A licensed sex worker from Sheri’s Ranch, a legal brothel near Las Vegas, Nevada, has revealed what it’s like to be a prostitute on Valentine’s Day and how the holiday impacts sex workers and their clients.
Roxanne Price, a 25-year-old sex worker at the brothel specializing in ‘Girlfriend Experience’ sessions, said that the week of Valentine’s Day is an emotional time for several of her clients because of the stigma associated with the holiday.
“Valentine’s Day is a day when civilian women are treated like prostitutes and prostitutes are treated like therapists,” Price said.
“While many women are accepting lavish Valentine’s Day gifts from their significant other in return for an evening of sex, single men are visiting me to cope with the stigma of being without a partner on the holiday,” Price said.
“Valentine’s Day celebrates romantic relationships. As a consequence, Valentine’s Day enhances feelings of isolation and loneliness in single people,” Price said. “Calls to suicide hotlines go up on Valentine’s Day and, after seeing clients on the holiday for over five years, I can understand why.”
Price said that men visit the brothel on Valentine’s Day to weather the storm of escalated loneliness and to escape from the confining rules of society into a place where they can let their emotions loose and melt into a beautiful stranger’s arms without being judged or criticized.
“Most people don’t realize that sex workers provide emotional support and genuine companionship in addition to sexual fulfillment,” Price said. “Men don’t just visit me to indulge in their sex fantasies, they also see me when they need a non-judgmental person to confide in.”
“Valentine’s Day can be a tough time for sensitive people. Sometimes, we need to get over the hump by providing ourselves with the support we need,” Price said. “Just as a person would hire a doctor to get them though a bout of flu, my clients pay me to get them through a bout of the Valentine’s Day blues.”
Despite the fact that Price sees consistent business every year on Valentine’s Day, the sex worker believes that society as a whole would be better off without the holiday.
“I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day,” Price said. “While I’m sincerely grateful for the commercialization of sex, I think that attempting to create an industry around love cheapens the most priceless emotion we are capable of as human beings.”
“A holiday that inadvertently puts down millions of single people and causes them to feel dispirited is not something to rally around,” Price said. “A worthwhile holiday should be more like a brothel – catering to everyone and critical of no one.”
