Meet the Male Sex Worker Upending the Nevada Brothel Scene

In remote northern Nevada, a truck-stop brothel advertises “Ladies 24 Hours.” Inside, one 49-year-old grandfather is betting there’s a market for a different kind of courtesan.

Photos by Niki Chan Wylie | Story edited by Brendan Spiegel

Folks, we can’t wait to share this brand new story with you. Hallie Lieberman—the intrepid sex-positive reporter behind previous Narratively hits like “The Deep South’s Dames of Dildos”—is back with another banger. Trust us, you’re going to want to make space on your weekend reading list for this fascinating profile. Enjoy!

Christopher Metzgar heard the bell ring and began scrambling. The sound meant customers had pushed the front door’s metal button to announce their arrival, starting the egg timer ticking. If he wanted work, he needed to bolt from his small room down three hallways to the entrance in three minutes, looking his very best. Metzgar, a 5-foot-6 Daniel Craig doppelganger, sat up from the bed, straightened his vest, and strode to line up next to the other sex workers at Bella’s Hacienda Ranch in Wells, Nevada.

The three male customers who had just arrived weren’t expecting to see him. The rural, one-story brothel in the tiny town of 1,244 people announces itself via a large neon sign that declares “Ladies 24 Hours,” catering to truck drivers motoring down I-80 and I-93 across northern Nevada.

Metzgar stood in front of the bar in a large room decorated with a neon Bud Light sign and an oil painting of a bare-assed woman. The rest of the courtesans, as they’re called in Nevada’s 19 legal brothels, were dressed in their finest lingerie. Metzgar, who goes by the working name “Romeo Uncaged,” stood proudly in a leather vest, his hairless chest peeking out alongside the dragon tattoo across his pecs. He smiled, lighting up a tanned face.

Bella’s Hacienda Ranch in Wells, Nevada.

Metzgar is the only legal cisgender male sex worker in the United States, and the first in at least 12 years. As far as I know, he is the first ever openly bisexual one. While there have been other attempts to employ men at Nevada’s licensed brothels in the past, for over a decade all the legal sex workers there have been female (aside from one trans man who continued working at a brothel after transitioning a few years ago).

A 49-year-old grandfather who has served in the Marines and fought in judo tournaments, Metzgar is an unlikely face in legal prostitution — and he hopes that his presence here can help play a role in destigmatizing and decriminalizing sex work everywhere.

“Our society is based on the patriarchy, and it’s the patriarchy that are making the laws and that are making this to where it is illegal,” he says. “So maybe if a member of the patriarchy is participating in it — not as the buyer, but as the seller — it might change some minds.”

Unlike nearly all of Nevada’s legal male sex workers of the past, Metzgar is sharing his real name publicly. It’s the best way to reduce stigma, he thinks. “If we can get away from the thought that this is shameful, that’s how we start changing minds,” he says. While he charges $400 to $1,200 an hour to see customers (half of his fee goes to the brothel), he says the money isn’t his main motivation. He wants to help spur change. “We all sell our bodies in some way, shape or form, and it seems silly that the government wants to tell us how we can do that.”

Metzgar had no idea how the men would react to seeing him in the brothel’s “lineup.” On this day, the 70-something trucker didn’t bat an eye. The 30-something smiled. The athletic, clean-cut 50-something was the most talkative. “I’m just not into guys,” he said, but he offered to buy Romeo a drink while he waited for his chosen courtesan, who was busy with another client.

Two drinks later, as they perched side by side on the bar stools, the man “got really comfortable,” Metzgar says. He placed his hand on Metzgar’s back while again assuring him that he “wasn’t into guys.” He regaled Romeo with his life story, including a difficult divorce. Once the courtesan he was waiting for came out of her room, he left.

“I am certain that another drink and 30 minutes, he would have tried booking me,” Metzgar says.