Nevada brothel aims to offer 1st male prostitutes

[etasman2000 15994]

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The owner of a brothel more than two hours' drive from Las Vegas said she hopes to hire Nevada's first legal male prostitutes within a month, now that state health officials have approved a method to test men for infectious diseases.

 

The world is ready for women, or even other men, to legally buy sex, said Shady Lady Ranch owner Bobbi Davis. Plus, being the first to offer male service could boost business in tough economic times, she said.

 

"With so many other male revues going on in Vegas, we thought it was time to give this a try," Davis told The Associated Press.

 

Until now, men have been effectively barred from legally plying the world's oldest profession in Nevada by the specificity of a state health law requiring prostitutes to undergo frequent cervical testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

 

Rest of the article can be found http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MALE_PROSTITUTES_NEVADA?SITE=OHCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[VedaSloan 119179]

Nice, it's about time!

[antlerman 17064]

Hell.....the Fat-Bastards have been doing that in Ottawa for a couple of years......

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

So the Shady Lady Ranch is the first to offer Male providers ...

(queues his best Ronald Reagan impression) : "Ms. Davis, tear down that sign!"

 

[Mister C 1725]

I wonder if they would like to hire and old, balding, fat guy? :butt:

[CookiesNScream 363]

That is too cool! I am glad the guys are being given a safe place to work!

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

Update on this story:

 

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/745230--a-few-good-men-weren-t-hard-for-brothel-to-find?bn=1

LAS VEGAS?Wanted: "A few good men. 21 to 40. Must have a good work ethic. Must be service-oriented. Have a willingness to please. Have a positive attitude."

 

The Shady Lady Ranch, 320 kilometres northwest of Las Vegas, wants to be the first brothel in Nevada to legally offer the services of male prostitutes for women.

 

The ad appears on its website ....

 

Shady Lady owner Bobbi Davis says she already has 150 applications, from New York to California, and is accepting more.

 

No Canadians have applied.

 

Most applications have been from Detroit and Las Vegas, cities with the highest unemployment rates in the country, Davis said in an interview.

 

"A lot more men want to do it than we're able to accommodate," she said. "They run from businessmen whose businesses have failed, and they need a little boost, to the guy next door ? the local mechanic."

 

Nevada is the only state with legal prostitution. It's a licensed business in many rural areas, but not in urban Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

"We've been getting requests for quite a few years, from couples mostly, and we thought it was time," Davis said. "You have to come up with a whole new business plan."

 

The Shady Lady is building a little cabin for the new venture, to give women clients more privacy.

 

"It's rustic, and a bit isolated ? but not too much, so she'll still feel safe," Davis said.

 

"We have to figure out exactly what our ladies are going to want, because men and women want different things" from a prostitute.

 

"Women want more time. It's not just going to be, `strip off and get down to the nitty-gritty,' although it can happen that way.

 

"Women want a little romance, maybe an evening of romance."

 

That will change prices at Shady Lady, where 40 minutes with a "courtesan" starts at $200.

 

"We're going to advertise it as `the boyfriend experience' so it doesn't feel like a service," Davis said.

 

There are 24 legal brothels in Nevada, involving 1,000 "professional working ladies," according to the Nevada Brothel Owners' Association, known as NBA.

No men are licensed yet, but government officials say they can't discriminate on the basis of gender.

 

A public meeting is to be held Tuesday by the Nye County council to consider Shady Lady's proposal.

 

It's likely to be approved if council can be assured public health and safety laws are met. New regulations might be set to cover male prostitutes.

 

Female prostitutes in Nevada must get weekly checkups for some contagious diseases, and monthly exams for others, such as syphilis and AIDS.

 

"We've never had a case of AIDS yet," said state lobbyist George Flint, NBA executive director.

 

Flint, who intends to speak at the meeting, said he's concerned the brothel will offer gay sex, and threaten the industry.

 

Davis said she'll adopt a "don't ask, don't tell" policy with male prostitutes, but intends to advertise only to women.

 

Flint says it won't work.

 

"This was tried at the Mustang Ranch 30 years ago and it was a complete failure," he said. "It's not practical. Women want to be wined and dined, cajoled and chatted up, maybe have lunch before sex.

 

"Women don't have to pay for sex unless they're Grandma Moses," Flint added.

 

"They can go to a cocktail lounge and have their pick of guys in 10 minutes. They're not going to drive 400 miles round-trip to pay $300 for sex."

 

Flint said he's concerned that public fears of commercialized gay sex could lead to a political backlash that would shut down Nevada's brothel business.

"This is a ticking time bomb that could hurt everybody," he warned.

 

Business is bad enough in this recession, Flint said.

 

"It's hurting right now. Three or four brothels have closed and some may close this winter because there's less business."

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

Abigail Goldman reports 31 Mar 2010 for Las Vegas Weekly:

 

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2010/mar/31/americas-first-legal-male-prostitute-looks-back-hi/

America's first legal male prostitute looks back on his short-lived career

 

Markus never liked the ?P word.? Nevada?s first legal male prostitute would have preferred ?surrogate lover.? It didn?t catch on. Instead, Markus left the Shady Lady Ranch brothel in Nye County after two months? work, fewer than 10 clients and, he said, a ?maelstrom of media.?

 

?Now I just need to lie low for a while. It was too much press, too many people coming in pretending to be clients and then turning out to be reporters. I got portrayed as strange and a little bit off-kilter. The whole story was sensationalized.?

 

Still, Markus says, he should have known it would happen??The first person to do anything is going to get the brunt of the criticism.?

 

In January, one day before he opened for business, Markus compared himself to Rosa Parks in an interview with

Details

magazine. The comment generated so much controversy that Shady Lady owners forbade Markus, 25, from giving future interviews.

 

Markus says he still stands by the comparison. ?Discrimination is discrimination,? he said. ?It exists on all levels, whether it?s gender, racial or religious discrimination.?

 

The next surrogate lover, Markus figures, will have it easier.

 

?This was about changing social norms, and showing that [prostitution] is acceptable in a safe environment. Hopefully I can help set a precedent, because within the economy, and the way things are going now, we need every industry we can to create some kind of revenue.?

 

Markus is now in California, returning to his prior career in porn. The Shady Lady, meanwhile, has reportedly hired a man named ?Y. Not? to take Markus? place, though no one has been able to interview him. (Y. Not is on hiatus until May or June while the Shady Lady repairs an electrical problem in his brothel bungalow, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.)

 

Even Markus may only be on hiatus?he hasn?t ruled out returning to brothel work some day. ?If you look at the key issues, [prostitution] is a pretty serious thing. It could be a very successful industry, but because of our society?s Puritan roots, it?s frowned upon.?

 

This is why Markus doesn?t like the word prostitution, he says?people are programmed to associate it ?with seedy, underhanded dealings, and that is not what I am about.

 

?In reality,? he said, ?I?m just a performer, filling a void.?