The Cole Memo

In this episode, I announce why I will be talking about legal sex work with licensed sex workers (legal prostitutes) in the state of Nevada. I also share a brief history lesson on the legal sex industry in Nevada. Stay tuned for Episode 2, featuring our first conversation with a legal sex worker.

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Read the auto-generated transcript below

I am very excited to formally announce that for the next 10 plus episodes of the coal memo I will be focusing on a fascinating new subject when I first started the memo I made it very clear that I did not intend to focus only on cannabis or drug policy if you’ve read the description of this podcast you’ll know that the Cole memo is the home for open discussions on civil liberties I am so excited to announce that I will be releasing a series of episodes where I will be focusing on a new topic and that topic is legal sex work this series will Mark a brief departure from drug policy almost entirely I couldn’t help myself I definitely bring up the topic of drug policy throughout this series on legal sex work believe it or not there are several forms of legal sex work that exist in the United States today gentleman’s clubs sometimes called strip clubs are a legal form of sex work only fans is a legal form of sex work pornography as you might have guessed is a legal form of sex work so you can pay to have sex with somebody as long as a camera is present if you pay somebody for sex without a camera present in most of the United States you and and the sex worker can be charged with a crime in other words if a camera is present during relations then your sex is considered art if a camera is not present and you pay somebody for sex then your sex is considered a crime let’s do it both of you are under arrest for prostitution it’s not prostitution you paid her to have sex no I paid her to have sex and we’re filming it so technically it’s not prostitution it’s a porno oh well as long as you’re filming and selling it it’s legal enjoy your day remember kids she’s not a [ __ ] if she’s an actress Nevada is the only state in the United States of America where you can legally procure sex at licensed locations within the state during this series of episodes we will be focusing on this form of legal sex work if you’re wondering why I’ve honed in on this topic it’s because there are a large number of similarities between the legal sex industry and the legal cannabis industry it’s because in both Industries the customers get [ __ ] right well while that might be true in some or most cases these are not the similarities that I plan to hone in on I plan to ask about the working conditions and the state of the industry what’s it like to work in an industry That Remains legal in most of the United States here is a quick background on how this became the law of the land in Nevada brel prostitution has been a part of Nevada’s experience going back to its territorial period as early as 1861 and for the most part it was uh tolerated when men came to the frontier uh a large number of women looking for the opportunity of making money followed the the miners to in particularly Virginia City in the comto but certainly some of the outlying communities now it wasn’t legal but there were Provisions made for regulation it was kind of a gray Zone uh Endeavor World War II remember it’s tolerated legalization doesn’t come to 1971 the local option or the state allowing this to happen now the federal government comes into play you’ve got a war you got military installations throughout Nevada you have young men from Iowa and Georgia Maryland and mothers and fathers and the federal government they’re worried about the spread of veneral disease uh they’re worried about the appearance all these different kinds of things and so the brothel were closed down of course it didn’t mean prostitution disappeared it just went underground it was the work of uh Joe Conor the brothel owner of the Mustang who uh helped support the candidacy of one district attorney Virgil Baner and uh worked together and uh Virgil drafted an ordinance and it was was put on the docket for the story County Commissioners and in late 1970 on a 2 to1 vote they legalized uh brothel prostitution and this this is very important it now had the standing of any other business effective January 1 1971 and other counties followed suit lion County and down the line what it meant for other brothel owners is they couldn’t be closed on a whim the brothel business had the same protection as a casino or a restaurant or a furniture store I started these interviews last year and have come to form my own thoughts and opinions about the industry but before I share my perspective with you I wanted to share the conversations that I had so that you can hear everything as I heard it from the perspective of a licensed sex worker the next few episodes will feature conversations with several licensed sex workers from Nevada’s legal sex industry the first conversation will feature Tori Lisa who called in from a licensed brothel in Nevada a first for our show tune in to the conversation with Tori and stay tuned as I release conversations with other licensed sex workers including actual sex workers managers and staff members at licensed brothel in the state of Nevada the series will conclude with an interview that I had with an owner of a brothel in Nevada that owner invited me to the brothel and allowed me to capture content on site stay tuned for that episode which will feature a tour of a brothel and several interviews with licensed sex workers staff and of course the owner of the brothel after I share all of the interviews that I’ve conducted so far I plan to make a follow-up episode that includes my raw thoughts and takeaways from these conversations experiences and more and because this is something new that I’m doing this is a great time to remind you that you can contact me at thecolememo.com/contact you can send me your feedback you can send me whatever I have been so fascinated by this topic over the past year and I think you’re going to find it fascinating too please remember above all else these are people and I think that’s really important to keep in mind however you’re approaching these conversations whatever your opinions are on sex work the people that I spoke to were people so I hope you enjoy this series of episodes please let me know what you think about all this the topic itself the coverage whatever send us your feedback at thecolememo.com/contact and enjoy our series on the legal sex industry in America y’all ready for this