Carol Leigh

Carol Leigh, a.k.a. The Scarlot Harlot (born 1951, New York City)[1] is an American artist, author, film maker, and sex workers' rights activist.[2][3] She is credited with coining the term "sex worker"[4] and currently chairs the Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival and is the director of BAYSWAN, the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network.[5]

Carol Leigh
Born1951 (age 68–69)
New York City, US
NationalityAmerican
Other namesThe Scarlot Harlot
EducationBinghamton University
Empire State College
Boston University
OccupationArtist, author, film maker, prostitute, sex workers' rights activist
Known forFirst coined the term "sex worker"
Co-producer of San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival
Director and co-founder of BAYSWAN (Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network)
Websitescarlotharlot.com

Biography

Leigh was born in New York and grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens.[6] She later attended Binghamton University (1968-70), Empire State College (1972-74), where she obtained a BA[7] in creative writing,[1] and Boston University[5] (1974-75).[7]

In 1977 Leigh moved to San Francisco and started working as a prostitute. Two years later she was raped by two men at the establishment she worked at. She did not report this to the police for fear of the establishment being shut down. Leigh describes the rape as a defining moment in her life and prompted her activism for sex worker's rights.[1]

Leigh joined COYOTE and became involved in its activities,[1] and through the Coalition on Prostitution coordinated a street outreach project for street workers in San Francisco.[8]

In 1983, Leigh wrote her one-woman satirical play The Scarlet Harlot, which she performed at that year's National Festival of Women's Theater in Santa Cruz.[1] She has since performed the play in at clubs, theaters, rallies and as part of the Sex Workers Art Show tour.[8]

During the AIDS crisis in the early 1980s, Leigh was an advocate for safe sex but opposed mandatory HIV testing. Leigh decided to leave San Francisco, where HIV was dominating everybody's thoughts and headed to Texas where she intended to form an organisation: T.W.A.T. ("Texas Whores And Tricks"). During the journey to Texas her car broke down in Tucson, Arizona. Whilst in Tucson she answered a classified small-ad from media-life-artist Dennis Williams, who had a weekly 2 hour live comedy programme on Tucson Western International Television. Leigh joined the show and created and developed several characters for it. After two years Leigh decided she needed a more bohemian setting to develop her individuality and returned to San Francisco.[6]

On her return to San Francisco, Leigh joined the AIDS activist organisation Citizens For Medical Justice and organised demos and press conferences. She also collaborated with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.[6]

Leigh has been making videos since 1985,[8] and has received awards from the American Film Institute for Yes Means Yes, No Means No; Outlaw Poverty, Not Prostitutes and Mother's Mink.[1] The San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival was founded by Leigh in 1999, which she also co-produces with Erica Elena and Jovelyn Richards.[9]

From 1993, Leigh was one of the main contributors to the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution, who's report calling for the decriminalization of prostitution was published in 1996.[1]

In 2006 Leigh received a grant from the Creative Work Fund to establish, in collaboration with the Center for Sex & Culture, the Sex Worker Media Library.[8]

Leigh currently lives in San Francisco and is bisexual.[10]

The term "sex worker"

She is credited with coining the term "sex worker"[4] at a Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media conference in the late 1970s. The terminology used at the conference for the sex industry was the “Sex Use Industry”. The phrasing bothered her because it objectified sex workers and trivialized the agency they had when organizing their labor. She suggested that the panel be renamed “Sex Work Industry” and began to use the term in her one-woman plays before the first published use of “sex worker” appeared in a 1984 Associated Press newswire.[11] She explains in a later essay named “Inventing Sex Work” that

“I invented sex work. Not the activity, of course. The term. This invention was motivated by my desire to reconcile my feminist goals with the reality of my life and the lives of the women I knew. I wanted to create an atmosphere of tolerance within and outside the women's movement for women working in the sex industry.”[12][13]

Works

Books
  • Leigh, Carol (2004). Unrepentant Whore: The Collected Writings of Scarlot Harlot. San Francisco: Last Gasp. ISBN 9780867195842.

Film appearances

As listed by WorldCat.[14]

  • Annie Sprinkle's amazing world of orgasm (2004)
  • Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of porn : reel to real
  • Dr. Annie Sprinkle's How to be a sex goddess in 101 easy steps (1992)
  • Mutantes : féminisme porno punk = Punk porn feminism (2011) (in French)
  • Mutantes : punk porn feminism (2011)
  • Our bodies, our minds (2005)
  • Released : 5 short videos about women and prison (2001)
  • Sphinxes without secrets : women performance artists speak out (1991)
  • Straight for the money : interviews with queer sex workers (1994)

Videos produced

As listed by Western Connecticut State University.[15]

  • Die Yuppie Scum (1989) 30 min
  • Outlaw Poverty, Not Prostitutes (1989) 21 min
  • Safe Sex Slut (1987) 30 min
  • Spiritual Warfare: The G.H.O.S.T.* Campaign (1990) 28 min
  • Taking Back the Night (1990) 28 min
  • Whores and Healers (1990) 28 min
  • Yes Means Yes, No Means No (1990) 8 min
  • Whore in the Gulf (1991) 30 min
gollark: <@304000458144481280> go bad
gollark: I like Python 3.000001.
gollark: ++supported_langs python
gollark: There should be.
gollark: I could make it support ++exec [language] [code block].

See also
  • AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power

References
  1. Martin, Glen (8 September 1996). "SUNDAY INTERVIEW -- A New Agenda For the Oldest Profession / Carol Leigh was working as a hooker when something happened that changed her life and her focus. Now she works to protect prostitutes' rights and safety". SFGate. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  2. Lemons, Stephan (July 21, 2000). "Sex with latex". Salon. p. 2. Archived from the original on 21 August 2001. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  3. Juhasz 2001, pp. 4, 13, 342.
  4. "Inaugural Hong Kong sex workers' film festival offers nuanced, diverse portrait of trade". Malaysia Star. AP. August 14, 2006. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  5. Tabak, Nate (January 28, 2002). "Illicit Career of an Adult Escort Offers the Allure of Big Money with the Risk of Violence and Disease". Daily Cal. Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  6. "Artists - Carol Leigh". www.e-felix.org. FELIX. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  7. "Carol Leigh". www.linkedin.com. LinkedIn. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  8. "Prostitution Issues-Biography: Carol Leigh aka Scarlot Harlot". www.bayswan.org. BAYSWAN. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  9. "San Francisco Bay Area Sex Worker Film & Arts Festival". www.sexworkerfest.com. Sex Worker Fest. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  10. Leigh 2004.
  11. "Carol Leigh coins the term "sex work"". 2014-11-04.
  12. Leigh 2004, p. 69.
  13. Nagle 1997, p. 233.
  14. "Leigh, Carol (Sex worker)". www.worldcat.org. WorldCat. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  15. "Carol Leigh Work". people.wcsu.edu. Western Connecticut State University. Retrieved 16 November 2019.

Bibliography
  • Juhasz, Alexandra (2001). Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. Visible evidence. 9. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9781452904252.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Leigh, Carol (2004). Unrepentant Whore: The Collected Writings of Scarlot Harlot. San Francisco: Last Gasp. ISBN 9780867195842.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Nagle, Jill, ed. (1997). Whores and Other Feminists. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415918220.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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