College students Trip to Nevada brothel - Tour Chicken Ranch, a legal bordello
College students Trip to Nevada brothel - Tour Chicken Ranch, a legal bordello
Nicki Amouri hands her camera to a friend, throws her arm over another and smiles wide as she leans in for a shot with the monument her class came to visit.
It’s a typical field trip memento — except that Amouri is in a brothel. The monument is a fluffy, queen-sized bed in a Western-themed party room reserved for VIPs and big spenders.
Amouri was one of a dozen Randolph College students who toured the Chicken Ranch, a legal bordello in the desert 60 miles outside Las Vegas. Thursday’s class trip, which included seminars from the working girls, capped a course on American consumption and “the ideas that consume us.”
YOUR VIEW: What educational value do you think a tour like this has?
“I think it’s fascinating, this is fun for me,” said Amouri, a junior at the private liberal arts school in Lynchburg, Va., that until last year admitted only women. “Not many people get to do this.”
FIND MORE STORIES IN: America | Alabama | Las Vegas | Virgina | Nevada | Montgomery | Walt Disney World | Diane Sawyer | VIPs | Alexis | Lynchburg | Fear | Hunter S. Thompson | Alicia | post-Katrina New Orleans | Loathing | Western-themed | Chicken Ranch | Naomi Wolf | Beauty Myth | Culture Program | Randolph College | Victorian-styled
Academic and media inquiries are daily occurrences at many of Nevada’s 27 legal brothels. Some shy away from the scrutiny, others, like the Chicken Ranch, welcome the publicity.
“We’re always open to trying to educate the public about legalized prostitution,” said Chicken Ranch general manager Debbie Rivenburgh, who acknowledged this was the first class tour request she’d received in 21 years.
The brothel tour was a natural fit for a class that tells students “don’t just study America — live it,” said Julio Rodriguez, the director of the college’s American Culture Program.
Each semester the course examines a strain of American culture and ends with a class trip. Past destinations included post-Katrina New Orleans, Walt Disney World and the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Ala.
This year’s focus on Nevada started with a professor’s interest in water rights and conservation. It grew to include discussions of the wedding and entertainment industries and prostitution.
Nevada is the only state where prostitution is legal. Brothels are allowed in 10 Nevada counties, though not in Las Vegas.
As part of their research, students were assigned The Beauty Myth, by feminist author Naomi Wolf, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson, and a “20/20″ episode on prostitution with Diane Sawyer, among other research, professors said.
“We gave them all the option to either opt out or express reservations privately. No one did,” said Rodriguez, adding that he received no objections from parents or administrators.
Prostitutes at the Chicken Ranch had plenty of reservations. Most don’t jump at the chance to talk to strangers about what they do, Rivenburgh said. They worry about friends or family finding out. They know how others see them. It can be uncomfortable.
“Ninety-nine percent of the working girls will not participate. Each woman’s got her reason and her limitations,” Rivenburgh said. “I couldn’t have done better with the two that said yes, though.”
Alexis, 38, and Alicia, both “over 30,” sat on white folding chairs in front the young, earnest women in the brothel’s Victorian-styled parlor, usually the setting for the “lineup.” They would not give their last names. The group took close notes as a handful of television cameras and reporters looked on.
A blonde in jeans and platform boots, Alexis talked about the job’s flexibility and the free time it has allowed her to write a book about her life. Alicia wore a black-and-white gingham nighty and a tattoo on her left breast that read “Famous.”
“I enjoy giving back what some people don’t get in their lives, as far as companionship, time, just the touch of a woman,” she said. The job allows her to take care of her mother and grandmother. She’s also in real estate.
The introductions gave way to questions.
Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Alexis: “Most women in this business wear the pants in the family.”
Is there a certain look most men prefer?
Alicia: Every man wants something different. “There’s all different kinds of girls.”
Why aren’t there brothels with male prostitutes?
Rivenburgh: Former Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss is trying.
Do you still give a military discount?
Rivenburgh: Yes.
What’s the worst part?
Alicia: “Being confined, being cooped up. I have to be here 24 hours a day.”
With a tour and time to mingle, the students packed up gift bags containing a menu of services, a Chicken Ranch key chain and a brochure. They had to get back to Las Vegas in time for a backstage tour of the risque revue “Jubilee.” With any luck, they might get to interview the showgirls.
READERS: What educational value do you think a trip like this has? If none, why not?
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I think prostitution should be legalized. It’s ridiculous that it isn’t. If you disapprove of prostitutes, don’t patronize one. It’s as simple as that. I’m always amazed that people will belittle and look down on prostitutes. It’s not like they’re attacking customers and dragging them off the street. If they didn’t have customers willing to pay for their services, they’d find another line of work. I have much more respect for the prostitutes earning their livings than for the customers who pay for sex.
As for the educational value of this trip, I think it had definite value. It was a study in sociology, culture and economics.
Wow, your comments are nothing short of pathetic . . . Yes, according to you I guess we should look up to prostitutes . . . What if your mother or sister or daughter was a hooker?—-Would you commend her for it and be proud of her? . . . Un-be-liev-able . . .
I wonder if they had a “lab” to go with this course?!
As a current student at the above college in Virginia, I am frankly appalled that this trip took place with no intervention by parents or administrators. If the superior forces at work on campus can’t step in for morality then who will? And people wonder where the moral fabric of this country begins to unravel, I think we are looking at it right here. I am deeply disturbed that a college that once stood as a beacon for intelligent, modest, and traditionally grounded women has now become a place where students are prey to the leftist pov.
College students are adults, and they are responsible for their decisions regarding what is moral and what is not. Please read the article. It states that the the students who participated in this CHOSE to do so, and there were no objections from parents or administrators. The students weren’t hog-tied and hauled by force to the Chicken Ranch. Having worked on a college campus and having listened to my student employees talk about weekend escapades (getting so drunk/high that they didn’t remember how they got home, getting so drunk/high that they woke up naked on or off campus - but still claiming ‘Oh, I’m a virgin’), I really don’t see how a supervised trip to a brothel where they asked questions and received answers constitutes jeopardizing their morals.
I think prostitution should be legalized. It’s ridiculous that it isn’t. If you disapprove of prostitutes, don’t patronize one. It’s as simple as that. I’m always amazed that people will belittle and look down on prostitutes. It’s not like they’re attacking customers and dragging them off the street. If they didn’t have customers willing to pay for their services, they’d find another line of work. I have much more respect for the prostitutes earning their livings than for the customers who pay for sex.
As for the educational value of this trip, I think it had definite value. It was a study in sociology, culture and economics.
As far as educational value I would say it has alot. These students get a first-hand example of the kind of hypocrisy that exists in America. In most places prostitution is illegal and the police do lots of sting operations to nab clients of these ladies. Yet here we have an example of a functioning brothel that is legal. Why not legalize this across the U.S. and stop sending people to jail for this
With the economy there might be more supply than demand.
Women more willing
and guys more broke.
Remember, Spitzer’s girl raised the bar on what you can charge.
Great, another sound bite thinker. Here, let me point out your errors. First, nobody has ever forbidden children to pray at schools, what they HAVE restricted is government sponsorship of religion in schools. Second, this is a PRIVATE liberal arts college, not a public K-12 school.
As a current student at the above college in Virginia, I am frankly appalled that this trip took place with no intervention by parents or administrators. you have got to be kidding.these are not high school students.and it was their choice.unless you live in a hole,prostitution is about the oldest profession on earth.and the women there are not forced sex slaves.ive seen the show on hbo and many of these women make upwards of 200,000 dollars a year.in not a long time they can retire.they are protected and well cared for clean and LEGAL.I cannot believe some people can be so judgemental and prudish in this day and time.and no i have never been there nor could i afford it.dont need to.but for those that use the service,good for them.”traditionally grounded women “you said.uh yeah ok.where do you find them these days.
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