CARSON CITY - A guest need not look far to
see how working girl Sunshine Lane seems to feel at home inside the Bunny Ranch
brothel outside Carson City.
Lane has placed
bunny-adorned, pink slippers under the bed with a collection of shoes selected
to enhance the experiences of paying customers seeking companionship and
sex.
Brothels offering prostitution, which have
been sanctioned in Nevada since 1861, have been the subject of many media
reports, and this place is no exception. Brothel operator Dennis Hof cites a
lengthy New Yorker magazine article about the ranch that give its readers an
inside look at the oldest profession.
It's no
big deal and all in a day's work to the 24-year-old woman, who is soon due to
return to South Lake Tahoe to live because she likes the beauty of the area.
More than half her guests - averaging a dozen a week - want intimacy such as the
simple pleasures of being held and touched, she explained.
"It tells me they're not having intimacy. Guys are unhappy with
their day-to-day lives," she said, glancing around her room that exemplifies her
lifestyle and longing for comfort.
Colorful
Mardi Gras beads are wrapped up like neck ties above the nightstand - where
fur-lined handcuffs, an unburned candle and lubricant sit. A Teddy bear sits on
top of a loveseat, opposite from a velvet-covered chair.
A bottle of bubbles stand at the sink on the side of the room.
Peacock and synthetic feathers sit in a vase, and a dreamcatcher hangs from a
wall.
Soft music on the stereo adds to the
ambiance.
"I'm very spiritual," she said,
leaning back on her raised bed blanketed with butterflies.
"I picked these out myself," she said.
Overall, the room provides a feast for the eyes to an interior
decorator.
As for functionality, a mini electric
fireplace pumps out heat in the room for the Florida native who was once an
exotic dancer. With a hot tub just outside a closet door, Lane has moved up to
one of the upscale rooms that she rents for $19 a day. The Ranch also collects
an even split of her per-hour profits, which average between $200 to $300. The
rates may go way beyond that rate depending on what the clients ask for. Her
line of work dictates that of a night owl. It goes with the
job.
Clients are not always men, even though the
majority are. Many wear a wedding ring but seek a way to fulfill a void outside
their marriage without the expense of adding a long-term relationship to their
lives.
Lane - one of 29 Bunny Ranch hands - is
single with no boyfriend, but she added that many of the women who work there
do.
Having sex for money fails to deter most who
choose the profession from nurturing a healthy relationship with their spouses
and significant others, she said.
"I love sex.
If you don't love sex, you shouldn't be here," she said, further admitting that
some women might have no where to go.
But this
young woman has dreams.
"This is a stepping
stone for me," she said.
A competitive ice
skater years ago in Tampa, Lane would like to retire in five years to open her
own arena. She also talks about opening a fitness center with yoga and pilates
classes.
Despite the image of the heavy-handed,
pimped-out profession, Lane stressed that she's in charge of her own
destiny.
"No one controls me," she said, sitting
upright on her Bunny Ranch bed. "I wanted to be my own
boss."
If someone tries to get rough, she may
touch a panic button installed in the wall next to the bed. She said it hasn't
been a problem.
Beyond the unusual, there are
the old standards - including the French maid outfit and nurse uniform. This
work is about the kinds of fantasies that have stood the test of
time.
An 80-year-old man came to the ranch one
day with what seemed like the athletic prowess of someone half his age, she
said.
"The first one's the hardest," she said of
her entry into the field two years ago. "It took a while before I could say the
word, (prostitute)."
Lane has vowed to refrain
from drug use and declares she "hardly drinks" alcohol.
A recent client celebrated his birthday in one of the ranch's
bungalows. Lane put her creativity to work. She put up balloons and brought in
cupcakes.
More often than not, Lane said she
enjoys the sensual experiences she has with the clients.
She even keeps in contact with some of them via the
Internet.
For those she's not attracted to, Lane
will close her eyes and imagine someone more appealing.
"I try not to tune out. I don't want to be a fake. I want to be
real," she said.
Attitude is everything for the
women who work at the Bunny Ranch. According to the madam, there's no tryout but
an applicant must fill out a form, go in for fingerprinting, file a Lyon County
Sheriff's identification card and get a health check.
With the AIDS scare, Lane endorses the practice of HIV testing every
month. And all her clients use condoms, she said.
Lane realizes that many people pass judgment on her line of work,
and a sign leading up to the brothel reflects the perceived taboo: "Warning
sexual entertainment 300 feet ahead."
She
believes our society is too uptight about the activity, citing the aftermath of
Janet Jackson's breast exposed during the Super Bowl halftime
show.
What do her parents think of Lane's line
of work?
"They support me 110 percent. I'm an
independent woman, and it's nice too for them to know I'm taking care of
myself," she said. "They brought me up to be open minded."
- Susan Wood can be reached at
(530) 542-8009 or via e-mail at [email protected]
