Hurting Souls
I am Holly, I have been here in Las Vegas for 20+ years so it's home. I dealt with 115-degree weather, gambling, and splendor at its finest from this town and there is nothing but love for this great state from me. Most of the time, I enjoy what this town has to offer my family. I also reach out to the community in many efforts for social change and good old fashioned unconditional love. I do, however feel there is one issue that is almost impossible for me to swallow. That is the sexualization of this town. Now, I am not trying to make this a place that it is not. Hear me out, please. That being said I noticed some things here that many others do not seem to notice at all. Its like I live with people who chose not to see the obvious.
Many people here do not believe that it is their duty to speak the truth about what happens in Vegas. Its been touted it just stays here, so we don’t really need to notice advertisements for sex, or shows, or clubs that are offering happy endings. I have even seen fetish billboards on the 15; oh you noticed that one too? Am I against the topless shows that put this place on the map? Heck no, I just don’t take my kids there.
It is my duty to protect my children, and other people’s children from butts in their face. The Riviera needs to get a new slogan! Tao,and Hard Rock you too (what's wrong with sticking with Rock n Roll)? The most insulting is the rolling billboards that advertise "Girls to Your Room." Now, these advertisements do not out right advertise prostitution, but ah the models aren't wearing turtlenecks let's put it that way. By the way, prostitution is not legal in Clark County. The FCC does not regulate these signs, but who does? Our zoning commissioners do. I have called and they have been working on it for a "number of years, " according to some commissioners. Ask them yourselves, its election time. I have called and written to the good folks in this town that are stakeholders including the Church, the Governor, senators, commissioners, television stations, news papers, radio, even everyday citizens and no one really seems to want to address this white elephant. That is a lot of work for a mother of 5 and a person in their doctoral program that does have eyes. Wheew!
Some have questioned me as to "why I don't live elsewhere," or whether those billboards are "really offensive?" I tell you the truth every time I see one of those billboards a few things strike me to the core: 1) Those billboards are advertising illegal prostitution and we mostly turn a blind eye. 2) They really make it hard on the already explosive traffic. 3) Other cities have FCC regulations on billboards and advertisement but not Las Vegas. 4) Las Vegas is home to many sex workers and always has been, - yet we are also home to a pandemic sex trafficking issue and I counted at least a dozen foot massage parlors open 24 hours on one city block. Interesting, we must have a prolific amount of hurting soles here. By the way, the parlors are in our neighborhoods, right beside my grocery store. These places have had numerous sting operations that have lead to busts of underage girls in prostitution. Yet they aren't closed? 5) If you you have boys you will understand, but I tell you it is not easy explaining why people are naked on signs everywhere 6) Lastly, the main reason why I am utterly deflated when I see those ads are that I have 3 beautiful daughters. If I were the parents of the "Girls to your Room," models I would be so sad that she thought she hit the big time and she has her face along with her most intimate parts (she is pulling her undergarments down) for countless millions to see. The truth is she is a person of extreme worth, a princess, a beautiful human that has been inhumanely paraded down the streets. I literally pray every time I see this because women are the strength of life itself. I know it is her choice, I am all for freedom of speech. My freedom of having to see those women being looked at like they are an item, rather than a world changer is almost unbearable. I also have to say that it is developmentally too challenging for people under 18 years old to grasp selling sex as well. I call that sexual abuse. Frankly, this is a civil rights matter with greater implications. I think one of the most important civil rights movements starts with presenting women in a different light. More than what is on the outside, or how she is a source of pleasure. Something could be campaigned that validates and educates us all that women are not expendable; rather they are viable, equal, and important. I am silly enough to make a stand myself with my own sign that I ambulate up and down the strip that says, "Hey Lady - you are priceless!" I don't know how to fight a giant like Las Vegas, a hyper sexualized culture and the dangers it brings, nor the blatant maltreatment of our women. I am just one person. I think if you made one call, you could ask why police don't enforce getting the billboards and parlors in check. Maybe you could ask why prostitution rings silence commissioners? Or why is it that citizens do not have the ability to ask that smut be taken down because it is offensive? I can do well and teach my children that women are to be revered; alas I am fighting the social atmosphere of this country that does not share my ideals in the media. I know this to is nothing new under the sun, but when it is normalized in our hometown it is hard to ingrain into my children that it is wrong to marginalize women as objects. Las Vegas is a world travel destination, but it is also our home. Do something that you can do to make a difference for the good. What will happen if we all just continue to overlook this prodigious lie that women are not exploited even here, in the land of the free? "The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold." - Aristotle
Thank you for hearing me out. I feel better.
With Passion and hope,
Holly Davis
Many people here do not believe that it is their duty to speak the truth about what happens in Vegas. Its been touted it just stays here, so we don’t really need to notice advertisements for sex, or shows, or clubs that are offering happy endings. I have even seen fetish billboards on the 15; oh you noticed that one too? Am I against the topless shows that put this place on the map? Heck no, I just don’t take my kids there.
It is my duty to protect my children, and other people’s children from butts in their face. The Riviera needs to get a new slogan! Tao,and Hard Rock you too (what's wrong with sticking with Rock n Roll)? The most insulting is the rolling billboards that advertise "Girls to Your Room." Now, these advertisements do not out right advertise prostitution, but ah the models aren't wearing turtlenecks let's put it that way. By the way, prostitution is not legal in Clark County. The FCC does not regulate these signs, but who does? Our zoning commissioners do. I have called and they have been working on it for a "number of years, " according to some commissioners. Ask them yourselves, its election time. I have called and written to the good folks in this town that are stakeholders including the Church, the Governor, senators, commissioners, television stations, news papers, radio, even everyday citizens and no one really seems to want to address this white elephant. That is a lot of work for a mother of 5 and a person in their doctoral program that does have eyes. Wheew!
Some have questioned me as to "why I don't live elsewhere," or whether those billboards are "really offensive?" I tell you the truth every time I see one of those billboards a few things strike me to the core: 1) Those billboards are advertising illegal prostitution and we mostly turn a blind eye. 2) They really make it hard on the already explosive traffic. 3) Other cities have FCC regulations on billboards and advertisement but not Las Vegas. 4) Las Vegas is home to many sex workers and always has been, - yet we are also home to a pandemic sex trafficking issue and I counted at least a dozen foot massage parlors open 24 hours on one city block. Interesting, we must have a prolific amount of hurting soles here. By the way, the parlors are in our neighborhoods, right beside my grocery store. These places have had numerous sting operations that have lead to busts of underage girls in prostitution. Yet they aren't closed? 5) If you you have boys you will understand, but I tell you it is not easy explaining why people are naked on signs everywhere 6) Lastly, the main reason why I am utterly deflated when I see those ads are that I have 3 beautiful daughters. If I were the parents of the "Girls to your Room," models I would be so sad that she thought she hit the big time and she has her face along with her most intimate parts (she is pulling her undergarments down) for countless millions to see. The truth is she is a person of extreme worth, a princess, a beautiful human that has been inhumanely paraded down the streets. I literally pray every time I see this because women are the strength of life itself. I know it is her choice, I am all for freedom of speech. My freedom of having to see those women being looked at like they are an item, rather than a world changer is almost unbearable. I also have to say that it is developmentally too challenging for people under 18 years old to grasp selling sex as well. I call that sexual abuse. Frankly, this is a civil rights matter with greater implications. I think one of the most important civil rights movements starts with presenting women in a different light. More than what is on the outside, or how she is a source of pleasure. Something could be campaigned that validates and educates us all that women are not expendable; rather they are viable, equal, and important. I am silly enough to make a stand myself with my own sign that I ambulate up and down the strip that says, "Hey Lady - you are priceless!" I don't know how to fight a giant like Las Vegas, a hyper sexualized culture and the dangers it brings, nor the blatant maltreatment of our women. I am just one person. I think if you made one call, you could ask why police don't enforce getting the billboards and parlors in check. Maybe you could ask why prostitution rings silence commissioners? Or why is it that citizens do not have the ability to ask that smut be taken down because it is offensive? I can do well and teach my children that women are to be revered; alas I am fighting the social atmosphere of this country that does not share my ideals in the media. I know this to is nothing new under the sun, but when it is normalized in our hometown it is hard to ingrain into my children that it is wrong to marginalize women as objects. Las Vegas is a world travel destination, but it is also our home. Do something that you can do to make a difference for the good. What will happen if we all just continue to overlook this prodigious lie that women are not exploited even here, in the land of the free? "The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold." - Aristotle
Thank you for hearing me out. I feel better.
With Passion and hope,
Holly Davis
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