What Happens In Vegas Happens Everywhere

September 5, 2007

A New York Times hit piece on Las Vegas begins:

“There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than in Las Vegas.”

Which is patently false.

The article, “City as Predator” by Bob Herbert, makes the valid point that illegal sex trade happens in Las Vegas and that obviously that’s bad for sex slaves involved. But sex trafficking happens all over the country, not just in Las Vegas. What happens in Vegas, happens everywhere. It doesn’t stay in Las Vegas. And it’s not worse in Las Vegas just because it’s Vegas. Try telling a sex slave she’s better off in Miami than in Las Vegas. I doubt she’ll agree, she’d rather be free.

Visit rural Nevada, where prostitution is legal (prostitution is NOT legal in Las Vegas). Is it automatically better because it’s not a big city? No. Or how about rural Utah with polygamist cults who sell and trade girls. Are those girls better off because they’re not in Vegas?

Las Vegas is just where the closest international airport is. Sex trafficking occurs in Los Angeles, New York, and every other large city with international access. I bet more human trafficking occurs in Los Angeles than in Las Vegas. And trafficking occurs in cities without international access. Human slavery and trafficking occurs for non-sex work, too. Men and boys are trafficked, too.

Moreover, these are not women Herbert discusses in his article; they are children, girls whose average age is 14. Herbert’s conflation of women and children in this article, along with an assumption that one man, the mayor, Oscar Goodman, has the power to stop sex trafficking, sounds morally paternalistic.

The majority of women in Las Vegas are not sex slaves. They are women in various occupations and many women find they have more opportunity in Las Vegas than in many other American cities. For starters, Nevada pays a minimum wage to workers in tipping professions while some other states allow employers to pay less than the minimum wage, assuming tips will make up the difference (source). And many Las Vegas jobs come with benefits like childcare and health insurance, one of the perks of the casino unions. Vegas also offers a relatively low cost of living and no state income tax. For many women, Las Vegas is a great place to work and live.

While Herbert has a point that Vegas’ perceived lenience is partially responsible for the sex trade, his article comes across as yet another outsider making sweeping generalizations and judgments about something with which he is unfamiliar. I’m tired of reading what New Yorkers and other outsiders have to say about Las Vegas. Let the Las Vegans speak for themselves.

Here’s a better article on the same subject. This one was written by Las Vegan, talks about the real problem and solutions to it, along with what the city is already doing. It’s not an attack on Las Vegas.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Las Vegas, The Woman, Travel & Adventure