How Brothel Workers in Nevada Just Made Labor History

"I immediately knew that unless we figured something out, my career is over, because I can't sign this. If they won't back down, what am I supposed to do? For the past eight years, she'd worked at Sheri's as a courtesan-the ranch's term for its employees. She'd built a close working relationship with the brothel's management, who trusted her and often came to her for her advice."

"It shows management attempting to secure extensive rights to workers' likenesses as well as their intellectual property, including any photographs, videos, [or] writing created during the course of their employment at Sheri's. The contract also slipped in language that would give Sheri's management the power of attorney over its employees, which came as an even greater shock."

"Almost every section had something that led back to them owning our [intellectual property], them owning our likeness, them being able to sign our name on documents. We had an attorney look at it, who confirmed that we weren't just overreacting. This was a truly cartoonishly evil contract that they were asking us to sign."

Jupiter Jetson, an eight-year employee at Sheri's Ranch, a legal brothel in Pahrump, Nevada, received a new employment contract the day after Christmas that shocked her and her coworkers. The contract granted management extensive rights to workers' likenesses and intellectual property, including photographs, videos, and writing created during employment. Most troublingly, it included language giving Sheri's management power of attorney over employees, allowing them to sign documents on workers' behalf. For workers like Jetson who pursue careers in modeling, adult film, music, and writing, the contract's provisions threatened their ability to control their own creative output and professional identities outside the brothel.

Read at The Nation