Nevada’s Regulated Brothels
Editors
Scott Cunningham, Manisha Shah (Eds.)
Document Type
Book Section
Publication Date
12-5-2016
Publication Title
Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publisher Location
New York, NY
First page number:
369
Last page number:
390
Abstract
This chapter examines how brothels are regulated in Nevada. More specifically, it looks at how local municipalities in Nevada—the only US state that has legalized prostitution—regulate prostitution markets. It begins with an overview of Nevada’s legal indoor prostitution, the history and development of legal brothels, and brothel laws and regulations. It then considers how sex workers in Nevada brothels are regulated, the present state of brothel organization and market, and rural and suburban brothels. It also discusses how the legal system functions to regulate worker health and safety in Nevada brothels. The chapter argues that Nevada’s brothels are not some aberrant form of organized deviance but rather are part and parcel of today’s neoliberal consumer economy. The political climate that has allowed and sustains legal brothels in Nevada reflects contemporary neoliberal politics and a “morality” in which personal consumer choice is elevated to a moral right.
Repository Citation
Brents, B. G.
(2016).
Nevada’s Regulated Brothels. In Scott Cunningham, Manisha Shah (Eds.),
Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution
369-390.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199915248.013.11