Sex workers expose ugly truth of living at notorious Moonlite Bunny Ranch
Cathouse, which began airing in June 2005, took a lighthearted look at the lives of employees at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Mound House, Nevada. An instant ratings smash, it ran for two seasons and spawned 10 specials.
The prurient program portrayed the world's oldest profession as empowering and depicted the brothel as a makeshift sorority house where glamorous gal pals bonded by profiting off of horny, harmless, men.
But the reality, exposed in the six-part special Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, premiering June 12 on A&E, was far more sinister.
The documentary paints a picture of desperate women humiliated, intimidated and manipulated by the brothel's notorious owner, Dennis Hof, who was later accused of rape by a former employee.
Several women who worked at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch claim Cathouse tacitly encouraged young female viewers to pursue a career in prostitution, buoyed by the show's fun and fizzy tone.
'It enticed these young girls and we did get a lot of them,' Cathouse star Shelly Dushell told The Post.
'As soon as they turned 18, [they] were trying to work there… I mean, the show really was good for recruiting.'
'I would say to HBO and Cathouse [producers] shame on you,' former Bunny Ranch employee Bekah Charleston declared in an interview with The Post.
'Shame on you for making something look glamorous and fun when that's not the reality. It wasn't glamorous and fun. It is disgusting and horrific work in the middle of nowhere.'
HBO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A powerful pimp
Hof had a starring role on Cathouse. In the mid-2000s, at the time of the show's airing, he was portrayed in mainstream media as a pioneering entrepreneur getting rich in light of legalised prostitution.
But far from being a benevolent boss, the Bunny Ranch was more like Hof's house of horrors, with employees saying they lived in fear of him.
Dushell told The Post that Hof, who owned six other legal brothels, regularly pressured her into sex.
'Dennis wanted to sleep with me the first night that I got there,' she claimed.
'I didn't say no to him, so I wasn't raped, but I was put in a position where I felt like I could not say no to him…. So I just went along with it and I thought, 'OK, well, maybe he makes all the girls do this,' and I was right.'
'For the most part, he tried out most of the girls that would let him,' she added.
'And then he apparently he did it even when girls didn't want him to.'
Per The Las Vegas Review Journal, Hof was accused of raping a prostitute at one of his brothels in 2005. He was also accused of sexually assaulting women in 2009 and 2011.
Hof ran as a Republican candidate for the Nevada Assembly in 2018. He died of a heart attack in October of that year, but his name was left on the ballot at elections the following month. He was posthumously elected to the seat.
'If Dennis had lived, he probably would have ended up in prison because of all the accusations he had against him,' Dushell said of the pimp-turned-politician.
Meanwhile, on Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, several employees claim that Hof financially exploited them.
He allegedly underpaid numerous workers, stripping them of their agency and effectively keeping them confined to the remote brothel.
Charleston, who worked briefly at the Bunny Ranch in the early 2000s, told The Post that some of the employees were trapped there 'for years at a time without leaving.'
'I was the only person at that time that I remember who actually had my own vehicle there,' she shockingly stated.
As for Hof: 'He was just was a disgusting, vile human being that just profited off of other people's backs and bragged about it.'
Moonlite Bunny Ranch has released a statement regarding the new A&E special, stating: 'As the documentary series Secrets of the Bunny Ranch has not yet aired, and we have not been provided with an advance copy, it would be premature for us to address any specific allegations without first reviewing the actual content and claims being made. That said, we note that allegations against Mr. Hof are not new.'
'During his lifetime, Mr. Hof publicly addressed and denied similar accusations through official statements and media responses, including detailed rebuttals available on his website,' the statement continued.
'We find it particularly concerning that these matters are being revisited now, when Mr. Hof is no longer alive to personally respond to or defend himself against any claims. The timing raises serious questions about fairness, as the accused party cannot provide their perspective or defence.'
Empowerment or exploitation?
Hof wasn't the only one making a pretty penny from the Moonlite Bunny Ranch. Cathouse quickly became a ratings smash for HBO, garnering millions of curious viewers.
Dushell became one of the show's stars and was immediately recognized in public, but fame didn't come with a fortune.
'HBO wasn't much better than a pimp, because I was barely paid anything,' she claims in the Secrets of the Bunny Ranch documentary.
'I made between $300 and $350 per sex scene,' Dushell further explained to The Post. 'And that was all they paid me for.'
'I got actual pay stubs from HBO and W-2s mailed to me, and it was exciting to get an envelope that said 'HBO' on it with a paycheck, but the paycheck was just a few hundred dollars, so it was pretty embarrassing to be honest with you,' she said.
'They didn't pay me for just normal scenes, and it was just a ridiculously low amount of money. People seeing me on TV thought that I had gotten rich,' Dushell added.
A different time
Cathouse premiered a year after HBO aired the finale of Sex and the City — another envelope-pushing series in which women unabashedly discussed their sexual proclivities and activities.
In the mid-2000s, pop culture seemingly promoted sex positivity at every turn, making it seem that women were profiting from their provocative pursuits, from Britney Spears in her raunchy video clips to Paris Hilton in her infamous sex tape.
But in the wake of the #MeToo movement, many women are reassessing how much agency that era actually brought about.
For posterity, the New York Post's 2002 review of the original Cathouse, which is referenced in Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, has aged far better.
'There hasn't been a portrayal of hookers this one-dimensional and phony since Pretty Woman,' our acid-tongued TV critic Linda Stasi savagely wrote.
Cathouse is no longer available on HBO platforms.
'Even when we were filming it, I knew it wasn't a true representation,' Dushell admitted to The Post, saying the HBO show omitted the gritty reality of life at the brothel.
'They wanted to sell the show, they wanted to make money off the show, and they wanted to make money off the girls having a great time. They just didn't want to show the ugly side of it,' she further says in Secrets of the Bunny Ranch.
Despite the veneer of glamour and empowerment that Cathouse presented, many of the employees were desperate women who had fallen on hard times.
In the Secrets of the Bunny Ranch special, Dushell reveals that she was sexually abused as a child, saying: 'I probably would never have thought about working at the Bunny Ranch if I hadn't had an old man touching me when I was a little, bitty kid.'
Charleston, meanwhile, told The Post that she was a teenage runaway when she got into prostitution.
'The vast majority of people that find themselves in prostitution are disenfranchised people that come from impoverished backgrounds, homelessness, the foster care system,' she said. 'I mean, I was a runaway kid living on the streets, vulnerable and hungry and so I think it's really important to keep that in mind.'
Several years after leaving the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, Charleston was arrested for tax evasion and served 13 months in federal prison. It was later determined she had been a victim of sex trafficking and was granted a full pardon by President Trump in 2020.
She has obtained both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree and is now a public speaker raising awareness about human trafficking.
Both she and Dushell also want to raise awareness about not believing everything you see on TV.
' Cathouse did exploit the girls,' Dushell said. 'I really expected more from HBO. They came across with a great show, though. I mean, people loved it. It just wasn't real.'
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Alistair Baldwin Had some great chats on this podcast about even the alternate utility of a mic stand as being a way to get the exact right angle and of an intimacy aid. Mia Wallace Absolutely. And there's some things where, you know, we'll ask each other, is this OK? Is this comfortable? Is this not? And Troy knows, he knows that I'll try anything. Nothing's off the table. We've made it work. Alistair Baldwin Yeah, that's right. But communication is a real cornerstone. Mia Wallace That is the first and foremost. Alistair Baldwin You mentioned, you know, abled people having lot of presumptions or curiosities and, you know, almost, yeah, a little too intense curiosity around these questions of like, can you have sex? How do you have sex? Is there any, you know, myth busting that you'd love to do on your own terms about, you know, these questions or what that looks like? 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I think we're kind of like in a happy medium where I think things might be shifting a bit because I think there was one or two people about five years ago who did what I do. And now there's actually quite a few people working in the disability sector, addressing sexuality and pleasure and relationships. It's not just sex. So I think there is definitely a gap. I want to be out of a job because everyone else is doing theirs. Alistair Baldwin So in your work, do you find that you're obviously working a lot directly with clients who are experiencing symptoms or accessibility needs, but does your work ever mean that you're encountering medical professionals, support workers, family, and what are some of the kind of things that you might talk about with them to, I guess, help support your clients? Tess Deveze Yeah, I do a lot of work with the team. I've even done work with other OTs with the same client because an OT might be addressing like functional access and things like that and then I'll come in and do the sexuality work and then we all work together and you know, we find ways that maybe the like speech aids for the client can be used for dating. And we might like write out dating samples and like, would you like a kiss? I'd like to touch you. How do you feel about this date? You know, like really beautiful ways to communicate with people. I have actually had, I'm going to go straight in, assisted masturbation conversations with support workers and the team, because people, think they get the wrong idea. And I just said assisted masturbation and I said it out loud and I'm like, Oh it does sound like it's asking a worker to perform masturbation on someone, but its not that at all. So what it is, I say assisted pleasure, because it sounds a little less scary, but it's a set up and pack up kind of situation. I've worked with support workers who we've found the right intimacy aid, and that's where I came in. And I've helped the client be able to use it. So I'm thinking of one particular client, we used Bluetooth technology, and it was set up in his wheelchair headset so he could control his sex toy with his wheelchair. I'm like waving my head around like I'm pushing buttons with my head, it was incredible. Bluetooth is amazing. Absolutely. Alistair Baldwin I'd love that technology too. Madeleine Stewart So how do you support couples where one partner might also have a caring role? What are some of the challenges that come up with this and like how do you help them navigate this balance between caregiving and also intimacy? Tess Deveze Yeah, that's a really good question. It's really difficult for people. I call it non-intentional touch, you know, the clinical, I'm just getting this thing done type of touch. And some people that I've worked with, that's the only touch they've ever experienced was medical. And I know how that feels being a person who's in the medical system a lot. And then when we work with their partner who's also the carer, there's this switch of roles, you know, so you go from lover to patient and from lover to carer and it's a real switch in independence and it's really vulnerable. Yeah. And so I think like I do work with clients, everything just goes back to communication. Like really, I help people be able to have conversations about how they're feeling. And that can be one of the biggest steps for them because when you can communicate about how you're doing, then we can see what the issues actually are. Because a lot of the time it's, we're having problems, we're not having sex or the sex isn't the same as it used to be. Fix it. Like, all right, what does even sex mean to you for a start? And it could be different and different could be better, you know, with a changing body. A really important thing for people to know is it's okay to plan. Like you can still be sexy and intimate even if you have to organise it a little bit. Remembering that this is a person that you love and that you find attractive and helping them remember that. Because you're in the go, go, go, go, go, caring, I've got to go to work, I've got to take care of this thing, I'm going to bathe you. So every now and then I'll say to someone, I want you to pick a day of the week, and I want you to bathe your partner like it's an ancient Roman spa and you are going to wipe their arm so slowly and you are gonna kiss their neck and you're gonna wash their hair like it was pure sunshine and I just want you to do this one thing that's very intentional and slow and affectionate and like very, very, it's a really vulnerable thing. A lot of people come back and they're like crying. It's like, it was so beautiful. I'm like, okay, that's intentional touch versus the clinical touch. And so I really want, I really try to help people kind of tap into this, this really gentle, soft, slow exploration, but you have to plan it. That's the problem. You've got your medical appointments, you've got your pain medications, you've got like the, the carer might have to go to work as well or try and get ready for other carers you're going to take over during the day. Alistair Baldwin All of that highly medicalised stuff is scheduled, you need to kind of match that in a way. Tess Deveze Yeah, and people say, it's just, it's not like how it was before. And I kind of think to myself, and I said to a few clients if they're up for the challenge and I say, do you remember when you were dating and it was that honeymoon period, they call it, new relationship energy. was like, you are organising when you were going to see each other. Yeah. And you were figuring out what you were going to do. Absolutely. So kind of the same. You're choosing a night. Alistair Baldwin Where are we meeting, are we getting dinner before the movie. Tess Deveze Yeah, you can even like leave the home separately and meet at the location. So it's like a date again. It's like a little bit of role play. Never hurt anyone. Yeah. think, I think one of the hardest things is, the loss of these, the day-to-day subtle affectionate little touches and kisses and butt squeezes and comments of words of love because you stressed. And I think, you know, carer burden is, is real. I wish anyone listening who is a carer, please get support if you're struggling. It's really normal to need support. And also for the people who are being cared for, I have patient burden. I feel awful because my primary partner and carer is changing their life to suit being able to care for me. And I like the guilt and the shame and the burden syndrome that I have from that. So we talk regularly and they're getting support, I'm getting support, we're all getting support. But it's really, it's tough and yes, personal experience, it threw me when I went from being the clinician and being the support person to then being the person needing support. Alistair Baldwin How was that experience of shifting to also experiencing that like lived authentic experience? there, did that expand your practice helping others or how did it shift the work that you did now that you're almost on the other side of it as well? Tess Deveze Yeah, I hate it. I'm not kidding. It's been horrible. But yeah, it's coming out the other end. It's like, oh my goodness, what a learning experience. I think it's, yeah, you really see who you are, your psychology. Like I've just seen so much of my inability to accept help and ask for it and my refusal take up space and I'm really sick. So it's kind of a thing that I have to, I don't have a choice in, you I have to get used to it. Alistair Baldwin Well, what are some of the tools that you would suggest for disabled people to, I guess, explore their sexuality and to make these kinds of big, exciting choices which can reinvigorate, you know, the life that they're living? Tess Deveze Even if people have a partner, I recommend individual pleasure exploration, like solo. And if you are feeling particularly brave, maybe doing that in front of your partner, but that's a very, very few people who have that level of confidence in their body. So it's quite a step away. But I usually say when you wake up in the morning, because that's when your kind of at your squishiest, know, you're warm your body's nice and relaxed and you know, for people that might have high muscle tone, it can be a moment where they're like a little more lax. And that's when I say, I just want you to touch your body. I just want you to very, very like slowly, if able, with a finger, just on various parts of your body and I want you to notice anything, including if you don't feel anything, that's something, you're noticing something. And then with some clients that's turned into pleasure rehabilitation where I've helped people recover orgasm or like, and it all just starts with fingertip touch on the body. And with those moments, I want to try and keep a track of what becomes, yeah, I can feel that. What starts to become, oh that feels nice. And then we're gonna jump into those spots, keep track of them. And then we're gonna look at ways that you can explore those areas of your body with different forms of touch. And that's when maybe intimacy aids might come in, such as vibration or perhaps like scratchy. It just depends on the person, a disability so broad. Yeah, so I had a client and she was pregnant and she had a stroke and the baby was born. It's healthy, healthy, beautiful baby. And she and her partner were really struggling. So I went straight into connecting with each other, because raising the newborn baby while managing her stroke, it was so much. And I was like, I'm not gonna add more. I wanted them to become a bit of a unit. And to like find ways they could work together. So it started with them telling me things that they enjoyed and me figuring out how they could go on dates and have the time without stress to remember like, yeah, we really love holding hands and going to dinner. Like, my God, this is so amazing. So then they might have those moments where they can work together a little easier. And then of course, after we got some time where they reconnected like emotionally, then I integrated physical connection and that was, right, we're gonna figure out how you can lie in bed long-term, maybe on your side and spoon. And then it became naked spooning, because like oxytocin and skin on skin and you know, it's delicious. and then we were trying different positions and then we're talking about intimacy, around how her body could move and how she could stay in positions that wasn't really, cause she had some hemiparesis like paralysis on one side. So was like, we need to stay off, support this with cushions. But I was like, no, no, you can, you can totally have oral this way. was like, yeah, yeah. Like the partner just, I'm like, put a cushion, but get down on your knees. Like it's fine. We can do this. You know, like little hacks, like the corner of the room is like a wall stabilising you. So if you're standing up and you have very good balance, you can stand in the corner of the room and the person can like chair in front of them. And so many little hacks. Alistair Baldwin I've often made use of a stabilising wall. It's very handy. I am curious to ask whether you've had any experiences working with couples where both partners have access needs or differing ranges of abilities, energy levels, essentially what are the ways that you've found tools to help people with potentially conflicting access needs or symptoms find that middle ground, that path through to intimacy with each other. Tess Deveze Yeah, I do quite a bit of work. Again, very different forms of disability. It's so, so broad, but I, there was a young couple with intellectual disability and autism, but they wanted to have a sleepover for the first time. Right. Yeah. And so they rang me to talk about firstly, how they could safely have a sleepover, but how to negotiate that with the staff.. So a lot of the work I do around people accessing intimacy together is it unfortunately involves me talking to a whole team of people. Alistair Baldwin Right, and advocating for that aspect of their lives to be given space and time. Tess Deveze Yeah. For this particular young couple, I sat down and I did sex education with them. We practiced with internal and external condoms. The big one was when we practiced boundary setting and they were playing a game of making offers to each other and they had to say no thank you. So they were understanding how to accept a no. And everyone freaked out when she said no to him. But he did the game. was like, thank you, but no thank you. And that was it. And that's so different from another time I've worked with two wheelchair users. And so there was a lot of communication around hoists is how can we call for help if you need help, say, moving or not. So whereas the emergency button, I developed a thing where I put a bell next to the bed so it could be knocked by someone's elbow who had shoulder function. And then I did a lot of positioning work. So we'd get them in the bed and I would say, imagine, I would never say what do want to do to each other? Because that's a very confronting conversation for people that aren't used to talking about sex. So I was like, how about we imagine that one of you might like to have kind of a...a humping each other, grinding type of pleasure experience. Like with your clothes on and we would see what positions we could put them in and what worked. And a lot of the time as well, I might say to, do you have a physiotherapist? Maybe you could work on the bridge position, you know, when you arch your back and your pelvis goes. So it, I hate the word hump. Grind, there we go, grind is better. But it's that, you know, that pelvic tilt that you do. Yeah, the grinding. So I say, think we can develop your lower back strength a bit more, and this might help with accessing a bit more pleasure. I'm going to chat with the physio, can we work on grinding? Like the bridge position, because physiotherapists are so hands on that this is a really difficult thing for them to work on with clients. So for me to say close on bridge position, that's very, very doable for a physio. Alistair Badlwin And that's a language which is medical and isn't so revealing, but is functionally very helpful. Tess Deveze Exactly. Yeah. It kind of takes the fear out of people's eyes. When you say, no, close on, it's all going to be like, you know, medical, just bridge. That's it. Like, okay. I do this all the time. Like, yeah, you do. Alistair Baldwin Sounds like your work is very important in creating that shift for a lot of people and bringing intimacy back to lot of couples. So it's been wonderful having you on the show today. Thanks for coming. Tess Deveze Madeleine Stewart Thank you so much for coming on the show today. Thank you. Tess Deveze Madeleine Stewart What an incredible episode we've had. Alistair Baldwin Madeleine Stewart Yeah, my highlight was hearing all about Mia and Troy's love story and how they like balance out each other's access needs and is like clearly a very loving romantic story. Alistair Baldwin I'm buying the rights to adapt their life story. Hold on. I'm going to turn it into a rom-com. And what I really loved was hearing Tess speak so openly and vulnerably about those complicated feelings that you can get when you're receiving care from someone you love and supporting others through their own relationships with disability. Madeleine Stewart Well, I had a really lovely chat today. It's been a wonderful episode. Alistair Baldwin I know it was so good. This has been Love Without Limits. Thanks for listening. Madeleine Stewart This has been Love Without Limits hosted by us, Madeleine Stewart and Alistair Baldwin. Alistair Baldwin and produced by Eliza Hull in partnership with SBS and Attitude Foundation. SBS team is Joel Supple and Max Gosford, recorded at Session in Progress.
