"Unrepentant Whore" by Scarlot Harlot

Carol Leigh, better know as the "Scarlot Harlot", is a San-Francisco based former prostitute, artist, and the nation's most prominent sex worker rights activist. In fact, Leigh is credited with coining the term "Sex worker" and is the founder of the Prostitutes Education Network. Nobody is a more vocal advocate for the working girl than she. You can read my interview with her here.

Leigh's book Unrepentant Whore is a collection of her writings, poetry, speeches, interviews, and photographs that chronicle her almost thirty years as a feminist hooker. Upon first reading, I was nervous about how I would ever write this book review. Because, for myself, this book is too powerful for me to ever try to describe in a review. Leigh is so multi-faceted and inspiring that I'd hate to ever trivialize her or the amazing things she has accomplished. However, if I can convince at least one person to get this book and read it, I'll have done my job.

Unrepentant Whore: The Collected Works of Scarlot Harlot

The first section of the book covers Leigh's bio and her introduction into the sex industry. "How did a nice middle class woman like me wind up a famous slut?" she asks (I often wonder the same thing), but an interest in the arts tend to usually answer that question. She turned her first trick at 17 while working as a nude model and eventually ended up in San Francisco, working at a massage parlor. It was there that she was raped, an experience she recalls in detail. Later she writes, "We don't protect ourselves against rape because we almost seem to believe that we should expect to be raped, robbed, or beater because prostitution is inherently dangerous." I don't believe this statement to be true today, but there is a possibility many sex workers may have felt like this at some point. Leigh, however, returned to the industry and became its most prominent activist.

She believes prostitution busts are a form of rape. "That's why I'm angry at everyone who isn't angry" she writes, but recognizes the fact that feminists had much of the blame for the criminalization of prostitution. Still, like myself, she was a feminist before a prostitute and has been trying to link the two to each other tirelessly for decades. Still, there will always be two type of feminists-those that approve of sex work and those that don't. "I don't want to fight my sisters..." she writes, but those are often her most vocal opponents. After addressing Catherine MacKinnon at a speech in 1993, MacKinnon replied that "...she had nothing to discuss with women like me, that we are too far apart."

The book's photographs show Leigh's activism as what she calls a "power whore". In the 90's, the new breed of sex worker activists started popping up, forming groups like COYOTE (Call off your old tired ethics), PONY (Prostitutes of New York), and SWAC (Sex worker's Action Coalition). She marches the streets of San Francisco and New York with signs saying "Sluts Unite" and "Whore Power" while draped in American Flags. Unafraid to call herself any of the so-called derogatory names for prostitutes; she presents a different image the average person might have of a hooker. She is intelligent, loud, and outspoken, yet caring and friendly at the same time. She maps out a 22-point plan for Sex Worker rights activism that concludes with "If you want to stop injustice and the cycle of violence, you need: no discrimination, guaranteed income, global living wage, open borders and world peace, to name a few." Obviously, she wants what we all want, but knows that realistically it may never happen.

This book is not to be passed off as another 'sex worker tells all' type of memoir. It is much, much more than that. Scarlot Harlot is the single most important name is the fight for prostitute's rights and this book proves that. It is a call to action, yet a celebration of art. Whether you are a current or former sex worker, or just curious about the industry, this book is important. As Scarlot says, "I'm not ashamed. I'm proud that I'm not ashamed.... I'm a prostitute and if you don't like it, you're stupid."