# Male Prostitution in Nevada... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346 "2009-11-04T23:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/1 "2009-11-04T23:13:41Z")
I was just wondering how Nevada authorities and legislators justify that there is limited female prostitution there (I think is up to each county, under a certain population), but no male prostitution (hetero, or homo–take your pick). I know where I live, Michigan, prostitution is illegal across the board: male or female. So there is no discrepancy there. But in Nevada it is limited solely to female prostitution. How do the people in power there justify this apparent hypocrisy? Notice I put this in **General Questions** for a simple reason. I want to know the _consensus_ of public officials on this question. I do **not** want to start up a debate on the morality and legality of prostitution. Thank you in advance to all who reply:) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/2 "2009-11-04T23:17:53Z")
Are you sure that male prostitution is illegal in Nevada? I thought Heidi Fleiss had started a legal male brothel there. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/3 "2009-11-04T23:20:53Z")
I thought it was legal there too, but that the demand for it was rather minimal. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/4 "2009-11-04T23:22:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Are you sure that male prostitution is illegal in Nevada? I thought Heidi Fleiss had started a legal male brothel there. I could be wrong, but I am 99.99999% certain it is for at least two reasons: I at least have never heard of a male brothel in Nevada. And the tradition of prostitution in Nevada goes back hundreds of years (I read this once in an encyclopedia–I’m sorry, I don’t have a cite). In Nevada, prostitution was literally _never_ illegal. And of course traditionally only female were prostitutes, in the distant past at least. Anyways, since you brought it up, let me rephrase my question: **Is male prostitution legal in Nevada. And if not, why not?** ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/5 "2009-11-04T23:25:02Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I thought it was legal there too, but that the demand for it was rather minimal. “Rather minimal”? I would think it would be an even bigger hit. But I could be wrong;). Anyways, back to my question: Illegal or not? Why or why not? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/6 "2009-11-04T23:26:21Z")
Prostitutes in Nevada are required to be [tested weekly for STDs using a cervical exam](http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/health/Nevada_Brothel_Owners_Want_To_Legalize_Male_Prostitution.html). Kinda tricky for guys. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/7 "2009-11-04T23:37:02Z")
[From the horses mouth](http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NAC/NAC-441A.html#NAC441ASec800): > [@](#): > > NAC 441A.800 Testing of prostitutes; prohibition of certain persons from employment as prostitute. (NRS 441A.120) > > ``` > 1. A person seeking employment as a prostitute in a licensed house of prostitution shall submit to the State Hygienic Laboratory in the Division or a medical laboratory licensed pursuant to chapter 652 of NRS and certified by the Health Care Financing Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services: > > (a) A sample of blood for a test to confirm the presence or absence of human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) and syphilis; and > > (b) A cervical specimen for a test to confirm the presence or absence of gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis by culture or antigen detection or DNA probe. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/8 "2009-11-04T23:40:16Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > And of course traditionally only female were prostitutes, in the distant past at least. This isn’t true. Male prostitution, like male homosexuality, is as old as time. And, incidentally, female prostitution. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/9 "2009-11-04T23:45:34Z")
I’m pretty sure, the cervix issue notwithstanding, that it’s just an issue of demand-- basically nobody’s ever started one. I must admit that I wasn’t really following the story, but I think Heidi Fliess’s endevour petered out (yuk yuk) because of her own financial problems, not any legal issues (well, not _this_ legal issue, anyways). On a more speculative note, I’m kind of struck by how few “normal” legal brothels there are in Nevada. This makes me think that in most places (including Las Vegas) illegal prostitution isn’t expensive/inconvienient/dangerous enough (or at least not percieved as such) for a large portion of the prostitution market in general to drive way the heck out to the middle of nowhere to get it legally. If we make the assumption that the male prostitution market is significantly lower to begin with, I think if we apply similar numbers to it there’s just not that much of a market for a legal male brothel. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/10 "2009-11-04T23:57:50Z")
Wikipedia (yes, a suboptimal source) states that while male prostitution is not forbidden under Nevada law, it’s unclear how such males could comply with regulations. Of course, a lawsuit to force the state to clarify its regulations could doubtless be brought. > **[Prostitution in Nevada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Nevada)** > > Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Six counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas. The state's most populated counties, Clark (which contains Las Vegas) and Washoe (which contains Reno), are among those that do not permit prostitution. It is also illegal in Nevada's capital, Carson City, an independ And by my earlier mention of “lack of demand”, I was thinking of the lack of sufficient demand for the brothel-style of female prostitution as goes on there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/11 "2009-11-05T00:02:42Z")
> [@](#): > > This makes me think that in most places (including Las Vegas) illegal prostitution isn’t expensive/inconvienient/dangerous enough (or at least not percieved as such) for a large portion of the prostitution market in general to drive way the heck out to the middle of nowhere to get it legally. On the other hand, many tourists don’t know that the legal prostitution is only in licensed brothels in the back end of nowhere, and think that they are engaging in legal prostitution with a whore in Vegas. I’ve heard of at least one successful entrapment defense where the john asked the undercover-cop-posing-as-prostitute “This is legal, right?”. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/12 "2009-11-05T00:11:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Are you sure that male prostitution is illegal in Nevada? I thought Heidi Fleiss had started a legal male brothel there. This [2007](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287652,00.html) article says that she’d run into some problems (and used the space to open a laundromat!) with a bribry scandal. Nothing about the concept being illegal is mentioned though, though Fleiss may just not have gotten that far. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/13 "2009-11-05T00:18:29Z")
Cervix issue? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/14 "2009-11-05T00:22:46Z")
Male prostitution is not illegal under Nevada law. Heidi Fleiss’s proposed male brothel was never opened, and amounted to little more than a way for her to keep her name in the papers. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/15 "2009-11-05T07:24:52Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I thought it was legal there too, but that the demand for it was rather minimal. The demand for such paid services is generally low, when there are so many men willing to give it away for free. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/16 "2009-11-05T07:54:49Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Cervix issue? That the state law specifies cervical exams for prostitutes, which might be a bit of a problem with male prostitutes who presumably lack cervices. I’m sure there are other ways to test for these things and that the wording could be cleared up easily enough. I suspect the original wording wasn’t there to intentionally preclude male prostitution, but it simply didn’t occur to them that such a thing might happen, and plus there weren’t any such brothels operating at the time of legalization in the 1970’s. But who knows-- if it would take an act of legislature to change the wording, maybe the current folks in Carson City wouldn’t particularly feel like attaching their names to the expansion of legalized prostitution. One hypothetical would be if instead of Ms. Fliess’s wholesome proposal someone were trying to open a brothel catering to gay men, that could make things even more politically difficult. [QUOTE=Simplico] (and used the space to open a laundromat!) [/QUOTE] That actually seems quite appropriate given the “tradition” of prostitution in Nevada. In frontier situations, prostitutes often acted as all around substitutes for the women who weren’t there and so sometimes a home-cooked meal and getting your clothes washed was part of the deal. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/17 "2009-11-05T08:22:47Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > The demand for such paid services is generally low, when there are so many men willing to give it away for free. I don’t think it’s a question of the \*amount \* of demand so much as the \*nature \* of the demand - and of the supply. Your ordinary gay man who wants sex can just go to a gay bar and get it for free. But a lot of closeted men, particularly those of certain societal standing, wouldn’t be comfortable doing that. So they’re more comfortable cruising and picking up someone in circumstances where nobody else will know apart from them and the rent boy. Similarly these men would be afraid to visit a brothel - the risk of exposure is too great. In terms of supply, you’re talking a lot of young drug addicts who’d be incapable of meeting the very stringent requirements imposed by legal brothels. (This is WAG, but I have been doing a lot of research on prostitution generally and this fits in with what I have learned. I also lived next door to a male prostitute for a year and observed his clients - definitely not your typical gay bar type.) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/18 "2009-11-05T13:54:45Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > I don’t think it’s a question of the \*amount \* of demand so much as the \*nature \* of the demand - and of the supply. Your ordinary gay man who wants sex can just go to a gay bar and get it for free. But a lot of closeted men, particularly those of certain societal standing, wouldn’t be comfortable doing that. So they’re more comfortable cruising and picking up someone in circumstances where nobody else will know apart from them and the rent boy. Similarly these men would be afraid to visit a brothel - the risk of exposure is too great. > > In terms of supply, you’re talking a lot of young drug addicts who’d be incapable of meeting the very stringent requirements imposed by legal brothels. > > (This is WAG, but I have been doing a lot of research on prostitution generally and this fits in with what I have learned. I also lived next door to a male prostitute for a year and observed his clients - definitely not your typical gay bar type.) You’d think that would actually increase demand for such a place though. If I’m a closeted gay man who wants to pay for sex, I’d be pretty happy to find a place that was legal (hence decreasing the chance of getting my name in the police blotters), and where the prostitutes are tested semi-regularly for STD’s. Granted you’d need to set it up so that the clientelle would be isolated from other customers, so they wouldn’t have to worry about being outted, but that doesn’t seem like it would be overly difficult. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/19 "2009-11-05T15:17:32Z")
IANAL, but it would seem to me that if the police wanted to enforce the “cervix” issue on a male prostitute, it would happen as follows: 1. Police ask man to submit to cervix test 2. Man, obviously, says that he cannot. 3. Police charge him with failure to submit to test as required by law 4. Man asserts a defense of impossibility and the law is struck down. I can’t see how they could shut down a brothel because a man refused to submit to a cervix test. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346/20 "2009-11-05T15:32:28Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I can’t see how they could shut down a brothel because a man refused to submit to a cervix test. Well, the immediate cause would be that the brothel had unlicensed prostitutes. I don’t think the police really come by brothels for any gender and ask right then and there for someone to “submit to a cervical test”. They ask to see a license, which a person would’ve had to have gone to a clinic and gotten a test in order to obtain. If memory served, marijuana was originally banned more or less the same way, the gov’t felt it couldn’t ban it outright due to constitutional arguments, so they required buyers/sellers to get a stamp, and then simply refused to issue the stamp. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-prostitution-in-nevada/516346.md?page=2)