Burning Brothels: Katherine Glover explores the quirkier side of prostitution

Queer performer Katherine Glover returns to the Vancouver Fringe with her latest work, Burning Brothels: Sex and Death in Nevada, a collection of stories about the history of prostitution.

A collection of true stories about prostitution from the 1860s to the present, not surprisingly with a focus on the only U.S. State with legal brothels, Glover says while the subject may be serious most of her stories are anything but.

“Of the stories I came across in my research, I picked the quirkiest ones for the show, and there's a lot of humor in it,” she said.  “There are some serious bits as well, of course, and a lot about how much stigma there is around prostitution even when it's legal, but there nothing that I would call dark."

Having an interest in issues of sexuality, gender roles and double standards, Burning Brothels also explores the “virgin-whore” dichotomy and how society responds to women who are actually “whores”.

“I originally started researching prostitution for another show I'm still working on, which will be a series of monologues presenting conflicting contemporary perspectives on prostitution and sex work,” she said.  “But as I was doing this research I came across all of this fantastic and quirky history, and I decided to tell those stories first.”

A self-described journalist and geek, Glover read some 30 books on the subject, many that she says are now out-of-print, and spent days in her local library stacks tracking down old magazine and journal articles.

“For the modern stories, I was able to do interviews, but the majority of the research was from much earlier, including a whole bunch of stories that I ultimately did not have time to tell in the show.”

One of Glover’s stories includes the Nevada anti-prostitution activist who once announced that he was going to open a gay brothel.

“Not because he had any intention of actually opening a gay brothel, but because he was hoping people would freak out and outlaw prostitution altogether just to make sure that legal gay prostitution could never happen,” she explained.

Another involves a brothel that hired a male prostitute, to service female clients, who saw its biggest opposition from the Nevada Brothel Association which feared the precedent would open the door to gay prostitution and ultimately lead to a public outcry and a ban on prostitution.

“So they tried to fight it in court, even to the point of arguing that even the bible says that prostitutes are women.  They lost, and the male prostitute was allowed to work, but it was kind of anticlimactic as there weren't enough interested women to keep him in business, so he quit after a month or two.”

While Glover says that while this will be her second year at the Vancouver Fringe, she isn’t sure it will become an annual tradition.  It does however seem fitting that being back at the Origins Organic Coffee venue for both years is appropriate for own apparent coffee addiction.

“Last year I brought an espresso machine with me on tour. This year I brought my French Press. I don't think asking me if I ‘like’ coffee is a strong enough,” she laughed.  “I've had a lot of fun in Vancouver, and I'd definitely like to come back.  I love all of the people I meet.  I think that's my favorite part of it.”

Whether or not she returns for year three, Glover will keep busy including work on a book proposal that includes the stories she tells in Burning Brothels plus all those that couldn’t fit into her 60 minutes.

Burning Brothels: Sex and Death in Nevada
Part of the 2011 Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Origins Organic Coffee, Granville Island

These stories are not about sex. They're about arson, murder, bribery, corruption, and greed. Well, okay, and maybe a little bit of sex. A solo show about the history of the only place in the US with legal prostitution. By the creator of last year's sold-out show A Cynic Tells Love Stories.  Visit http://www.vancouverfringe.com for showtimes and tickets or http://katherineglover.net for more information.