Women's Work

An exhibition at The New York Historical Society

Above: From the exhibition. More info on this photo in the captures at the end.

Since my perspective on sex industry activism is that it’s work and the workers’ human rights include equitable pay, respect, safety, and social mobility, I’m always interested in studies of labor history and of women’s work in particular. Women are historically exploited in specific ways and in specific fields of labor, often without explicit rights to politically engage about their work conditions or even to vote to try to change those conditions. When I read the following description of the New York Historical Society’s exhibition on Women’s Work, I prioritized getting to see it.

“The Center for Women’s History showcases approximately 45 objects from New-York Historical’s own Museum and Library collections to demonstrate how “women’s work” defies categorization.”

https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/womens-work

I misjudged the museum’s closing time and was able to spend only about 15 minutes at the exhibition, but it was worth it. I expected to be disappointed about the absence of sex work, but to my surprise, it was there!

I think this is an important and remarkably inclusive exhibition! I loved it, I recommend it and I would see it again. I’m thrilled about the inclusion of sex workers in an exhibition about work. I grew up listening to prostitution and stripping being analyzed as a social ill on the macro level and a form of deviance on the micro level. It makes my heart sing to see it recognized in this context. The New York Historical Society has always been one of my favorite places in NYC, and now I love it even a little bit more.

I didn’t get many photos because I was zooming through, but here are a few more captures from the exhibition: