My interests in the intersections between gender and labor, along with research on sexuality, led me quite naturally to the history and representation of sex work, a topic I’ve now studied for over twenty years. In 2007, having recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I began teaching a course on the history of the sex workers’ rights movement. Through this, I got to know some people at the St. James Infirmary (SJI). Recognized internationally as a model for peer-based, nonjudgmental health care and founded by the sex worker icon Margo St. James, the clinic offers free health care to sex workers and their families. The clinic also leads and participates in campaigns for changes to public policy and police practices in support of sex workers’ rights, advancing harm reduction as the primary methodology of care.
I quickly realized that I also wanted to pursue a visual project with...
