Sex work activism, by the nature of our industry, doesn't naturally lend itself to a multi-generational struggle.  So many people who do sex work do so only when they are young, and for brief periods of time (perhaps even only once).  While there are some older sex workers' rights who are still around, ours is a movement made up largely of those under the age of 30.  (I'm 27, and having recently passed the 9 year anniversary of my first porn shoot makes me feel like an old lady.)

The lack of longer-term perspectives is why I'm so happy to have an interview with one of the original American sex work activists, Norma Jean Almodovar, and have her share her views from several decades of experience.  She also explains her amazing-sounding multimedia project that's currently in development,"Old Whores and Aging Porn Stars- First Person Accounts of the Sex Worker Rights Movement in America."

If you want to own a cool piece of Norma Jean's art and history, check out this offer to get one of her handmade horror dolls by donating to the billboard campaign.  For those of you short on time, I bolded some favorite parts of the interview, although I consider the whole thing a great read on our history.

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Furry Girl: For those who haven't read your book, Cop to Call Girl, can you summarize how you came to be a sex worker?

Norma Jean Almodovar: To make a very long story short,  in 1972 I was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department as a civilian traffic officer after my first husband, Mr. Almodovar, turned down the opportunity to join the force. He had sent for an application for a job with the LAPD but by the time they sent it, he was then working as a carpenter, making fairly good money and was no longer interested in the job. I filled out the paperwork and within a year, I was hired and started at the police academy. In 1972, women were not hired as police officers- although there were policewomen, they were only allowed to work in the office or in the jails but not on the streets or driving a patrol car. To be a police woman, the height requirement was 5'8" and I was 5'4" and not about to have a growth spurt. I took the job as a traffic officer because it allowed me to work outside and I knew that eventually the height requirement would be lowered and I could become a sworn officer. However, in the ten years that followed, I became more and more disillusioned with my job, the LAPD and police work in general. Corruption ran rampant and there was no one to turn to who could or would do anything about it. I learned I had to keep my mouth shut or I might end up dead, as several cops and prostitutes did who squealed on the bad officers.

In the beginning, I was quite attracted to my fellow officers and had a number of affairs with them.  I learned from a female colleague that if I wanted to advance in the department, I would need to learn how to "give head" to the right people rather than just have promiscuous sex with every handsome cop I met. I never followed her advice and continued to date whomever I wanted for whatever reason that suited me. Unfortunately, I also learned that those same cops I went to bed with believed that women who enjoyed sex were whores... and they couldn't be bothered to give me sexual pleasure during our encounters. Eventually I stopped dating all cops when I met the man who later became my second husband and who is the love of my life (and still is after 35 years). Toward the end of my career with the LAPD, there was a Captain who was retiring and who had always wanted to get into my pants...  so two cops I knew approached me and offered $200 if I would be the going away present for this Captain. I was insulted and told them that if I was ever going to be a prostitute, the cops were not going to be my pimps.  That incident did get me thinking about prostitution and I really had to reexamine my own beliefs about sex, morality and money.

My normal assignment throughout most of my career was working the nightwatch in Hollywood, Rampart and Downtown LA from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am or even as late as 4:00 am... depending on the number of stolen cars I had to recover, or if there was a major incident like a fire or a homicide at which I was to direct traffic. Usually I worked by myself, always without a gun, driving a patrol car into the wee hours of the morning even though I was only a "civilian" officer. Assigning me to this late shift was part of a pilot program to see if women could be assigned to work out on the streets safely. So in essence I was a guinea pig for all future female officer who now get to work in the field because I managed to survive my dangerous assignments.

So there I was on April 18, 1982, driving my patrol car up on Hollywood Blvd. when my vehicle was rear ended by a drunk driver in a stolen car filled with stolen property. It was about 2:00 am and I was making my rounds on Hollywood Blvd and about to make a left turn onto a side street where I was to impound a stolen car. But before I could make the turn, I saw a car come racing erratically up behind me in my rear view mirror, and it plowed into the back of my car. The driver backed up and took off again while I called for help.

The driver was caught after a short chase by some undercover officers who were working nearby. I was taken to the hospital for x-rays, and by 5 am, I was released and sent home. I had re-injured my back and would be on workman's  comp for a while... but that was the end of my career with the LAPD. I went home  after getting out of the hospital, tore up my uniform and cut up my shoes and vowed never to go back to work for the LAPD again in any capacity.

When my disability payments were about to end and it was time to either go back to work for them or to find some other line of work, I decided to become a call girl. I knew several call girls from my days on the department and I went to one of them and asked her to introduce me to her madam. I took to the work like a duck takes to water! I found my calling and for the years I was able to work (before the trial and incarceration happened), it was the best time in my life. I loved my work, my clients and the fact that I had time to do all the other things I enjoy- like writing and creating art. Not to mention lots of time to spend with the man I love- the man who shares my life and has for over 35 years now.

Was there a particular event that motivated you to become an activist?

In addition to needing to earn a living while pursuing my other interests, there was a major consideration for me in becoming an outcast whore- and that was to be able to make a public statement about the police corruption (in particular surrounding enforcement of laws prohibiting consenting adult prostitution) and how the laws perpetuate abuse and corruption. I witnessed the abominable treatment of underage prostitutes- whom the public expected were being "rescued" from a life of horror on the streets of Hollywood. Instead, the cops emotionally tortured and harassed these girls, ridiculing them and forcing them to urinate on themselves while handcuffed to the bench in the police station where they were kept for hours before being processed into the system. When I questioned the practice, I was told that it was better  for them than having to be out on the street and forced to sell their bodies for their pimp. I wondered how that was possible... that it was better. I don't think the girls felt that they were better off.

When I decided to become a prostitute- at the risk of being disowned by my family and friends- from the very  beginning it was my plan to expose the corruption and challenge society to do something about it. And the only way to do that was to become an activist and go public. I was very fortunate that my family and friends did not disown me... and years later, when I was released from prison, my fundamentalist born again Christian mother joined me on a national talkshow (Sally Jessie Raphael) and told Sally that I hadn't made any worse choices than her other children (she had 14) and that it wasn't her job to judge me- that was God's job.

As one of the founders of the American sex workers' rights movement, how do you see things as having changed over the years?

When I first became involved with Margo St. James and COYOTE, I really thought that we were close to decriminalizing consenting adult prostitution. We were all very optimistic that the work she and the others who were in the movement before me  had done now seemed to be bearing positive results. That was in 1983 I think. In San Francisco she and COYOTE were getting a lot of positive attention and the conferences she organized got some good press.  By this time I had been arrested on one count of pandering and was facing three to six years in prison. I did many interviews with journalists from the local and national papers then and all the journalists seemed very favorable to our cause. Even the conservative Ben Stein wrote a column about my case and the fact that it was a clear violation of my first amendment rights.

But in the early 1990s, we all noticed a change in the media. The graduates from womens' studies classes in which they were taught how "horrible" prostitution was and how it exploited all women were now getting jobs writing for those media outlets. There was a definite change in the way we were portrayed. All the media allies from the earlier years were afraid to write positive stories about our activities... because the radical feminists were out there taunting them and saying that they supported the enslavement of women if they wrote positive things about sex workers.

I was an NGO delegate to the 1995 UN Women's Conference in Beijing, one of five prostitutes from around the world who attended the conference with the sole purpose of changing some of the wording of the Platform for Action, the document which is used to enact legislation in member countries world wide. There were two paragraphs especially that concerned the sex worker rights activists, and we five lobbied the government delegates for two weeks and in the end, we were successful. Unfortunately, the radical feminists have ensured that the changes we made had absolutely no impact on how the laws are enforced.

Here are the paragraphs- original and after we got them changed:

Paragraph# 100

Old version:

100. Sexual and [gender based] violence, including physical and psychological abuse, trafficking in women and girls, other forms of abuse [and prostitution] place girls and women at high risk of physical and mental trauma, disease  [and unwanted pregnancy]. Such situations often deter women from using health and other services.

Amended Text:

100. Sexual and gender-based violence, including physical and psychological abuse, trafficking in women and girls, and other forms of abuse and sexual exploitation place girls and women at high risk of physical and mental trauma, disease and unwanted pregnancy.  Such situations often deter women from using health and other services.

Paragraph #225

Here's the way the original text read:

225. Violence against women both violates and impairs of nullifies the enjoyment  by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms. There has been a long-standing failure to protect and promote these rights and freedoms in relation to violence against women. Gender-based violence and all forms of  sexual harassment, prostitution, pornography, sexual slavery and exploitation, including those violations resulting from cultural prejudice, racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia, ethnic cleansing, religious and anti-religious extremism and international trafficking in women and children, are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person and must be eliminated...

Amended text reads:

225. Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms.  Taking into account the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the work of Special Rapporteurs, gender-based violence, such as battering and other domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual slavery and exploitation, and international trafficking in women and children, forced prostitution and sexual harassment, as well as violence against women, resulting from cultural prejudice, racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia, pornography, ethnic cleansing, armed conflict, foreign occupation, religious and anti-religious extremism and terrorism are incompatible with the dignity and the worth of the human person and must be combated and eliminated.  Any harmful aspect of certain traditional, customary or modern practices that violates the rights of women should be prohibited and eliminated.  Governments should take urgent action to combat and eliminate all forms of violence against women in private and public life, whether perpetrated or tolerated by the State or private persons.

As you know, the abolitionists/ prohibitionists has persuaded the legislators to ignore that word "forced..." because they claim there is no difference between "forced" and "free choice" prostitution.

What was the most difficult thing sex workers' rights activists fought for or against in the beginning, and has that changed over time?

Margo's crusade started because of police harassment and abuse, and that's really what got me involved in sex work and the prostitutes rights movement from the beginning. Because prostitution is against the law, it gives police officers unparalleled opportunity to extort us for sex, money and information. Obviously decriminalizing consenting adult prostitution would take that power away from the cops and so for me and most all of the old whores the issue was decrim, decrim, decrim...

From the very start of my career as a call girl and in becoming an activist, I always came from the perspective of having witnessed the corruption from the other side, so for me, decriminalization of all consenting adult commercial sex is the most important thing I have been and will continue to fight for. The best way to do that is through education- not of sex workers necessarily, but of the public. That's why I founded ISWFACE- International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and EDUCATION... because if we don't tell the public who we are and what their idiotic laws do to us, who will? Educate them by sharing our art, our films, our websites, our writings, and let them get to know us as people with lives, families, futures. Let them know the consequences of bad laws- the erosion of  our civil liberties, the corruption of law enforcement and the judicial system.

Unfortunately it is very difficult to get heard when the radical leftist feminists and religious conservatives have essentially shut us out of the public discourse about our lives. The media continues to hammer away at this idea that we are all sex slaves- victims of trafficking, exploitation and degradation. We must find a way to be heard - so that the public can't ignore us or our message. That was what we fought for back then and we must continue to do so. That hasn't changed... only the way we go about it has changed I think. We must be media savvy and train new activists to be the same.

Could you share a story about an activist failure or disaster you have experienced, and how you were able to recover and learn lessons from the set back?

I think the biggest disaster I was part of was the ill-fated 1999/2000 summer project in Butte Montana. The project would have been terrific if we had been aware of the history of the man from whom ISWFACE was buying the Dumas Brothel to turn into our international headquarters and a museum. Unfortunately, those who viewed us as saviors of the historic building said they did not want to scare us off by telling us what kind of man the owner of the building was. If I had known what this man was like, I probably would have gone ahead with this venture, but I would have done many things differently.

When we had this amazing opportunity to purchase the Dumas and move up to Montana, I had visions of having an annual Whore Camp, where sex workers from around the world would come every summer to help us restore this wonderful old building in Butte- a city that once had the second largest red light district in the US. In addition to the restoration project, we planned to have cultural events to which the local community was invited so they could get to know sex workers as real people. And, it would also be an opportunity to bond sex workers together and recruit more activists and teach them how to do what us old timers had been doing. We planned workshops and seminars- all as part of our "ICE" camp (International Cultural Exchange) or Whore Camp (which is what WE called it, but some of the local citizens of Butte were offended by that term). We had a fabulous biker rally that first summer, which was stolen from us by Butte resident Evel Knievel... and during that first summer, former US Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders came to Butte to dedicate a condom postcard that was "found" in one of the basement cribs. (The Dumas Brothel was built AS a brothel in 1890 and ran as a brothel until 1982...making it the longest running house of prostitution in the United States. It is the last intact example of Victorian/Western brothel architecture anywhere)

To make a long story short, after I got all sorts of publicity for the brothel and our project, including a small piece in Time Magazine, this man decided he wanted the brothel back so he could sell it to someone else for more money. We were paying about $95,000 for it, even though it needed SO much work and was falling down on one side. We gave him $15,000 cash and were making his mortgage payments on that building as well as his house... and he was operating five businesses out of the huge building. Anyway, we took him to court, we lost, it cost us over $150,000 plus equipment that belonged to me personally, and he got everything. Why did we lose when we had solid documentation of his lies? Because we were whores from out of state and he was a native son.

It took me three years to get over the anger and disappointment of this experience. The lessons I learned were that no matter how "whore positive" a community may appear to be, doing one's due diligence is a must for any sex worker project. I still think that Whore Camp is a viable project- but something that I don't want to be a part of. I am getting too old and am in too much pain to attempt such an ambitious project again in my lifetime. (see attached images from Time Mag and Biker Mag)

Here are some of the original workshop plans for Whore Camp 1999:

Health and safe sex into the next millennium- [2 workshops] Dr. Joycelyn Elders
Fiction Writing workshop
The Image of Women in Western Film lecture
History of Butte’s Red Light District lecture
History of Alaska/Yukon Gold Rush Red Light District
Photography workshop
Sculpting workshop
Women in Business workshop
Video Workshop-I
Makeup  and Glamor workshop
Performance art/ acting workshop
Stain glass workshop
Jewelry design workshop
International cooking
International crafts workshops
Self-defense and Yoga
Business and financial planning workshops
Unionization and labor issues

Some of the cultural events we planned:

Special midnight tours of the Brothel, conducted by celebrity sex workers

Design and build one or more floats for the 4th of July parade and a portable  “crib”  for the New York and international exhibits

Field trips/ swimming, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, various sports

Kids week begins last week of June (June 27- July 5). [To coincide with Butte’s 4th of July celebration, we are planning a “kids week” for  sex workers with children. We are organizing special workshops and other activities that will be of specific interest to kids of all ages and nationalities, such as athletic competitions between local Butte  resident children and the kids of sex workers. The kids should enjoy helping the  adults create a special float for the 4th of July parade.]

Trip to Helena (with picnic) [possibly monthly outing]

JUNE CULTURAL ACTIVITIES:

Evening of Comedy

Evening of Music/ Dance

Movie nights: classic mainstream movies dealing with sex work (Cheyenne Social Club, Risky Business, Best Little Whore House in Texas, etc.)

Poetry Readings: sex worker poets from around the world

International Cuisine Nights (based on how well the cooking classes go!)

Interaction with students and academics

STUDENT /ACADEMIC PARTICIPATION:

The brothel restoration project offers students and researchers alike a rare opportunity to  interact on a daily basis with real individuals from one of the most studied groups of people in the world. Because this project integrates a number of interrelated fields, it is an ideal  “living” classroom and offers students in those many fields a chance to learn “on the job.”

In this casual environment, students who major in archeology, mining, history, engineering, anthropology, language, sociology  and so forth, will be working in tangent with sex workers to preserve a valuable piece of American history.

We asked professors from various universities to develop a summer course for students  majoring in the following areas, which would give them course credits for volunteering   their time for the brothel restoration project. Naturally, the professors will also be invited to participate.

•archeology                    •art

•sociology dept.        •anthropology

•history                    •women’s studies

•language studies         •engineering

•mining                    •architecture

•film                        •photography

•criminal justice/ criminology        •health/social services department

•journalism                    •political science

•museum studies

You get the idea.

What do you think sex workers' rights activists were better at doing in the early days?

I don't have an opinion on this... sex worker rights activists have always been unpaid volunteers and we always do whatever we can whenever and however we can... I don't know if we did it better back then or not.

What about the current crop of sex workers' rights activists impresses or inspires you?

I hate to say this, but it seems to me that many of the new sex worker activists have no clue about many of the activities and activists from my day. I have read some of the websites created by sex worker activists and they leave out so much of our history and don't seem to know of the conferences and other events that we old timers put our hearts and souls into organizing.

In 1997, for example, COYOTE LA co-organized and co-sponsored the International Conference on Prostitution (ICOP) with Cal State University Northridge- we had the first international hooker's ball and brought sex workers from all over the world... and we (not the university) got Dr. Elders (former US Surgeon General) involved in this issue. But somewhere I read that the recent Desiree Alliance conferences were the "first time academics and sex workers got together..." leaving out all the other conferences which Margo and others organized that did exactly that.

So I am kind of disappointed that there isn't more accuracy in presenting our history out there, which is why I decided to make this an ISWFACE project- a history of our movement from the activists themselves... not a book about our history as told by some academic who was not  there... The multi-media project is titled "Old Whores and Aging Porn Stars- First Person Accounts of the Sex Worker Rights Movement in America." Eventually I hope that all the sex worker activists around the world will join this project and we can expand the website portion to include their stories and history. ISWFACE will be announcing this project very soon. We are putting our proposal together for funding and we already have the domain name for this project... www.oldwhoresandagingpornstars.com

While the project begins back when the sex worker rights movement got started, it will encompass all the current activists and info, as follows: individuals, organizations, events and outcomes. It will be formatted as an ongoing conversation - weaving in and out of the dialogue between activists. We are looking for volunteers who can help us process all the information and also who can do video and audio interviews which will be posted on the website.

Have your views on activist strategies and campaigning changed over the years, and if so, how?

Our strategy must focus on educating the public. We have to counter the lies told by the abolitionists/ prohibitionists.  The public hears only what the numbers are- and don't understand how these fake statistics are obtained. The public is our only hope- they can persuade the legislators to change the laws, but only if they understand the problems with bad laws. We must work with academics who are pro-decrim and get research funded which counters the fraudulent claims of those prohibitionists.

We must find ways of funding our efforts to educate the public. Back when I got involved in activism, we were just so eager to get out there and we did not cultivate clients or allies for the purpose of having them help fund our campaign.  Like so many of us old timers, I self-funded most of my activities and ended up a broke old whore. We have to change that if we expect other sex workers to become activists. If I knew how to cultivate big donors, I would do so. One of the things I learned after ICOP was that we had to form non profit organizations so we could raise money and offer tax incentives to those brave enough to  contribute to our cause. ISWFACE was the first 501(c)3 organization among sex worker activists groups that I know of. COYOTE was/is a political organization and cannot get a 501(c)3 designation... so ISWFACE focused not on political activism, but educational activism. We are a repository for sex worker writings, artwork, history, culture and information. Our physical library contains newsletters and 'zines from sex worker organizations around the world. Click here to read our mission statement and purpose.

We are in the process of digitizing all the material we have in our library and make it available on our website where it can be accessed by everyone, anywhere. Unfortunately because we do not have the financial resources to pay people to help us do this, it is a very long term project. Volunteers get overwhelmed and burn out. We need funding to pay for this work to be done. It is not easy to find sources of funding even with our non profit status because being on this side of the issue is not politically correct and donors want to "help victims of human trafficking" not help intelligent, independent and competent sex workers educate the public.  We need to get this information into colleges and universities where the next generation of journalists and elected officials will hear a different point of view and go out into the world with this knowledge.

More sex worker groups have to find a way to get their non profit status or they cannot accept large contributions - because most people and foundations that offer grants require that the money go to a 501(c)3 organization. It is expensive and time consuming to do the paperwork for obtaining a 501(c)3 designation, but it is well worth it when you can find someone to make a substantial donation. Without a significant source of funding for all our sex worker organizations, ten years from now we will  be exactly where we are now- nowhere.

What are the most pressing issues you would like to see sex work activists focus on in the coming 10 years?

I think this question is answered by many of my responses above: raising money, funding sex work positive research, educating the public, challenging the laws...

What message would you like to share with people who are thinking about getting involved in sex workers' rights activism, but have so far hesitated?

Becoming an activist is a huge commitment... and once it gets into your blood, you can't stop. I know, I've tried. I promised my husband a hundred times that I was never going to be an activist again. But yet I am still here- still spending all my waking moments (other than taking care of him now that he is disabled and mostly bedridden) engaged in activism.

I will never benefit from any positive changes we make in the laws- I am too old to work in the profession I love, and have no desire to be an employer for others (working as a madam). That aside, the only reason I continue to spend every dime I ever had and every waking moment on this is because I want to live in a world in which I have the right to make choices for myself of which others may not approve. I wish to  live in a world in which women can be sexual AND be  artists AND  be  writers and everything else we may want to be and not have our sexuality suppressed either by the religious right or the radical feminists. I want the saying "My Body, My Choice" to mean exactly that. If I am not willing to fight for that right, who can I expect to fight for it for me?  And if the coming generations of sex workers are not willing to fight along side us old timers, all I can say is that they will deserve everything they get. Getting arrested is traumatic. Going to prison is not fun. If we do not decriminalize consenting adult sex work soon, more and more sex workers will experience the horrors of captivity- all in the name of protecting us for our own good.

If you think those of us who are out here putting our time and money into fighting for YOUR rights are going to be here forever so you don't need to do this... think again. Either you fight back or you allow it to happen. The alternative is to take a job working 9 to 5 for an abusive boss who can sexually harass you and get away with it because you were a sex worker. You can join the "solid citizens" who are trapped in jobs they hate working for bosses who are most likely the clients of your sex worker friends, go into the office/factory/sweatshop every day until you retire- or you can fight for your right to do whatever you want with your body. It won't be easy, but then working at a "normal" job for 40 years until you are eligible for your pension and social security benefits isn't easy either. Those are your choices. Well, there is one more- become a socially acceptable whore and marry someone with lots of  money. No one will try to rescue you or throw you in jail.

...

Norma also sent me some media clippings from 1999 about the brothel in Butte, Montana. The first three are from Biker magazine, and the fourth is from Time Magazine. (Can you imagine getting an entire page of good press in Time Magazine now?)