What Nevada’s Legal Brothels Reveal About the Limits of Legalization
Nevada legalized prostitution—but today Nevada has the highest arrest rate per capita in the US for prostitution related offenses. In this week’s episode of The Oldest Profession, host Kaytlin Bailey unpacks why the Nevada model is not the future that sex workers are fighting for.
Kaytlin speaks with Jupiter Jetson, a licensed sex worker at Sheri’s Ranch; Dr. Barbara Brents, a sociologist who’s studied Nevada’s brothels for over 30 years; and Amy-Marie Merrell, executive director of The Cupcake Girls, an advocacy group that provides services to sex workers in both legal and criminalized sectors and also victims of trafficking.
Jupiter describes her daily life in the brothel as comfortable and professional. But she also details the restrictive, often outdated rules that govern her workplace. Workers must undergo weekly invasive STI testing—yes, in stirrups—because Nevada’s public health code hasn’t been updated since the early 1970s. Despite the availability of less invasive tests, the law still mandates endocervical swabs.
Brothel workers must also live on-site, surrendering personal freedom for the duration of their tour. They’re required to register with local law enforcement, subjecting themselves to background checks and creating a paper trail that can resurface in custody battles, housing applications, or immigration proceedings. “You’re protecting yourself from arrest,” Bailey notes, “but opening yourself up to new vulnerabilities.”
Dr. Brents adds historical context. Nevada’s brothels emerged from mining boomtowns and were preserved in rural counties even as urban centers like Las Vegas sought respectability. The state’s approach to vice—licensing it, taxing it, and tightly controlling it—has created a system that contains rather than protects sex workers.
It’s this system that Amy-Marie Merrell and The Cupcake Girls help people navigate. Sex work may be legal in small pockets, but it’s criminalized everywhere else. The Cupcake Girls routinely help sex workers deal with the fallout: child custody battles where sex work is used as a weapon, criminal records that block housing access, and clients arrested simply for looking like they might be soliciting.
The brothel system itself has blind spots. Merrell recounts stories of undocumented workers not being informed of their legal rights, of brothel owners withholding critical information, and of policies designed more to protect business efficiency than worker autonomy.
All three guests make one thing clear: legalization is not the same as decriminalization. The Nevada model is built on control—of who can work, where, how, and under what conditions. It excludes people who don’t fit a narrow profile or who can’t afford to jump through bureaucratic hoops. It protects the state, not the worker.
The Oldest Profession Podcast reminds listeners that sex workers have always been part of the story. Each episode focuses on an “old pro” from history, contextualizing that figure in their own time and connecting their story to the ongoing struggle for sex worker rights. Kaytlin Bailey created The Oldest Profession Podcast to be an accessible and entertaining resource for anyone who wants to learn more about sex workers and our place in history.
Read
Brents, Barbara G., Crystal A. Jackson, and Kathryn M. Hausbeck. The State of Sex: Tourism, sex, and sin in the new american heartland. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Utilizing historical analysis and ethnographic research, this book offers a comprehensive retrospective of the history of sex work in Nevada, shedding light on the ways in which the sex work industry has shaped both the political economy and contemporary tourism.
Heineman, Jenny, Rachel MacFarlane, and Barbara G. Brents. “Sex Industry and Sex Workers in Nevada.” In The Social Health of Nevada: Leading Indicators and Quality of Life in the Silver State, edited by Dmitri N. Shalin. Las Vegas, NV: UNLV Center for Democratic Culture, 2012.
This report details the economy and labor practices of the sex industry in Nevada. It offers policy suggestions, stressing the need for additional data on the commercial sex industry and placing particular emphasis on supporting sex workers through sex education, healthcare, and legal protections.
Bernard, Tara Siegel. “Sex Workers Have Been Shunned by Banks, Even When Their Work Is Legal.” The New York Times, November 18, 2023.
This article from the New York Times discusses how legal sex workers in Nevada still face discrimination from banks.
Lemur, Jeremy. “Nevada’s ‘New’ Brothel Industry Won’t Lie in the Shadow of Dennis Hof.” The Nevada Independent, June 20, 2019.
Jeremy Lemur, communications professional and legal prostitution advocate, explains how the death of Dennis Hof, a controversial figure in the brothel industry, coincides with a wave of political and social efforts being made by sex workers to increase education and awareness of the sex work industry.
“Nevada Prostitution Laws: Where Is Prostitution Legal in Nevada?” Decriminalize Sex Work, September 4, 2023.
This online resource lists the counties in Nevada where prostitution is legal, in addition to all of the current Nevada laws pertaining to prostitution.
Rodriguez, Jazmin Orozco. “Brothel Fights for Records after State Classifies Sex Workers as Employees, Not Independent Contractors.” The Nevada Independent, January 13, 2020.
This article discusses the legal and economic implications of sex workers in Nevada being classified not as independent contractors, but employees of a brothel.
Watch
C-SPAN, “C-SPAN Cities Tour – Carson City: History of Legalized Prostitution in Nevada.” C-SPAN. August 5, 2013.
In an interview with Madame Susan Austin of the Mustang Ranch and former Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha, C-SPAN offers an overview of the history of legalized brothel prostitution in Nevada.
VICE TV, “The Activists Fighting to Decriminalize Sex Work.” VICELAND. March 29, 2018.
This this video, sex workers and advocates in Las Vegas, Nevada speak to how their experiences with the justice system have influenced and galvanized their efforts to decriminalize sex work.