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Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm

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Jenny Kaplan and this is Wamanica.

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This month, we're talking about workers, women who

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fought for labor rights and shape the way we do

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business today. They advocated

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and innovated to make the office wherever

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it is, a more equitable place. Today,

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we're talking about a woman who was wrongfully arrested

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for prostitution and then spent the

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rest of her life advocating for the rights of sex

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workers. Let's talk about

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Margo. Saint James

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Margot was born in Bellingham, Washington,

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in nineteen thirty seven. She was an

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energetic kid. To

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let off steam, she ran around the hills of the dairy

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farm that she grew up on. In

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high school, Margo channeled some of that energy

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into watercolor painting. Her work

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ended up being shown in Carnegie Hall. High

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School is also where Margo met the man

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she ended up marrying. A month

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after graduation. She gave birth to their son

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and settled into life as a housewife.

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It didn't agree with her. In

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the late nineteen fifties, just a few years

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after getting married, Margo left. She

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moved to San Francisco to attend art school

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without her husband and son.

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Margo arrived just in time to experience

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the rise of hippie counterculture in San Francisco.

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The hippies are capable of extremely hard

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work, even though they tend to approach work

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as the rest of us do sport. She

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and her friends were advocating for peace, experimenting

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with drugs, and practicing free love, but

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the San Francisco police didn't think the free

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love happening in Margo's house was actually free.

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Finally, the police roll in with paddy

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wagons and night stays. In

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nineteen sixty two, Margo was arrested

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on prostitution charges. When

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she got to court, she told the judge she quote

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had never turned a trick in her life. The

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fact that Margo knew the term trick was enough

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for the judge to decide that she was, in fact

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a sex worker. Margo was

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convicted and had to spend a short amount of time

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in jail. Experience

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set Margo on a journey to learn more about

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the law. She enrolled in law school

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and used what she learned to appeal her conviction.

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But law school was expensive and finding

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a job was hard with a criminal record, so

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Margo, who had already been labeled a prostitute

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decided to start working as one.

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Margo also began advocating for the rights

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of other sex workers. In nineteen

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seventy three, she founded COYOTE, which

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stood for call Off Your Old Tired Ethics.

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Margo highlighted the fact that sex work was

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a job, and just like all other workers,

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sex workers were entitled to legal protections,

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accessible health care, and financial security.

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Marco also helped popularize the term sex

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worker, which was coined by Carol Lee

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in the late nineteen seventies. The

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term was part of an effort to destigmatize

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the profession and push back against prohibitionists.

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In a matter of years, COYOTE had spread nationally.

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The organization had chapters across the

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country and a newsletter that reported sex

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work news and featured work by sex workers.

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They also held conventions and threw an annual

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Hooker's Ball, an elaborate event to raise

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funds for the organization. Margo

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was a natural showman. One year,

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she entered the ball riding an elephant. The

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attendees included local politicians,

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police officers, and even celebrities.

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Marco also advocated for sex workers'

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rights in the halls of government. She

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was instrumental in overturning discriminatory

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policies that targeted sex workers in San

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Francisco. She spoke about the violent

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sex workers space in front of state and international

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governments. As the seventies

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drew to a close, there was a rising backlash

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to sex positivity and the free love mindset

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of the sixties, so Margo turned

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her attention outside of America. She

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moved to France and advocated for sex

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workers worldwide. In

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nineteen eighty five, she helped organize the first

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World Horrors Conference, a coalition

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of women's rights activists that took place in Amsterdam.

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By nineteen ninety six, Margo had move move back

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to San Francisco.

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She ran for local office, and she

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kept up her advocacy work. Margo

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encouraged abortion rights advocates to stand

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in solidarity with sex workers and

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drew connections between sex work and women's

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economic mobility. If

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prostitution were decriminalized, Margo

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wrote in nineteen ninety nine, women

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would finally be given control of their own

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bodies, control of their own destinies.

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Near the end of her life, Margo moved back to

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Washington State. She died

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in twenty twenty one, at eighty three years

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old. Today,

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the work Margo started remains unfinished.

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Sex work remains criminalized in all of

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the United States, except for in certain

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counties in Nevada. All

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month for talking about workers. For more information,

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find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica

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Podcast special

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thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co

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creator. As always,

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will be taking a break for the weekend. Talk to

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you on Monday, m