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Young woman in oldest
profession
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Jim Grant/Tahoe Daily Tribune
Sunshine Lane enjoys the sun streaming into the room she
rents for $19 a day at the Bunny
Ranch.
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Susan Wood
April 23,
2004
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]
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