Sold in America: The Workers

sex is big business in America and while some of the people in that business aren't there by choice many consider themselves sex workers willing participants in the nation's multi-billion dollar sex trade across the country it's a dangerous and illegal industry some workers think changing the laws around prostitution could make it safer but what would that look like I came to Nevada to see the only place in the US where sex for money is legal and out of the shadows [Music] deep in the desert you'll find the only legal prostitution in America there are 21 legal brothels in the US all here in Nevada and none are more recognizable than Dennis Hoffs Moonlite bunnyranch you're looking at the exception the most elite privileged form of commercial sex in this country it takes some resources to even get this job you have to be able to afford a license from the local sheriff and pass a thorough background check I came here to hear the arguments in favor of legal and regulated sex work the women here are independent contractors and call themselves working girls the house takes half of whatever they make during a transaction what they'd call a party or a booking Tara is 22 and was a dancer until she came here two months ago while you were dancing were you ever approached to do this illegally yeah I was propositioned every night and did you ever even consider it no I'd never thought I'd be doing this I was like I'll never do that but then I heard like it's legal and where the girls are tested like I gave it a chance to be honest I used to like talk down on it like paying someone for sex like but now my whole mindsets changed and I'm a part of it I got picked like my first time and I was like I'm scared and then how did that happen like how did that go down it was good like I just walked him through the house and we came back in my room and we booked it was good to get off my shoulders cuz like my first time standing in line up it is intimidating was that what you thought it would be yeah just you just stand there say her name and see what he does no but the first booking that you oh um it was really easy it went really smooth and it was what I thought it was gonna be as soon as I found out I was gonna be doing this I kind of started going through goals in my head like what am I gonna do with this money you know I needed to start a retirement fund there's like a couple days where I'll go without booking and what's that like I mean it sucks but I try and stay positive how long do you see yourself doing this the next eight years yeah eight is such a specific number and you want to be here for eight years do you have a number goal that if that you want to hit by that time I was like money-wise I should have a half a million by then easily easily I should have a half a million in the next few years I'm not gonna lie I'm expensive and if they can afford it and if they're willing to do it I will you know break my boundaries to a certain extent some people look at it like oh she's a prostitute she's a [ __ ] yeah I am but it's a job and I'm it's not gonna be forever I'm getting money that's great yeah hold on is that that's the bail what's so that's a lineup I'd be the time the customer will stand in front and then the girls will you know we kind of have to hurry or else they're gonna start without us so there's a lineup happening which means a customer just came through and the girls are going to line up and the customer is going to take their fake hi I'm tiara so all of the girls are doing introductions everyone's dressed up and it's funny because their hands are behind their back and it seems like they're a little shy from where I'm looking but they're introducing themselves to the client and he looks like he just picked a girl the one straight in the middle and so I didn't get picked but that's okay yeah can you kind of explain to me how it feels every time or is it just a when it happens it happens yeah it's just if he picks you great if not then you wait for the next Bell hey you guys you got to calm it down in there all right we ready we're gonna have some fun Dennis HOF is the owner and proprietor of the Moonlite bunnyranch and six other Nevada brothels he's a businessman and a libertarian with political aspirations and when it comes to laws around prostitution he's one of the biggest advocates for legalization do you feel like you are empowering these women oh there's no question there's no credit remember we're empowering these girls I mean over half of our girls have college education 20-some percent have master's degrees I have three PhDs working for me one of them is a professor at UNLV and a working girl for me these girls are real business women how many girls are applying to work for you a month a thousand if it's some girl that I think I'm really interested in which would be typically a very attractive girl a hot blonde or a mixed girl that I think is unique then I might get involved in it myself we think we are a family we're all a close-knit little community here this supports each other the difference is we can have sexual interaction too and the girls do it can you define the word pimp in your own term a pimp his simplest term is is a man that brings women brings men or women to girls for sex okay so in the simplest term I'm a pimp but I have a license I have a business license to do this so I'm a legal pill absolutely but in the street vernacular in in in in most people's thoughts a pimp is a guide that goes to Kansas City grabs underage girls Runaways fills them up with drugs and owns them makes them hauls them around to Oakland Las Vegas the sexual sexual cesspool of America so when when you legalize something who do you take out of the business you take the underage girls out because every girl here has to go down and get a business license be fingerprinted photographed they run the federal check on them who else can't get in the business the pimps this business the prostitution business worldwide is a dirty disgusting drug ridden exploitive disease ridden business till you legalize it and when you make it legal everything changes the whole game changes I think once you get past [Music] the photos of nudity everywhere you realize that this is kind of just like any other business establishment they don't even use I guess sexual terms and casual conversation about it they refer to it as a business transaction because that's what they see it as and just like any other business there are safety regulations here the women here go through thorough background checks and weekly STD tests and someone could listen in at any time there are security cameras and panic buttons which is a lot different than the outside world of illegal prostitution hi I'm willow I've been here about 10 years and what's your title my title yeah like what do you prosecute hooker if a young girl says that she wants to do this one day what's typically your response have you thought it through like because no it's not for everybody that's definitely not for everybody like no no go to school first you know I'm not gonna be like telling kids like you know come work here no no no ooh gross yeah yeah your girls gross no unless you're being a hooker on the street this is a better option unless you're stripping this might be a better option if you go into that outside world like we're going into their space right we're going to into their house into their hotel room places that they've scoped out right that's their space a lot of the safety that you talk about is because you're in a brothel so this is kind of the environment that it's already happening in do you think that it would be smart to legalize prostitution and let people do this independently outside of a brothel environment the thing is what you're asking is something that's already happening like you're asking me if if it's safe like but it's happening regardless so what's the harm in legalizing it like it's only putting more safety measures in for the girls you know some of these might be taking charge of their license plate they so people can call the cops if they feel unsafe or insecure like you know you have that safety net yeah I think legalizing it is yeah the best way to go there are a few different legal models for approaching the sex trade legalization is what we saw at the bunnyranch it is the introduction of laws to control the sex trade which means it's highly regulated but there are other models across the world when it comes to prostitution one is criminalization every part of the sex trade is illegal and people are arrested and charged for it it's the policy across the country including where I'm from in DC the vast majority of the sex trade in the u.s. happens outside of brothels and illegally I wanted to find out how criminalizing prostitution affects people working in the sex trade so I met up with lemon artists a local artist and activist who engaged in what is known as survival sex during a period of homelessness so sorry here DC is like we're probably a lot of the girls have worked it's kind of transition from uptown a little to here and then it goes all the way down for about probably a half-mile maybe a mile that way the thing is when you're in transformed in color what happens is that like as particularly when you're doing sex work a lot of the men like don't respect you they don't really think of you as a human being they don't you know you're just like an object to that even less so than like a cisgender woman oftentimes you know they're not afraid to hurt you and additionally because you're a sex worker they feel like well she can't even report this to the police so I can do whatever I want to you right did you feel like you couldn't report it to the police absolutely because what am I gonna tell the why am I gonna what's my excuse for being in the strange man's car right what's my excuse for being in this man's apartment or house yeah you know so it's terrifying it's scary you don't want to report these things to the police so consequently a lot of sex workers lives there like really fragile it's really scary a lot of the girls out here do die or or get injured and they'll oftentimes it doesn't get reported were there experiences that you had while you were doing this for your own survival that you felt like your life was at enormous risk yeah so there were a few times where I was almost murdered I'm you say that so casually that's like such a when you living you when you've been through this you were strong as a rock like I I have no fear anymore because I've been so close to death several times I was in a car this guy was speeding off he didn't want to give me a donation he ended up pulling a knife on me and I actually before I jumped out he stabbed me twice and then finally I was able to open the door and I was able to get out but I moved out of like probably 40 mile per hour plus car and I just rolled around and I honestly when I got up after rolling around I was surprised I was still alive it was like okay adrenaline rushing and just been stabbed so then I just I ran and I took off right and amazing I thought he was done but he turned the car around and then tried to chase me to run me over so it was just and then the worst part is I couldn't even report this to police like what am I gonna say like I was doing sex work and some man then tried to kill me what are some of the ways decriminalizing prostitution would make it safer for sex workers well for one they could screen their clients a little better they talk to them a little more on the street and they kind of assess maybe even look around the car they'll have a little extra time so they could see that knife maybe he's stashing like by the door they might be see a gun that they didn't see before they might be able to like get their license plates down because they have more time that way something bad does happen they can report it honestly just being able to report stuff like you know like if someone hurts you you weren't afraid then to go to the cops yeah I mean I laugh about it because I have to create this barrier horse but like the truth is was completely terrifying like I don't wish that upon any human being ever but you know happens and it and it happens you know any one of these girls if I can do anything to help a young trans person or other sex workers this woman to not have that happen to them I will do it I don't care what the cost is because I don't want that to ever happen to another human being again I'm I'm not a piece of trash I'm a human being and I don't deserve to be treated that way and break it down a little perhaps people don't desert that stories like Leia's aren't that rare we've heard similar stories of violence from sex workers who didn't want to talk to us on camera but because the sex trade is an underground industry national statistics are really hard to come by here's what we do know at least 34 sex workers across the u.s. were murdered in 2017 and a study of New York Street sex workers found that up to 80% had experienced violence while working Leia's experience is representative in another way nationally trans women engage in sex work at a much higher rate than people who aren't trans and in DC 85% of trans sex workers are black and Latino now laya story is at the center of a push for change we're headed into a briefing at the DC Council talking about laws surrounding commercial sex and in this area there's a movement pushing for decriminalization decriminalization is the removal of laws criminalizing the sex trade rather than regulating the sex trade decriminalization just means people don't get charged for it removing criminal penalties is the logical first step for advocates like Leia and it could eventually be a stepping stone on the way to legalization this is a super early stage hearing and newsy had the only cameras in the room so good morning everybody I am councilmember David Grosso I'm an at-large councilmember here in the District of Columbia the fact is is that decriminalizing sex work moving towards a approach that is more based on human rights is something that has been on my Genda now since Amnesty International came out a year ago with changing their approach it's not just Amnesty International the World Health Organization and the UN's program on AIDS have also supported removing criminal penalties for prostitution I want to make that clear that not all sex workers do sex work at a desperation and some choose the profession but I know that for me I had no other choice we have a few minutes to take questions and I love to facilitate some questions for the panel so we'll start in the back please go ahead why would like that and why go back to it as opposed to go through social services sure you would get out of that that's gonna be a common question that people can ask so when you're doing something that's illegal it becomes difficult to report it right so consequently if you decriminalize sex work if a man knows that he could potentially go to jail for assaulting me or pulling a knife on me he's less likely to do it but if he knows I'm not even probably gonna report this he knows he's more likely to get away with murder there's many reasons why there's violence they don't inherently relate to sex work as as a practice it's more due to the criminalization than they work so that that's fine that's my broad answer there is widespread harm being done in the sex trade there's exploitation there's violence there's discrimination incarceration disease and of course stigma but we've realized in our reporting that people experience the sex trade on a spectrum one of the working girls we talked to off-camera at the bunnyranch used to work here in DC illegally but she worked for a high-end escort service like this one on one end of that sex trade spectrum you have things like the bunny ranch and maybe even these high-end escort sites but on the opposite end of that spectrum you have terrible instances of trafficking and exploitation but in between there's a whole range of experiences from some of the people on Backpage to some of the most marginalised members of our communities who are in the streets and selling sex in order to survive and the thing is these laws affect all of these people so finding a solution whatever that solution may be is way more complicated than you think this policy to decriminalize commercial sex could be super controversial i sat down with the councilmember who proposed the legislation to talk about people's concerns one of the pet peeves I have as a policy maker is that we keep trying the same thing over and over again and it doesn't work for something like this where you have two consenting adults that are exchanging some sort of money for sex I don't see why that should have someone go to jail for that but then also I think it's important that we remove the stigma from what this is about so that people can feel more comfortable asking for help if that's what they need does this legislation encourage prostitution that's a trickier question you know I don't think so but we're not sure and you know when you look at New Zealand where they've already done this for over ten years we see that it doesn't are you hopeful this will pass hopeful is a good word yes I always have hope but I'm not confident that it will you know I don't know my colleagues are ready yet [Music] this is the first time councilman oh so publicly introduces the legislation to decriminalize sex work and it's a packed room and people are pretty excited you can tell that this is a really big deal our goal should be to stop violence not criminalize those who are working to survive sex workers are active members of the DC community - and it's time you respect them with dignity like we do the rest of the community we're all human beings thank you [Music]

Channel: Newsy

Views: 7,201,122

Rating: 4.755919 out of 5

Keywords: sold in america, sold in america the workers, sold in america noor tagouri, sold in america series, sex trade series, sex workers series, noor tagouri series, evergreen, newsy originals, story of the day

Id: LRQqN0qPEus

Length: 21min 3sec (1263 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 21 2018