Trans Sex Workers Through History

A dark blue display case in the British Library containing a scroll of the interrogation of Eleanor Rykener

The interrogation of Eleanor Rykener in 1394. Image via the British Library

A cream background with a black engraving illustration from the late 1800s, depicting a street scene with passers by and a wagon.

Engraving of Field Lane, where Mother Clap's Molly House was located. Image via the British Library

Three black and white mugshots of Johann Sheff, a young, white trans person wearing a checked shirt and black tie.

Johann Sheff's mugshot after being arrested for shoplifting women's clothing in Berlin (1932).

A grey, stone plaque with a paragraph of text commemorating Gene Compton's Cafeteria Riot of 1966, dedicated in 2006.

Gene Compton's Cafeteria Riot 40th anniversary historical marker at corner of Taylor and Turk in San Francisco

A black and white photograph of members of the Transsexual Action Organisation taking to the streets. They carry candles, placards and an American flag.

Angela Lynn Douglas (1943-2007)and the Transsexual Action Organisation (TAO)

Lady of the Night School was a two part course that ran for three months between October to December 2021, and again between April to June 2022. Each month we collectively explored a new topic. The focus was less on current legislations and campaigns, and more on how we got to where we are today.

This is an archive of each session in the series. Here you will find recordings, reading lists, audio, and summaries of each section, as well as details of our hosts and where you can find them now.

✧

Trans Sex Workers Through History (November 2021)

While the present day trans movement pays lip service to the contributions of trans sex workers through the canonisation of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson, the histories of trans people and sex workers are far more deeply entwined than they seem! In this lecture, historian and activist Morgan M Page took us on a whistle stop tour of trans sex workers across more than 700 years of history in North America and Europe. Key case studies included Eleanor Rykener, a 14th-century trans sex worker in London, and Eliza Scott, an 1858 black trans sex worker in London. The talk also covered the 18th-century Molly houses in London, Berlin's transvestite community in the 1920s, and the impact of the AIDS epidemic on sex workers in Vancouver. Page spoke to the importance of political solidarity between trans liberation movements and sex worker rights movements, highlighting historical and contemporary activism and resistance in the fight for liberation and decriminalisation.

  • Lecture by Morgan M. Page (Monday 1st November, 7.00 – 8.30pm)

  • Seminar by Nim Ralph (Monday Nov 22nd, 6.30 – 8.30pm)

✧

Morgan M Page is a writer, activist, and historian. She has organised around sex worker rights for over a decade in Canada, the UK, and internationally. She is the host of the trans history podcast One From the Vaults, and the co-writer of the feature film Framing Agnes (2022).

Nim Ralph is a trans writer, educator and activist. Nim has led campaigns for trans & queer rights, environmental justice and anti-racism in the UK, and works with activists globally. They are the Lead Trainer and designer of multiple activist training programmes. You can follow them on twitter: @NMRLPH.

─

This course is made possible with generous support from the Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

Trans Sex Workers Through History was the second session in the first series of our popular education course Lady of the Night School.

The topics included:

  • A History of Sex Work Criminalisation in the UK

  • Trans Sex Workers Through History

  • Latin American Sex Worker Struggles

  • Sex Workers Built the Internet

  • Anti Trafficking in the Caribbean

  • Sex Worker Art and Creative Practices

Year: 2021
Type: public lecture
Series: lady of the night school
Subject(s): trans history