Gallery Carre
Tired of the Private Show (nyc24.org)
Mar 27th, 2006 by Viviane
Taking sex work out of the shadows and into public consciousness.
by Rebecca Castillo and Sarah Feightner
BEING A SEX WORKER isn’t something to write home about for most men and women in the $12 billion-a-year sex industry.
Prostitutes, strippers and adult film stars put themselves and what they do for a living out on the street, stage and TV screen every day, but they often keep their working lives a secret from friends, family, and other employers. They don’t do this by choice, but because their jobs are widely considered illegal, unhealthy and immoral.
Carol Leigh, aka the “Scarlot Harlot,” hasn’t let a little social stigma stop her from rallying for sex workers’ rights since the late 1970s. An activist, author and self-proclaimed unrepentant whore, Leigh recently took the stage at the New York City leg of the Sex Workers Art Show tour to talk about the difficulties of being “out” as a sex worker.
“You don’t want to tell your neighbors because they’ll watch your door,” she told the crowd at the Knitting Factory in Tribeca. “You don’t want to tell your mother, because what’ll she tell the rest of your family? And DON’T tell your dissertation committee!”
While the typical privacy struggle is a fight for more privacy, a vibrant community of out and proud sex workers like Leigh is fighting for the right to a little less. Cultural happenings like the Sex Workers Art Show, sex work Web sites and blogs, a CUNY-sponsored conference at the end of the month, and a new magazine “by and for” people in the sex industry all showcase sex workers who dare to take their jobs out of the shadows and into public consciousness.
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