Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE)

Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE) is a prostitutes' rights organization founded in 1973 by ex-prostitute Margo St. James. During the early 1970s, second-wave feminism was a strong movement in the United States, but no organization dedicated itself solely to prostitutes' issues. Indeed, feminists were increasingly divided over matters of sex and sexuality. Some feminists were uncomfortable with lesbians (the so-called lavender menace), and others believed that pornography, prostitution, and indeed any sex with men perpetuated women's sexual subordination. Sex-positive feminists advocated women's choice in sexual partners, believing that all women deserved free access to sexual pleasure with whomever, whenever they desired. They further believed that consenting adults should be free to exchange sex for money. Sex-positive feminists worked against negative perceptions of prostitution, referring to it instead as “sex work” and to its practitioners as “sex workers,” and advocating for decriminalization and even regulation of the sex trade.

As part of this shift in thinking about sex work, organizations such as COYOTE formed to advocate for prostitutes' rights and to give voice to the prostitute's point of view. From its founding, COYOTE has worked to repeal prostitution laws and to end the stigma associated with sex work. COYOTE calls for complete abolition of laws against sex workers of all genders and persuasions, including strippers, phone sex operators, prostitutes, and porn actresses. They advocate abolishing laws against pimps and panderers but argue that the state must regulate the prostitute-pimp relationship as it does any other contractual labor agreement. Prostitutes' rights advocates clearly distinguish between voluntary and forced prostitution, and they adamantly decry the use of children or unwilling individuals in sex work. However, they argue, adult women who choose to sell sex for money should be accorded the same rights as other service workers, including health and safety regulations and the right to organize. COYOTE believes that mandatory health checkups are a violation of prostitutes' rights but also urges local, state, and federal governments to provide prostitutes free or inexpensive access to health care and insurance.

Some cities have had very active chapters of COYOTE, especially San Francisco, where the organization was founded, and Atlanta. But many chapters folded within a couple years of their establishment when founding members, usually one or two outspoken prostitutes or ex-prostitutes, turned to other work or another cause. Lack of consistent and substantial funding for the work blocked prostitutes' rights organizations from either longevity or success, as did the danger inherent in coming out in public as a prostitute. Also problematic in prostitutes' rights groups has been the ongoing hierarchy among supporters and founding members, who are often educated and/or come from the upper echelon of sex workers. This stratification has decreased organizers' abilities to communicate with prostitutes of lower status.

COYOTE published a newsletter from 1974 to 1979. The Hooker's Ball became a popular event, attracting [Page 104]as many as 20,000 people in 1978. By the mid-1980s, COYOTE had hosted a hooker's convention and drafted a bill of rights. This statement underpinned the International Committee for Prostitutes' Rights, which St. James and Gail Peterson founded in 1985, and served as a model for the World Whores' Charter. Despite the strong conservative turn in both mainstream and feminist politics since the 1990s, COYOTE has found many supporters around the world.

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