Pleasure For Sale
Pleasure For Sale
Pleasure For Sale
Pleasure for Sale is a six-part documentary series that follows the prostitutes and family members connected to the Chicken Ranch, the legal brothel in Pahrump, Nevada. It is produced by Joe and Harry Gantz, the filmmakers behind HBO’s Taxicab Confessions, and offers an intimate look at the sex trade and the effect it has on the women and their families. Some of the women are college graduates and others are housewives with no other marketable skills. There are students while others have day jobs like office work. Many of the women have been the victims of incest, rape, bad relationships and broken homes. Pleasure for Sale deals with the largely unseen mechanics of the trade like the difficult price negotiations inherent in the profession, STD testing and the strained relationship among the women. The smothering restrictions placed upon the women are presented. Although the series features a lot of nudity, it doesn’t focus on gratuitous sex. It is more interested in the characters involved in legalized prostitution and the effect it has on their lives. Pleasure For Sale
Enlightening documentary about prostitution.
Prostitutes who work at the Chicken Ranch brothel in Nevada, are the focus of this frank documentary. The prostitutes themselves give first-hand accounts, of their experiences in their profession. Customers at the Chicken Ranch are also interviewed, as well as local church Pastors.
The overall tone of this film is non-judgmental, with regards to prostitution. The prostitutes at the Chicken Ranch, come from all walks of life. Most of them are just average women; housewives, students, college grads, office workers, etc., who all decide that they wanted to become high-paid prostitutes. Many of the stories that the prostitutes tell about their lives, are quite heart-wrenching. Some of these women are survivors of rape, incest, bad marriages, and broken homes.
Though the women say that they like making large sums of money, they also openly discuss the downside, of working at the Chicken Ranch. There were incidences of malicious gossip, and competition between the women there. This resulted in emotional trauma for a few of the women, and even one woman being unfairly kicked off of the Ranch.
There’s not that much gratuitous sex in the film, despite its subject matter. There is a fair amount of nudity, but it’s pretty tame for a film about prostitution. Instead, this film puts the spotlight on the women’s professional relationships with their customers, their practical concerns about earning a decent living, and the emotional upheaval in their lives.
No matter how you feel about prostitution, this film is an enlightening look into the lives of a few women, who are involved in the world’s oldest profession.