NCJ Number
130560
Journal
Sociological Quarterly Volume: 32 Issue: 1 Dated: (1991) Pages: 23-41
Date Published
1991
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes the structure, objectives, and distinctive problems faced by the prostitutes' rights movement in the United States.
Abstract
Data sources include movement documents, interviews with the two most prominent movement leaders, press coverage in the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle in 1973-1988, and secondary survey data. The data show that this movement largely has failed to attract popular support, build alliances with third parties, alter conventional attitudes, and convince authorities of the need for decriminalization. The most prominent organization in the prostitutes' rights campaign, COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), appears to have enhanced the self-images of affiliated prostitutes, however. It has aided individual prostitutes, attracted some media attention, extracted concessions from some city governments and police forces, and won legal battles in some courtrooms. The findings support the resource mobilization theory of social movements which considers ideological and moral factors secondary to material and organizational variables in shaping movement outcomes. 27 notes and 95 references (Author abstract modified)