The World's Oldest Profession: Labor Organizing in Prostitution

COYOTE was certainly not alone in its fight for the rights of prostitutes in the 1970s. Below are some highlights of what unions, associations and advocacy-based organizations achieved in the decade according to reports from multiple issues of COYOTE Howls between 1977 and 1979: 

• In 1977, COYOTE and feminist newspaper Majority Report protested the anti-loitering, anti-prostitution Ohrenstein Bill at the Democratic National Convention in New York.¹
• In Minnesota, Elizabeth Blackwell Women's Health Center produced a pamphlet titled "Statement on Commercialized Sex", which argues: "What legalization of commercialized sex will do is legally give women the right to do business with or without their middleman (as does any business that has a legal choice to select incorporation status that best fits its needs) and the comfort of knowing that they can take advantage, when the need arises, of the due process of legal justice." ²
• The Hooker's Union of Maryland (HUM), which worked for the decriminalization of prostitution, established rapport with legislators and progressive women's groups and attempted to secure an effective political faction. It also looked to abolish pimps and underage prostitution, correct stereotypes about prostitution and establish a task force to address working conditions problems. HUM had a hotline that working women could call in times of crisis and provide legal aid to them when possible. It worked with agencies and authorities "when they offer constructive cooperation", and was so active that the founder Sherry Bradley's massage parlor sometimes faced threats of violence. ³
• In Rochester, NY, criminal justice workers and other activists organized a conference named Prostitution and Public Policies. Another initiative, the Monroe Alternative Project (MAP) looked for alternatives to incarceration for prostitute women, organized alternative housing, provided ongoing job training and peer counseling to women.⁴
• A new group, Help Undo Sexual Hypocrisy (HUSH) was established in Atlantic City, NJ to lobby for the legalization of prostitution.⁵
• The Prostitutes Organization of New York (PONY) promoted the Kiss and Tell campaign for the 1980 election.⁶
• In Ann Arbor, the Prostitution Education Project (PEP) planned speaker events, workshops and fundraisers to raise awareness and dispel myths about prostitution in the community.⁷
• Citizens to Upgrade Prostitution in Detroit's Suburbs (CUPIDS) was an action group formed to combat the anti-prostitution Citizens Against Prostitution in Detroit Suburbs (CAPIDS).⁸
• COYOTE has a sister task force in Las Vegas, the Ladies Associated Mostly for Bucks (LAMB). ⁹
• The California Advocates for Trollops (CAT) in Los Angeles provided housing for local prostitutes and advocated for more federal funding for programs for prostitutes.¹⁰ 
• The New York City Family Court judge Margaret Taylor declared the state's prostitution law unconstitutional on Equal Protection and privacy grounds in 1979.¹¹

"This new phenomenon…women [in the sex industry] gaining class consciousness of themselves as workers, who are financially exploited by their middlemen…has never before been seen in history." -  Pamphlet “Statement on Commercialized Sex”, Elizabeth Blackwell Women’s Health Center Minnesota