Nevada brothel’s latest offering? A ‘connection’ with a price

Getting the most bang for your buck just doesn’t cut it in today’s world of harlotry. Now, customers want to buy affection, too.

It’s for sale at Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump, and the women working there say they don’t mind.

“Personally, I prefer being able to fulfill the role as your girlfriend rather than offering straight sex, getting the chance to know you and sharing more of myself,” said Allissa, a legal prostitute at the rural Nevada brothel.

A lot of women at the ranch can fulfill that same role, for a cost, with the “Girlfriend Experience.”

Spokesman Jeremy Lemur explained the enthusiasm for the most sought-after legal sex trade menu item in a blog post earlier this month.

“In today’s high-tech society, we seem to be making connections at every turn, with every text, Facebook like, and Twitter update, he wrote. “But are these new tools augmenting our connectivity to one another or replacing a more personal way of conversing?”

He thinks it’s the latter, saying most human exchanges are now reduced to dispassionate emails and emoticons.

“Maybe these poor excuses for connecting have us longing for something more substantial. Or perhaps as we juggle work, family, and sex in our fast-paced environment, it’s more difficult than ever for quality affection between two people to occur naturally, at the best time, and at the same level for each participant.”

Barbara Brents, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, disagrees.

“I can’t see that it has anything to do with social media,” she said, when asked if there’s a connection between the experience’s increasing popularity and the simultaneous increased use of social apps like Tinder and Facebook.

So what is that something more substantial Lemur talks about that you can purchase at a legal brothel?

Destini, another legal prostitute who enjoys the “GFE,” explains: “In our private bungalow we relax by the fire, cuddling and listening to our favorite music.”

Then, in typical boyfriend-and-girlfriend fashion, you and your lover with a price tag can enjoy a romantic dinner or take in a scary movie.

“I can snuggle in your arms or you can comfort me while I jump and scream,” Destini says.

The desire for this kind of intimacy has more to do with the types of clients coming to brothels nowadays and less to do with an overall shift in what men want, Brents says.

“Brothel clients have traditionally been working class truckers or miners. Those working class men are seeing a decline in their income and they may have paid for shorter less expensive services. They may now not afford brothels. So brothels may be seeing fewer clients, but more middle and upper class tourists who can pay for more expensive GFE services,” she says.

No matter the cause of increased demand, the girlfriend experience is prompting intrigue into the legal sex trade.

Starz later this month will release a 13-episode series, called “The Girlfriend Experience,” which will feature a young attorney in training who leads a double life as a high-end sex worker.

Contact Kimberly De La Cruz at kdelacruz@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Find her on Twitter: @KimberlyinLV