Lusty Ladies: Sex Work and Sex-Positive Politics, 1970-2013
Lusty Ladies tells a story of a daring, feminist, and queer community who helped put sex worker movements on the map with their radical labor and cultural activism.
My current book project, Lusty Ladies: Sex Work and Sex-Positive Politics, 1970-2013, is a cultural history of sex worker social movements in the United States during the late 20th century. In Lusty Ladies, I examine how women in the sex trades challenged their social marginalization and criminalization and made their labor legible as work by developing “sex-positive” feminism, a politics that connects the individual pursuit of sexual agency to questions of gender, racial, and economic inequality. Through archival research, cultural productions of workers, and oral history interviews with former employees of the Lusty Lady theater, a historically significant and recently closed commercial sex franchise in Seattle and San Francisco, I investigate how people in the sex trades have dramatically altered our way of talking and thinking about sexuality and commerce.
My current book project, Lusty Ladies: Sex Work and Sex-Positive Politics, 1970-2013, is a cultural history of sex worker social movements in the United States during the late 20th century. In Lusty Ladies, I examine how women in the sex trades challenged their social marginalization and criminalization and made their labor legible as work by developing “sex-positive” feminism, a politics that connects the individual pursuit of sexual agency to questions of gender, racial, and economic inequality. Through archival research, cultural productions of workers, and oral history interviews with former employees of the Lusty Lady theater, a historically significant and recently closed commercial sex franchise in Seattle and San Francisco, I investigate how people in the sex trades have dramatically altered our way of talking and thinking about sexuality and commerce.
COMMUNITY-ENGAGED RESEARCH
My work is guided by a deep commitment to community collaboration in the pursuit of social justice, a desire to democratize knowledge production, and the belief that history is a powerful tool for change.
I have a decade of experience in sex worker movements and I regularly partner with organizers and academics on policy advocacy and reform, participatory action research, organizational development, and mutual aid. I recently conducted a needs assessment study of the Minneapolis stripping industry with fellow members of Sex Workers Outreach Project-Minneapolis and Dr. Eric Sprankle (Minnesota State University). Drawing from this study, I worked with my team to lead a successful campaign to revise the city of Minneapolis’s adult entertainment ordinance.
The result was a groundbreaking ordinance that now addresses occupational health and safety issues and economic exploitation of workers in the stripping industry. I have consulted with diverse governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the Minnesota Department of Health, in order to improve practices and policies related to sex work, trafficking, and sexual health and justice matters.
My work is guided by a deep commitment to community collaboration in the pursuit of social justice, a desire to democratize knowledge production, and the belief that history is a powerful tool for change.
I have a decade of experience in sex worker movements and I regularly partner with organizers and academics on policy advocacy and reform, participatory action research, organizational development, and mutual aid. I recently conducted a needs assessment study of the Minneapolis stripping industry with fellow members of Sex Workers Outreach Project-Minneapolis and Dr. Eric Sprankle (Minnesota State University). Drawing from this study, I worked with my team to lead a successful campaign to revise the city of Minneapolis’s adult entertainment ordinance.
The result was a groundbreaking ordinance that now addresses occupational health and safety issues and economic exploitation of workers in the stripping industry. I have consulted with diverse governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the Minnesota Department of Health, in order to improve practices and policies related to sex work, trafficking, and sexual health and justice matters.
Minneapolis City Council unanimously passes new adult entertainment ordinance (August 23, 2019)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“Whores in the Religious Marketplace: Sex-Positivity’s Roots in Commercial Sex Cultures,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 40.2 (August 2019)
“Life’s Too Short to Wear Comfortable Shoes: Femme-ininity and Sex Work,” in Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power ofStyle, eds. Shira Tarrant and Marjorie Jolles (SUNY Press, 2012)
“The Price(s) of Pleasure in the Classroom: The Appalachian State University Controversy and its Relevance to Sex Workers,” Sexuality & Society, June 22, 2012
Kari Lerum, Penelope Saunders, Stephanie Wahab, Jayne Swift, “Reducing Violence Against Sex Workers: What are the Policy Options?” (February 2011). Human Rights for All: Concerned Advocates for the Rights of Sex Workers and People in the Sex Trade, Policy brief for U.S. State Department, Universal Periodic Review Process
SELECTED AWARDS
My scholarly and activist endeavors have been supported by multiple fellowships and grants, including the Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies (2015) and the Open Society Foundation-Sex Worker’s Health and Rights Grant (2019).
“Whores in the Religious Marketplace: Sex-Positivity’s Roots in Commercial Sex Cultures,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 40.2 (August 2019)
“Life’s Too Short to Wear Comfortable Shoes: Femme-ininity and Sex Work,” in Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power ofStyle, eds. Shira Tarrant and Marjorie Jolles (SUNY Press, 2012)
“The Price(s) of Pleasure in the Classroom: The Appalachian State University Controversy and its Relevance to Sex Workers,” Sexuality & Society, June 22, 2012
Kari Lerum, Penelope Saunders, Stephanie Wahab, Jayne Swift, “Reducing Violence Against Sex Workers: What are the Policy Options?” (February 2011). Human Rights for All: Concerned Advocates for the Rights of Sex Workers and People in the Sex Trade, Policy brief for U.S. State Department, Universal Periodic Review Process
SELECTED AWARDS
My scholarly and activist endeavors have been supported by multiple fellowships and grants, including the Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies (2015) and the Open Society Foundation-Sex Worker’s Health and Rights Grant (2019).