After her return to the US, she left the Air Force and began working in lockdown brothels - known to some as "pussy prisons" - where women are forbidden from leaving the premises for the duration of a three-week shift. Eventually Amy ran into Dennis Hof, owner of the Bunny Ranch, who invited her to come and work for him. He says women in his establishments are free to come and go and he doesn't refer to them as employees - he prefers to call them ICs or "independent contractors".
Brash, bald and blue-eyed, Hof owns a third of all Nevada's legal brothels, and four of those in Lyon County.
As he sees it, women like Amy are the successful face of a vibrant, modern industry. This one, known to punters as Honey, is in her 20s, around the age Amy was when she started nearly three decades ago. Nevada's legal brothels have been in business since Once low-key, homely affairs catering to travelling salesmen and lonely truckers, Hof has brought the industry into the 21st Century with a touch of Hollywood glamour and shrewd marketing.
At weekly pep talks known as "tea parties", Hof dispenses his commercial wisdom to his workforce. As in an office or car dealership, the names of the employees of the month are displayed on an electronic ticker tape attached to the wall. Some are praised and given gifts, from toiletries to electronic gadgets, for securing the highest number of bookings.
The atmosphere is part sales conference, part New Age commune. The women, all clutching note pads, have to come up with positive statements such as, "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. Hof constantly urges them to use social media to get more clients through the door. Whatever the women earn, half goes to the house. And as he boasts in his autobiography, The Art of the Pimp, Hof has profited handsomely. However, he argues that legal brothels benefit everyone. That's a lot of money for a small county.
Sure enough, on our first morning at the Bunny Ranch, three men in biker gear ring the buzzer. They are holidaymakers from China's Sichuan Province, 7, miles away. Whether or not tourism of this kind is in Nevada's interests, though, is a moot point. Some argue that the brothels make all women living nearby more vulnerable to assault, increase the danger of sex trafficking, and deter respectable businesses from investing in the area. So far the brothels don't seem to have stopped economic development in northern Nevada.
But the critics argue that more hi-tech industries would come if the brothels did not exist, and that this is where Nevada's future lies. They also have ethical objections. These women in the legal brothels are slaves. Ultimately, campaigners like Simpson aim to end legal sex work across the whole state. Lyon County was the only one of the 16 counties where enough residents signed a petition to launch the ballot initiative on brothel closure this November, but if the vote is successful she says other counties are likely to follow suit.
Her group recently launched a campaign called "Close the Meat Market". Posters, leaflets and TV advertisements show women packaged in plastic-wrapped containers like cuts of chicken or lamb.
Melissa Holland, who runs a refuge for abused women in the nearby city of Reno, also doesn't buy the "happy hooker" image.
She says her organisation, Awaken, has helped many women across the state to leave prostitution and find other work. She quotes a study of a Nevada's sex industry by a Californian academic which concludes that legalised prostitution improves conditions for pimps and brothel owners, rather than for the women who work there. Conforte convinced the Storey County Commission -- to which Gilman just got elected -- to legalize the Mustang brothel effective Jan. It was the first legal brothel in Nevada.
In all, 10 of 17 counties now legalize brothels. Some require brothels to be away from populated areas Storey, Nye, Esmeralda while others require them to be within populated areas Elko, Humboldt, Pershing and White Pine. National political writer Jack Anderson wrote a column saying this meant the Secretary of the Interior, Rogers Morton, was landlord of a brothel.
But Morton had her objections stomped. In response, Rocha said, Harrell moved her brothel 2, feet onto private land, where it became legal again. Harrell ran for state Assembly, winning the Democratic primary in but losing the general election.
She was the first brothel owner to try for public office in Nevada; Gilman was the second brothel owner to run for public office in Nevada and the first to win. The Chicken Ranch supposedly got its name when the Great Depression hit. Though the Ranch had plenty of clients, times grew harder and income harder to obtain. Soon chickens were everywhere and the establishment officially became known as the Chicken Ranch.
The meat and the eggs provided the household with plenty of food and extra income came from the sale of chickens and eggs. The brothel was listed on the tax rolls as a poultry farm. She started as a worker but eventually took over for Miss Jesse and proved to be just as capable and entrepreneurial.
While Edna was in charge, the only major changes to the building itself was the addition of air conditioning. Supposedly, when Edna signed the mortgage, the structure looked like a typical Texas farmhouse, having whitewashed pine siding, dark green trim and no recognizable architectural style.
The last addition made to the house was a dining room. The house had a total of sixteen bedrooms each equipped with its own tiny lavatory. Miss Edna continued the tradition of philanthropy started by Jessie Williams. She contributed to local organizations, churches and any other group that bothered to ask. She even made a sizeable donation to the local hospital.
No social contact was allowed with the local citizens but the girls did shop in the local stores on a regular basis.
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