Rank:Adventurer
Status:
Posts:364
From: USA
Registered:
03/07/2008
|
RE:Hookers In Death Valley
(Date Posted:03/20/2008 6:42 PM)
Here is the article I wrote for a local newspaper after an incident in our neighborhood. Thoughts on prostitution e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this 3 of 3NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS  Cecile with author/historian Robin Flinchum, and Maggie Moore Ho Dog, at the remnants of the cribs of Lola's Palace of Pleasure in Cerro Gordo, California Provided by: Roger W. Vargo Contributed by: Cecile Vargo on 9/29/2006 A prostitution operation has been busted in a neighboring California foothill community near my own. This community, touted as Mayberry, in local newspapers, is in an uproar about it, and has sparked interesting conversation in a local foothill forum I participate in about community affairs, although I doubt when the forum was started this was the type of "affair" that the forum creators had in mind to spark discussions.
In February, I had the delightful opportunity to attend the First Annual Nevada Boomtown Conference and was one of several historical presentors. Before the two days of presentations, however, there were optional field trips. One was to Sheri's Ranch - a world class working brothel in Pahrump, Nevada.
We were given a tour of the entire facility, which in addition to being a brothel, was a resort where husbands and wives go as well. The general manager, better known as the madam, explained how the health issues are handled - very strict rules, regulations, regular check-ups, restrictions on working shifts, and working elsewhere in the prostitution field. The environment is totally clean and controlled.
While privacy is a concern, of course, we were told that many clients, were world renowned political figures that are flown in to partake of the "brothel" services. Some clients are societies outcasts - handcapped, disfigured, or exceptionally shy types, that might not be comfortable or accepted by women in the real world, but still have sexual needs just like the rest of us.
It's quite common for men that have been recently widowed or divorced after long years of marriage, to come to Sheri's for companionship, and often spend their time with the girl of their choice just talking with them and having a good time without sex even entering into the picture.
One regular client was actually 100 years old, and was given a freebie for his 100th birthday ... I doubt if he was up to a lot of sex, but imagine what going there did for his ego, and the companionship the girls provided for him.
We also had time to chat with the girls at Sheri's Ranch. They were all adults, of course, from many walks of life. The oldest was in her 50's. Some of them had come from the streets and found a safe haven at last, working legalized prostitution, and making good money.
Many were earning their way through college, or supporting their children or even their parents or grandparents. I was impressed with them and Sheri's Ranch, and went away thinking the whole system worked out well for all involved. If I had a daughter, and for whatever reason, she chose that as her profession, I would be perfectly comfortable with her decision in a legalized high class brothel the caliber of Sheri's Ranch. I would also have no problem with any of my single male friends, or my bachelor son visiting the place.
I asked Lorraine who was the manager of Sheri's to do a write up for my Web site explaining the need for prostitution, and how it can be handled legally and controlled. I never got around to putting it on the Web site, and what she sent me is probably in my old computer somewhere. If I run across it - I'll post it here - she makes some very good points.
My friend, author, and historian, Robin Flinchum, specializes in histories of the red light ladies of the 1800s. She and I have done a lot of research on these women. In those days, prostition was legal, but not as controlled, of course, as places like Sheri's Ranch.
There were women who actually left their families and their hard life of drudgery as a housewife, for prostition, in a time when there were few options for women to find jobs, and made a life of their own without a husband to support them. While society may have allowed prostitution, it was still looked down upon and frowned upon - showing the double standard that people had then, and even now.
There was also an interesting documentary on the History Channel a couple of years ago based on the book "The Story the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell: Sex in the Civil War" by Thomas P. Lowry, which touched on prostition and its importance during that time period. It was quite fascinating.
I've always had a fondness and curiosity for the red light ladies of old, and honestly feel that during those days, in the old mining camps of the places I explore, that the women who had it best were those that were the madams of the high class dance halls and palaces of pleasure.
In my living room I proudly display as if she was one of my own relatives - the only existing picture of 80 year old Lola Travis, dug up by my friend Flinchum during her researches. Lola came to the California mining camps poor and illiterate, from Sonora Mexico in 1850, with her two brothers.
It didn't take long for her to realize that the best way for a very young woman with a family to support was to work in a fandango hall. She eventually owned her own saloons, and fandango halls, and palaces of pleasure on the Eastern side of the Sierras, and in my friend's ghost town, Cerro Gordo.
She was an onery cuss, as she had to be to survive in a male dominated world, but she was wealthy as well, and she didn't hesitate to share the wealth, as well as her girls. Her name was listed as donor to charities of the day. At the time her picture was taken she was a retired from the bawdy life, and a respectable citizen of Bakersfield.
I'm not so naive to believe that Lola's story was the only story of prostitution, of course. For every woman who made a good life out of it, there were many many more who lived a dark and lonely life, and wound up abused, sick, drug addicted or dead.
Of course, today there are options for women in the work field, but there is still a need for the profession of prostitution, so if respectably handled, I see no problem with it. I spent quite some time talking with a young Oriental woman at Sheri's Ranch, who explained the services she provided for needy and lonely men, and how the money she made helped to support her parents and grand parents.
I was thankful that Anne, had found a responsible place to work as opposed to being on the streets as some of the women had said they had been.
I also feel we are totally ignorant in our beliefs about our ancestors and their sexual past. We found a curious poster at my friend's 1870's ghost town, advertising a special treatment for women which was quite acceptable during the day.
A friend of mine was challenged to do some research on the poster, and wrote about it for my Web site, Explore Historic California, http://explorehistoricalif.com/hysteria.html.
She's Hungarian - so think Hungarian accent when reading the story and be mindful that the story while not pornographic contains sexual references regarding an actual medical treatment.
The book I referenced in my previous post, "Sex In The Civil War" also had several examples of attitudes about sex, which were more open and honest about things than we are today, and in some cases more shocking.
I also remember, in the early 1970's, a schoolteacher and his wife, in the La Crescenta area were caught running some sort of wife-swap trade, if I remember right. It touched closed to home for my parents, as it was the grown son of one of my dad's former co-workers. So we are being quite naive if we think that this recent incident in Montrose is unusual. Who knows what goes on that we never hear about, and in every community, I imagine. Just proves to me, that sex is a natural human instinct, and there obviously need to be boundaries set, but perhaps we need to re-think those boundaries.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Cecile
---------------
Well behaved women rarely make history - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Explore Historic California
|
