PAHRUMP, Nevada—Two legal prostitutes at Nevada brothels note that despite reports of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Silver State, they are seeing an unexpected uptick in their sales.
“I was worried that viral outbreaks, and the fear surrounding them, could particularly affect a sex worker’s business,” said Alice Little, a highly successful licensed sex worker currently operating out of Lyon County, Nevada. “Sex workers are often stigmatized as diseased trollops to begin with. Combine that stereotype with even more societal anxiety over a dangerous virus like COVID-19, and sex workers could wrongly be viewed as walking petri dishes that should be avoided at all costs.”
Little was worried her business could be negatively impacted due to fear and uncertainty regarding the coronavirus and how it will spread. Her unease intensified this past Thursday when Nevada officials confirmed cases of the virus in Northern and Southern areas of the state.
“After Thursday’s announcement about the first confirmed coronavirus case in Nevada, I honestly expected to see some cancellations from my scheduled clients,” Little said. “The exact opposite actually occurred.”
Roxanne Price, a licensed sex worker operating in a Southern Nevada brothel in Nye County near Las Vegas, has also experienced an incredibly lucrative week despite coronavirus uncertainty.
“This past week, including this weekend, has been one of the best weeks I’ve had since 2014, when I started working in Nevada’s legal brothels,” Price said. “I think that this ‘What if it’s the end of the world?’ mentality is causing people with sexual goals to visit sex workers like me sooner rather than later, so that they can fulfill their desires and cross off specific items or experiences from their bucket lists.
“For example, one of my specialties is working with adult virgins and providing them with a nonjudgmental environment for these clients to experience their first sexual encounter,” Price continued. “I saw two of these virgin clients just this week. “While my clients and I certainly don’t genuinely believe that the world is coming to an end, I think that situations like the coronavirus remind us that life is short and now’s the time to live it.
As far as sex worker stereotypes and the perception that sex workers may be risky companions during a pandemic, Price isn’t buying such an assumption.
“Seeing a sex worker is no riskier than going on a Tinder date,” Price said. “In fact, legal sex workers are the safer choice.”
Little has not received any cancellations thus far, although she has seen a steady flow of additional appointments. The sex worker suspects that the unanticipated increase in reservations is a result of a basic human need for connection during stressful times.
“It goes to show that, in times of crisis, the need for human connection transcends fear of the unknown,” Little said. “When society is faced with an alarming situation rife with uncertainty, people yearn to be with others that will hold them close, listen to them, and remind them why life is worth living.
“Sex workers offer more than just a physical connection,” Little continued. “Often times, we are our clients most trusted confidants. Clients share their deepest emotional secrets and most tender vulnerabilities with sex workers. So it makes sense to me why many people would want to be with sex workers when political or health crises emerge.”
Like all Americans, Little is monitoring news reports about the coronavirus, and she guardedly believes that the virus won’t negatively impact her business in the future.
“I’m incredibly saddened that this virus has devastated so many people and their families, and I’m concerned for my own family and friends. But I’m also trying to put the situation into perspective for myself and my clients so that we don’t unnecessarily freak out,” Little said. “The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that an average of 12,000 Americans will die from the flu in any given year. Despite these statistics, my clients and I have never worried about catching influenza as a result of our intimate rendezvous. I think that the necessary but relentless news coverage about coronavirus has been exaggerating my concerns about the virus’s threat to my financial well-being and my risk of infection.
“After seeing so many amazing clients this past week, I’m cautiously optimistic that my business, and the American legal sex industry as a whole, will not be negatively impacted by the coronavirus or the panic surrounding it,” Little added.
“The truth is that legal sex workers in Nevada are tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and no sex worker in Nevada can provide intimate services if she doesn’t pass these medical STD tests,” Price said. “No matter what’s going on in the world, seeing a legal prostitute will always be the safest way to have sex with a stranger.”
Prostitution is currently criminalized in the United States, except in Nevada, where prostitution is legal in the form of regulated brothels located in several rural counties throughout the state.
