Brothel adds men to stable

The Kit Kat Guest Ranch plans to add men to its stable of sex workers next week, said Sheila Caramella, owner of the Mound House brothel.

"I'm legal ..." said Caramella. "I'm jumping up and down."

She said she has eight women working in her house and plans to add at least four men as soon as health and other details can be worked out early in the week. She also said she had gotten the OK from Lyon County authorities in Yerington.

In fact, this isn't the first male brothel in the state, said Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, also in Lyon County. "This isn't the first time this has happened," he said.

In 2010, the Shady Lady Ranch in Southern Nevada attempted to tap the same market. Hof said it's just not time yet.

"I wish them the best of luck," he said, "but it isn't going to be happening at all. My take on it is that it's very premature."

He trotted out a line he said came from Jay Leno, late-night television comedian, asking whether a brothel with men is the place for women to go instead of "across the street to a bar?"

Hof ventured the opinion that if such a market did develop, it would be two decades in the future.

Caramella, however, said she had been contemplating the move for some time and yet didn't take action because her peers didn't approve.

"Now, I felt like rockin' the boat," she said. "I'm rolling the dice. I might be a pioneer."

The change, she said, means "renewed excitement here," and she voiced the hope her business would pick up.

"I'm in the disposable-income business, so times aren't great," said Caramella.