Margot St. James at the Hooker's Ball (1974)

KPIX Eyewitness news report from 28th of October 1974 by Ben Williams in San Francisco featuring scenes from the first annual Hooker's Ball. Includes an interview with Margot St. James, feminist activist and pioneer of sex-positive feminism and advocate of the decriminalization of prostitution with the founding of COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) in 1973. The Hooker's Ball became an annual event from 1974 onwards and started as a fund raising event for the COYOTE Howls newsletter that St. James published from 1974-1978, in San Francisco. St. James states: "What my goal is, is the complete decriminalization of sex for human beings, even commercial sex." When Williams asks if this event might tear at the moral fabric of society, St. James replies that: "Well they're coming from the moralistic point of view. In fact, we keep their families together because it's a one-sided monogamy that's in this culture and it's the 99% of our customers are married ... if we weren't taking care of them and listening to their troubles they might be beating up their wives more than they do." Also includes views of people dancing and posing at the Ball. The TV Archive would like to thank guest-intern Siân Williams who repaired, remastered, cataloged and edited this newsfilm for the web.

Tags: ben williams , call off your old tired ethics , coyote , coyote howls , decriminalization of prostitution , hooker's ball , kpix 121075 , margot st. james , sex-positive feminism

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