Contemporary Nevada, Amsterdam, & Tuxtla

Nevada

There are 30 legal brothels in Nevada, which are relegated to rural areas and prohibited in Las Vegas and Reno. In these legal brothels, the state controls and regulates the business. No brothel offers male prostitutes, and the vast majority of customers are men. Brothel women must be at least 21 years old to be employed, and brothel owners must be screened in order to ensure they have not had a previous felony conviction. [1] State law makes condom use mandatory and requires brothel women to get tested for STIs and HIV weekly. No brothel women has tested HIV positive since the inception of mandatory testing in 1985, which illustrates how legalization has promoted the health and safety of brothel workers [2] One rule among Nevada’s legal brothels is that the women must live at the brothel for the duration of their contract, which is generally three weeks at a time. Children and spouses of brothel women are not allowed to reside in the same town in which the sex work occurs. Women generally split half of their earnings with the house, and pay for their own healthcare. While some of these regulations technically enhance the well being of brothel workers, many are considered unfair and restricting. [3]

Amsterdam

State involvement with Amsterdam's brothels illuminates the ways in which legalization suppresses the industry and ultimately harms sex workers. While Amsterdam’s red light district remains highly visible and the largest sector of legalized sex workers, there has been a decrease in legal sex businesses since it’s legalization in 2000. [4] The number of licensed sex clubs, brothels, and escort agencies fell 17 percent from 2000 to 2006 (from about 1,325 to 1,270), declining further to 1,150 in 2009. [5] This decrease in businesses results from the cost of abiding by regulations, the lack of new willing and financially able owners, and the hiring of police to reduce the number of venues by buying and forcing out owners following investigations. Legislative changes at the national level can be attributed to the Small Christian Union Party, which was part of the coalition government from 2006 to 2010. This orthodox Protestant party stands opposed to prostitution and other signs of Dutch “permissiveness.” [6] The 2000 law delegated the authority to regulate prostitution to municipalities, which created tremendous variety across jurisdictions. There is a mandatory licensing requirement for every establishment where commercial sex takes place and a requirement that all legal sex work is location bound. Officials have largely focused their attention on legal establishments because it’s easier, in comparison to the clandestine and illegal sex work. In some areas, brothel owners experience so many “strict and unreasonable” regulations and fees that the mere task of operating a brothel legally is considered difficult. [7] While Amsterdam is often lauded as a coveted model for legalization, the number of regulations both in rules and financial burdens place strain on the industry and everyone involved in it.

Tuxtla, Mexico

The state-run red light district in Tuxtla, Mexico epitomizes the ways in which legalization protects workers’ legal status while introducing new forms of control. In the Galactica Zone, “like prisons and schools -- other institutions designed to contain, control, and even redeem-- the brothel is a place where individuals’ bodies, behaviors, and beliefs are disciplined.” [8] In the Galactica Zone, brothel workers are subjected to constant surveillance and confinement, including harsh disciplinary practices and separation techniques meant to prevent collective resistance.” [9] There is a fierce police presence that regulates the movement of who enters and exits the zone. Discipline is enforced in order to maintain docility.[10]

City requirements and prohibitions for sex workers in the Galactica Zone include that workers must be a Mexican citizen over the age of eighteen. They must also gain a health certificate provided by the city and prove that they are free of diseases and not pregnant. Women who work as prostitutes in the Galactica Zone are subjected to mandatory STI testing and receive medical treatment that seldom extends beyond preventing and treating sexually transmitted diseases. Workers have Sanitary Control Cards that declare their health status and must be repurchased every three months. The card displays the worker’s photograph, name, room and building number, landlord, and a calendar depicting the worker’s gynecological inspections. It also contains an HIV-negative certificate, which must also be purchased. When a worker tests positive for a transmissible illness or infection, she is suspended until cured. If she is found to be HIV positive, she is suspended permanently. Requiring sex workers to pay a variety of different fees exemplifies how states financially exploit sex workers through legalization. [11] As a result, it is evident that in Tuxtla, Amsterdam, and Nevada, exploitation of brothel workers stems from the regulations imposed on them from state, furthering, as well as originating from, the cultural beliefs that label sex workers as dangerous social influences who require such regulation. 

[1] Weitzer, Ronald. 2011. Legalizing Prostitution: From Illicit Vice to Lawful Business. New York: NYU Press. p. 88.

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid. p. 88.

[5] Ibid

[6] Ibid

[7] Ibid

[8] Kelly, P. 2008. Lydia's Open Door: Inside Mexico's Most Modern Brothel. Berkeley. Calif.: Univ of California Press. p. 78.

[9]  Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Ibid