FYP Outline - Prostitution in the US

The aim of my FYP is to look at prostitution within the US. Regarding it’s history during the ‘Wild West’ period (the 1800’s), looking at the ‘soiled doves’ of the West and women such as Calamity Jane. There are stories of the prostitutes of that era doing well for themselves and marrying mayors and suchlike, I wish to look more closely at these.

I plan to investigate the results of the ban introduced between 1910 and 1915 in most US states, why it has remained legal within parts of Nevada. Moving forward I plan to focus on the legalised brothels that exist in Nevada, the treatment of the women working within them and the media depiction of these places, which have spawned television shows such as Cathouse (about the Moonlight Bunny Ranch). I will aim to discover whether the treatment of the workers is infact as the documentaries show or if there is a darker side to the business. Comparing the prostitutes of the ‘Wild West’ and the present day, I aim to look into whether it would have been better to have been a sex worker then or now in the present day.