‘Who’s here to see naked ladies?’ Annie Oakley—Sex Workers Art Show tour founder, director, road manager and emcee—asked the crowd gathered at the Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace, on March 1. This year’s tour began on Jan. 25 in Portland, Ore., and has woven its way across the country to its final stop in Chicago.
The tour is about far more than seeing naked ladies, according to the show’s participants. It is about breaking the stereotypes and silence that have long surrounded the sex-worker industry as well as showing the diversity of the people doing sex work. The show is presented cabaret-style and includes performers from all areas of the sex-worker industry. The performances include burlesque, spoken word, music, performance art and multimedia.
Oakley and her pack of performance artists—who included Miss Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muz, Jo Weldon, Stephen Eliot, C. Snatch Z., Kirk Reed, Amber Dawn and Reginald Lamar—took the audience on a journey that showed the humorous and darker sides of the industry.
When asked how the show has changed since its founding days, Oakley said that she is doing more work as a curator, with over 100 applicants vying for a spot on the tour. Her main considerations when putting together the tour each year are making sure there is a wide representation of the industry as well as diversity of class, race and gender.
The show was a benefit for Chicago’s Young Women’s Empowerment Project (YWEP). The YWEP is focused on a safe, non-judgmental environment for girls and women impacted by the sex work industry.