- COYOTE
COYOTE, or Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics, is a
sex work er activist organization. COYOTE's goals include thedecriminalization (as opposed to thelegalization ) ofprostitution ,pimp ing andpander ing, as well as the elimination ofsocial stigma concerning sex work as an occupation.Though it is frequently described as a prostitutes' rights group, COYOTE's mission includes advocating for all varieties sex workers of all genders, including
stripper s,phone sex operators andadult film performers. COYOTE provides counseling and legal referrals for sex workers, and assistance in leaving sex work for different careers.ervices
COYOTE provides expert advice and
sensitivity training for social service and law enforcement agencies that deal with sex workers. COYOTE members have testified asexpert witnesses during trials. The organization works to educate the general public about sex work, and promotes education aboutsafe sex ,AIDS andsexually transmitted disease among sex workers, their clients and the general public.History
COYOTE was founded in
California in1973 byMargo St. James , a feminist former prostitute. She chose the name COYOTE because novelistTom Robbins called her a "coyotetrickster " and came up with "Call Off Your Old TiredEthics " to fit the chosenacronym . St. James believed that sex work should be considered labor equivalent to any other career, writing in 1977 that "to make a great distinction between being paid for an hour's sexual services, or an hour's typing, or an hour's acting on a stage is to make a distinction that is not there." (Chapkis)"Samantha" and Gloria Lockett were co-directors of COYOTE in the early 1990s. They had been critical of the group for focusing on "higher class" prostitutes (such as
call girl s and escorts) and caucasians, while ignoring the concerns of streetwalkers and ethnic minorities. (Chapkis)Norma Jean Almodovar is currently the director of COYOTE Los Angeles. There is also a COYOTE branch in San Francisco.See also
Sex-positive feminism References
Web sites
* [http://www.coyotela.org/what_is.html What is COYOTE?] from COYOTE Los Angeles
* [http://www.bayswan.org/COYOTE.html COYOTE information] from BAYSWAN
* [http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/coyote.html Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics]Books
* Chapkis, Wendy. "Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor" (1997, Routledge, New York). ISBN 0-415-91288-1
* Jenness, Valerie. "Making it Work: The Prostitutes' Rights Movement in Perspective" (1993, Walter de Gruyter, Inc., New York).
External links
[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00278 COYOTE Records.] [http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles Schlesinger Library,] Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
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