Sex/uality Artifacts

Hi all, my name is Imari Lloyd and my first artifact was two clips pertaining to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch. Upon showing the two clips, I asked has anyone heard of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch or Cathouse the TV series and almost everyone in the class said they never heard of except for one other student. The Moonlite Bunny Ranch is one of eighteen legal brothels in Nevada and views as the of the most famous. Within this facility, women are able to receive money for sexual activities. Dennis Hof is the owner of this brothel along with a couple more also located in Nevada. An interesting thing about Dennis runs the business is that he stated in an interview that the women who work have open contract, which allows them to work whenever they want, this could be weeks, months, etc., they can leave and then come back. Cathouse is a HBO series that shows the ins and outs of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch where almost nothing is censored except certain body parts. Cathouse shows everything from the line up the women when a customer comes in, how customers decide on the women of choice, the sexual activity taking place and more.

My artifact relates to the articles “legalized prostitution” and “sex work for middle class” discussed on Tuesday October 27.  One of the main points of the article “legalized prostitution” included the policies of criminalization and decriminalization of prostitution in countries. Countries where prostitution is criminalized, this type of work is not legal and unsafe. On the other hand, with decriminalization, brothels have to follow certain requirements to ensure safety for both the workers and individuals involved. Since prostitution is legal in Nevada, this relates to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch because this and the other brothels have to follow certain regulations such as condoms usage, women having weekly testing for sexually transmitted diseases/infections, monthly HIV tests and they cannot handle money transitions directly. This takes steps in making sure the workers are maintaining a healthy welling being throughout their jobs. This also relates to the article of “sex work for middle class” because of the women stating the reasons why they chose to go into this type of service. There was another interview I watched with some of the girls from this particular brothel and a lot of them choose to be into this profession because the money is fast which helps them achieve and maintain a certain lifestyle that they want. The article mentioned that this profession is a choice and many women understand this. There were some women on the other hand whom felt that since they were exposed to this type of environment early on, were raped and already lost their virginity why not go into this. Although it seemed like the lifestyle somewhat choice them, they still chose to follow it because why not get money for something they were so familiar with. In addition, the article mentioned the role of new technologies and how this helps business thrive through advertisement. The cathouse series has definitely had an influence on the popularity of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch as well as the TV promotion and celebrity visits.

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Take-a-Tour-of-the-BunnyRanch-Brothel-in-Nevada-Video

My artifact was a video clip from the organization GLSEN’s new national survey. The video clip was describing the different experiences the LGBTQ+ community and how we as a community and school system can make it a better environment for everyone. During the video, it was discussed that there are over 8,000 middle and high school LBGT students in the U.S. and that number is growing since 2013.  Progress is being made to ensure that no matter what your identity every student has a safe place to thrive and learn. GSA’s are a way this progress is being made. GSA often run clubs and organizations for the LGBTQ+ community in schools. Students have said that having GSA’s in their schools have made them feel safer and they were able to focus more on their school work. Also when GSA’s were present in schools students were victimized less by their fellow students. GSA’s are an amazing tool to use but since 2013 only half of LGBTQ+ students have these in there schools. Having this positive and supportive representation in there schools helped them to preform better academically and socially. Not having GSA’s or any representations of the LGBTQ+ community in the school rather it be teachers, in the curriculum, or socially has a negative affect on students. Students have experienced bullying and hate language from students in their schools. Because they don’t have the support they need from the schools they tend to avoid school all together. This tends to lead to lower academic reports.

This artifact relates to our class because during class on the day I gave my artifact presentation we had to read an article titled “The experience of LGBT youth in America.” My artifact relates a lot to that article because it reemphasizes the experiences LGBTQ+ youth go through that were talked about in the article. The GLSEN video discussed different ways we could be more  proactive in making sure these students have more positive experiences than negative ones. My artifact also relates to class because even thought same-sex marriage is now legal in all states. People are still mean. Like stated during my presentation, if we all treated each other like human beings first, with dignity and respect, the differences wouldn’t matter so much.