We are working on putting together a contingent and “float” for this
year’s SF pride parade on June 29th, with the support of the Center
for Sex and Culture and the St. James Infirmary. During last year’s
very successful historic sex worker bike tour, Sex On Wheels,
organized by Jenny Worley, Sadie learned that in the Barbary Coast
days, before the turn of the century (1900, not 2000) brothels would
parade their girls down Market Streets in carriages as advertising.
“Prostitute Pride Parade! Between 1849 and 1906, madams and sex workers from each of San Francisco’s brothels would pile into open carriages and drive up and down Market Street to advertise their businesses and show off their fabulousness. This Saturday afternoon prostitutes’ parade was a San Francisco establishment from the gold rush until the great quake.”
Our vision is to create a nostalgic homage to our predecessors with a
contingent of sex workers (all genders and genres welcome!) dressed in
vintage lingerie and transported by trolley as well as traipsing and
strutting while throwing rose petals down Market St.
The goal is to bring some visibility to sex workers, especially queer
sex workers while giving a little history lesson to the invaluable
role sex workers have played in building this city; as well as looking
gorgeous and sexy, having fun, and who knows, maybe even inadvertently
advertising!
The trolley is all taken care of, and will fit up to 25 sex workers,
but there’s still a bunch more to do to make this gorgeous image a
reality!
If you are interested in helping, please contact Sadie at
sadiewantsawife@gmail.com.
Preference for the riders on the trolley will be given to those who
who help and volunteer before the day-of the parade. Other contingent
participants are welcome and we’ll have space to walk alongside and
behind the trolley.
Sex Workers need your drawers!
We also need donations of lacey undies and vintage-esque lingerie to clad ourselves, (but barely) so that the float is accessible and any worker who wants to join us will have an awesome outfit to wear.
Please donate your fancy lacey/frilly undies (especially in pink, black, red and purple) and vintage-style (1840’s-1930’s) lingerie for all genders to the Sex Workers Pride Float!
Too small for that corset? Haven’t worn bloomers in years? Always dreamed of seeing a fabulous person-of-the-evening donning your unmentionables? Give ‘em to a good cause, to promote queer/sex worker visibility and SF history.
If you know someone you think would *love* to get involved, please
forward this to them!
Filed under: Announcements | Tagged: history, Pride, queer, San Francisco, Sex work, trolley | 5 Comments »