Darkmistress's Full Review: Alexa Albert - Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Wome...
My husband picked up Brothel while we were hiding from the heat in the YP Bookstore. I vaguely remembered hearing about the Mustang Ranch a long time ago, probably from 60 Minutes or something and I knew that parts of Nevada had legalized prostitution, but I knew it like I knew the moon was not made of green cheese and email gets from me in Korea to my mom in Ohio in seconds. I never really wondered how that really worked. So of course, when the book made it’s way into our apartment, I had to read it.
Now, let me just state head of time that I have what might be (ok, are) considered radical views on this sort of thing. I think prostitution should be legalized because then it can be controlled and taxed. The people working in the industry can be licensed and tested as they are in Nevada (And certain places in the Philippines) for sexually transmitted diseases. And they can be protected against crime just like everybody else. The prostitutes can also reap the benefits of health care, collective bargaining and so forth. I further believe that morality groups who want to eliminate prostitution are misunderstanding the Bible. The Bible doesn’t say "do away with all temptation" it says "resist temptation." The point is resisting and helping, not forcing, others to resist. If you eliminate the temptation, you’re cheating. (And how many people am I going to lose from my WOT for that one?)
So you can see why the subject matter of the book didn’t bother me. In fact, I found it fascinating. I love books on how things work and who can’t help but wonder how a professional prostitute’s mind works? Alexa Albert had unrestricted access to the women of the Mustang Ranch. Originally, she was doing a study on condom breakage for a professional journal and what better sample to work with. These women are required to use condoms and average 6 a day. Later she returned to the ranch repeatedly for other projects and because she liked the women. They were proud of the work they did. Most of them seemed to approach it with a very professional attitude. Albert also mentioned that many of the women had planned to go into "helping" professions as their second careers, teachers, nurses, social workers. They viewed themselves as providing a specialized service.
In the book we also learned about some of the service suppliers. The cooks, the laundry woman, the manicurist, the clothing retailer. Many of these people had become part of the family. The manicurist in particular became very close to some of the women because as she said she chatted with them while doing their nails. She would come in and stay for 12 or 14 hours to make sure all the women had a chance to get their nails done. She also gave out her home number so they could call her or give it to their families as a contact number so the families wouldn’t find out where their daughters and sisters were working.
On the negative side we also learned about the pimps and the way the brothels shaft the women by calling them independent contractors so they don’t have to file taxes for them, yet charging them exorbitant rates for room and board and forcing them to tip the staff. It sounds like a big racket to me. How would you like it if your job forced you to stay in the office for days or weeks at a time, use the vendors they bring in and pay a premium for the honor.
And we meet some of the johns. I’m not sure if it was Albert’s strong association to the prostitutes, but it seemed that she viewed them as largely hopeless losers. I can’t imagine that every man who visits a prostitute is a failure socially, but it seemed that all the ones we were introduced to were.
There’s some pretty thorough history on legal prostitution as well as the current political climate. Albert starts with the wild west, moves froward through the battles of the 70’s when the current system came into place and on through the closing of the Mustang due to the illegal antics of the former owner.
All in all, the material is very thoroughly and almost clinically covered. Albert’s book is well organized and easy to read. I was surprised at have few times I thought, "ugh." Dealing with something as intimate as paid sex has it’s own cringe factor, but it seemed that Albert used some of her medical training to look at the more touchy subjects dispassionately. Albert did witness 2 sessions. This could make some people uncomfortable, as it did me. Romance novel sex is one thing, but when the male in question is described as looking like a beached whale it gets a little oogy for me.
Personally, I enjoyed the book and I think that anyone with a fascination either for the subject matter or for How Stuff Works will enjoy it. Now, I’d like to see someone write a book about the johns that’s a little more even handed.
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