MYTH

Legal brothels don’t make prostitution safe for women. Women working in the brothels are trafficked through pimps and are frequently raped.

FACT

There is ZERO TOLERANCE for trafficking and sexual assault in legal brothels. All women working in legal brothels do so of their own free will and operate in the safest possible workplace. All sexual activity in legal brothels is 100% consensual and women can refuse any customer at any time for any reason.

The women all undergo a strict background check through the County sheriff’s office, and every woman willingly works in a regulated, safe, secure, and disease-free environment. All brothel owners undergo a highly extensive personal and financial review before being granted a license, ensuring that these business owners are aboveboard and have NO connection to criminal enterprises of any kind.

A 2012 study by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas found that women working in legal brothels reported less violence and felt a heightened sense of security than illegal prostitutes. This is a result of both the legality of the occupation and the safety of working in the community space of a licensed brothel. Additionally, when Rhode Island unintentionally decriminalized prostitution between 2003 and 2009, the state saw a steep decline in reported rapes and cases of sexually transmitted diseases (Cunningham & Shah, 2014).

MYTH

Almost all women in prostitution are there as a last resort and do not “choose” prostitution as a career choice.

FACT

All of the women working in Nevada’s legal brothels willingly chose their profession, and many of these women have been happily working in the legal brothels for years, some for well over a decade. A large number of these women are prospering financially as the primary provider of their households. On social media and in blogs and podcasts, a large number of women from Nevada’s legal brothels have passionately spoken out against the petition to ban the brothels, making it clear that the women do not want the support of the organization behind the petition. These women want prostitution to remain legal in Nevada, and they want to continue to have the right to enter and exit the legal prostitution profession as they choose.

MYTH

Legal brothels prevent large businesses and tech companies from moving into a Nevada County.

FACT

Recent history clearly indicates that legal brothels are not a factor in a company’s decision to move into a Nevada county. The world’s largest industrial park in Storey County, hosting Tesla’s recently constructed $5 billion gigafactory, is located just a few miles from a legal brothel.

MYTH

Sex crime rates are higher in counties with legalized brothels. Recent FBI reports show that Carson City (approx. 55,000 people – no legal brothels) had 2 reported sexual assaults a year versus Nye County (approx. 42,500 people – has legal brothels) had 10 sexual assaults reported a year.

FACT

The statistics cited by the anti-brothel activists seeking to ban legal brothels are inaccurate and misleading. The FBI Uniformed Crime Report (“UCR”), the very source cited by the anti-brothel petitioners, specifically cautions “The data shown in this table do not reflect county totals but are the number of offenses reported by the sheriff’s office or county police department.” That is because the FBI groups its data by which law enforcement agency is reporting it, so there is a separate set of data for each year for crimes reported by city/metropolitan law enforcement departments as opposed to county/sheriff departments. The data for Nevada by city contains figures for the cities of Reno and Sparks and those cities reported 165 rapes in 2016. Legal brothels reduce criminal activity.