Nevada would not get the votes of several prominent female, pro-choice, pro-women lawmakers for that very reason.)

The other side of the coin may just as easily be argued: Prostitution, along with stripping, posing for Playboy or other work in the sex trade, is empowering to women, so long as the choice is truly theirs. It's when the choice is not entirely voluntary that demoralization sets in. As Goodman said at his news conference: "If a woman is forced into it, psychologically or otherwise, it would be degrading." But if not? Then why not?

It's true that Las Vegas tends to objectify women, turning them into sex objects. It's true that many men come here for cheap, meaningless sex with anonymous strangers, knowing (or hoping) that what happens here stays here. But that won't change with the legalization of prostitution, and it won't change if prostitution remains illegal. And we think it's simply wrong to accuse Goodman of misogyny just because he thinks it might be better if prostitution were legal.

Part of the debate should have to do with the city's image, but we'd be remiss if we didn't note that the city's advertising campaigns virtually promise sex to every visitor, male or female. Otherwise, why would anybody care if what happened here went elsewhere? Would some visitors not come (or be banned by their wives or girlfriends from coming) if prostitution were legal? Perhaps. But a person inclined to cheat will find a partner and a place to cheat, whether prostitution is legal or not. Conversely, a faithful person wouldn't cheat even if lodged in a legal brothel.

Now, we must say we don't agree with the mayor's rhetorical excesses in the wake of Herbert's column, such as threatening (in a sidebar in today's Review-Journal) to break Herbert's head with a baseball bat. NRS 170.060, in fact, provides for a complaint and warrant of arrest to issue against "…any person who has threated to commit an offense against the person or property of another." While Goodman may argue, as outlined in NRS 170.080 that there is "no just reason to fear the commission of the offense," it's still not a good idea to go around threatening people, especially if by "people" you mean, "New York Times op-ed columnists with millions of readers."

In explanation, Goodman could only offer "If I really meant it, I wouldn't have said it," and added, "baseball bats aren't used on people's heads, let's put it that way." We suppose that might be an attempt at an apology, but we can't be sure.

Anyway, Goodman has (had?) nothing to apologize for with respect to his views on prostitution. It may seem wrong to Herbert, and to anti-prostitution researcher Melissa Farley, who has a new book examining the issue (in a bad way) in Las Vegas, whom Herbert referred to in his piece. But that doesn't mean it is bad. It just means there's another side to the discussion that Goodman says should happen. To that end, we've ordered Farley's book, and will examine that as well as talk to local researchers and advocates for their views. We'll report back what we find.

Because if nothing else, Goodman's right about one thing: This is worth discussing seriously. Anybody else have a view to share? 

8 Responses to “Let's talk about prostitution”

http://www.valleyblogs.com/sebelius/2007-09-06/id_2454

Las Vegas mayor threatens to murder N.Y. Times columnist after anti-sex-trade column
| posted by Wolfrum | Thursday, September 06, 2007 | permalink |

Remember the scene in the movie "The Untouchables" where Al Capone, as played by Robert DeNiro, brutally murders a lackey with a baseball bat in order to prove a point?

For Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, the scene was obviously how he views the real world.

"I have no use for him. I'll take a baseball bat and break his head if he ever comes here," Goodman said of New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, after Herbert's column "City as Predator."

The point the mayor wanted to prove? That if some N.Y. columnist wanted to shine a light on the sex trade and prostitution business of Las Vegas, he'd murder them with a baseball bat.

But the sex trade and prostitution business of Las Vegas desperately needs a light shined on it, and Herbert did a fine job of doing just that.

"City as Predator"

There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than in Las Vegas.

The tone of systematic, institutionalized degradation is set by the mayor, Oscar Goodman, who told me in an interview that the city would reap "tremendous" benefits if a series of "magnificent brothels" could be established to cater to johns from across the country and around the world.

"I've said there should be the beginning of a discussion of that," said Mr. Goodman, a former defense lawyer for mobsters who unabashedly describes his city as an adult playground where "anything goes — as long as you don’t go over the line."

Most of the lines in Vegas have long since been erased. It is without a doubt, as the psychologist and researcher Melissa Farley, says, “the epicenter of North American prostitution and sex trafficking.”

Make no mistake about it, Goodman is a mobbed-up thug. Take a look at Inside Vegas at AmericanMafia.com for any further proof you need. There, former Las Vegas Councilman Steve Miller has a seemingly endless amount of stories highlighting the Vegas-Mob connection, and Goodman's secure place in it.

Think about it, what major American city would have a mayor that defends - with threats of violence - a system that has created this:

Start with the fact that so many of those who are pulled into the trade are so young — early-20s, late-teens and younger. Child prostitutes by the hundreds pass through the Family Division courtroom of Judge William Voy, who views the hapless, vulnerable girls as victims and tries to help them. The girls he sees are as young as 12, with the average age being 14.

He told me about a 14-year-old who was seven months pregnant by her pimp. She was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease, had a drug problem, was undernourished and still craved a relationship with the pimp. "These cases will tear your heart out," the judge said.

Does the Sin City catchphrase of "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"