United States
Prostitution

Prostitution policy: Criminalised / Nevada legalised

Nevada is the only U.S. jurisdiction to allow legal prostitution–in the form of regulated brothels.

New York bill would decriminalize people in prostitution, punish pimps and buyers

Jan 26, 2021 – New York state lawmakers are considering legislation that would seek to protect survivors of sex trafficking while punishing the people who exploit them.

New York would be the first U.S. state to pass “Equality Model” legislation that protects survivors of sex trafficking. Advocates of the measure say most people who enter the trade, many of whom are minorities, immigrants or LGBTQ+, were forced into such illegal activities when they were young, marginalized and lacking in economic opportunities.
> cbsnews.com/new-york-bill-decriminalize-sex-work/

Pimp’s paradise
Nevada’s legal brothels are a disaster for women

By Julie Bindel
Oct 14, 2020 – ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ is the popular saying. The phrase is thought to have originated in part from the legal brothels of Nevada, where men are assured of anonymity. These brothels have been considered a necessary service industry in the area since the 19th century, when Nevada was populated almost entirely by male gold prospectors. There are currently 21 legal brothels in operation across seven of Nevada’s counties, and I’ve visited seven — as a journalist, not as a sex buyer. What I saw and learned was horrible.
> spectator.us/pimps-paradise-legal-brothels-nevada

A Ballot on the Brothels of Nevada

By Julie Bindel
Jul 13, 2018 – The history of legal prostitution lies in the American towns that sprang up in Nevada in the late 1800s with the silver- and gold-mining boom. The male-dominated nature of mining work created a parallel industry for women who came to sell sex, whether pimped by a third party or out of economic desperation. This historical precedent eventually led to the Nevada State Assembly’s passing a bill, in 1971, to give any county within the state the right to host legal brothels. More than thirty brothels were in operation at the height of the legal trade in the 1980s.

Legalization in limited areas creates a climate that helps to normalize prostitution in general: pimps become businessmen, prostitutes become independent contractors, and the men who pay for sex become clients. And what goes for legal brothels dictates norms even where the trade is criminal. Despite the fact that brothels are illegal in Las Vegas, that city is a major sex tourism destination, and accounts for some 90 percent of the prostitution that takes place in Nevada. While an estimated 1,000 women are working in Nevada’s twenty-one legal brothels, approximately 30,000 women are thought to be operating in the Las Vegas area alone.
> nybooks.com/a-ballot-on-the-brothels-of-nevada

Decriminalizing The Sex Trade In DC Empowers Pimps And Endangers Women Of Color, Activists Say

Oct 14, 2019 – As District of Columbia lawmakers prepare to vote on decriminalizing the sex trade in the nation’s capital, activists warn that such legislation would empower pimps and endanger vulnerable women.

D.C. Council members will vote on Oct. 17 on the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019, legislation that would decriminalize prostitution, which is currently legal in 10 Nevada counties, if people involved are 18 years of age or older. The bill also would decriminalize acts of pimping, purchasing sex and operating brothels within the district.
> dailycaller.com/sex-trade-d-c-decriminalize/


Ruthless market of flesh

New York must protect victims of sex trafficking
By Taina Bien-Aimé
Apr 12, 2019 – Prostitution policies are bubbling up again in legislative circles across the United States, but few representatives seem to have much clarity on the issue. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, a presidential candidate, has given mixed messages on her thinking, while Sen. Bernie Sanders has said he simply has “no answer.”
> timesunion.com/ruthless-market-of-flesh