PUMA
In the 1980s, When AIDS was the Nice Ladies who helped the Nurses in the Hospitals
Donna Mint, a professional erotic service provider with many years of experience, attended a meeting at a group that encourages and nurtures sex-positive attitudes in Massachusetts. Lo and behold, she ran into an old friend and mentor, Madam X, past president of PUMA – the Prostitute’s Union of Massachusetts. Madame X was active in the Sex business way back in the 1980s when Donna was still a happy, innocent child.
And just as I’m interviewing Donna now, Donna decided she’d try to interview Madame X. But Madam was hesitant, as she’s now a happy granny in her 70s and long retired from the business. But Donna was persistent, not wanting to miss a chance to learn about times past from this very knowledgeable Grande Dame. Reluctantly, Madam partially acquiesced, and the old warrior started to tell her tale.
Madam X Motivation
Now a grandmother, a foster mother, and a social worker, Madam X is just like any other pleasant lady who might be in front of you at the supermarket checkout line with a shopping cart full of healthy food for her large, happy, extended family.
Madame X points out that the news media and the internet are full of misinformation and fake history. Her mission was and is to set the record straight.
Madame X History
We first learned that she and a group of friends started plying their trade out of an apartment in Massachusetts. Somehow, they fell under the glare of the FBI. The eighties were a very different time. The FBI would infiltrate groups and try to disband them. They would go undercover as a member of a mole and then try to break them up years later. They were forced to disband. However, they were the first sex workers union in Massachusetts known as PUMA. They made history.
As Madame X describes it, it was a different world in the 1980s. Back then, brothels were integrated. Meaning you didn't have racial segregation, which is normalized today in brothels. As Martin Luther King put it racial segregation is akin to slavery. It is not slavery. It just has a kinship with it.
In the '80s, the women, just regular gals, mainly were Americans who simply preferred fucking, sucking, and tugging to waitressing or office work. Not anymore. Today, brothels are big business, usually international in scale. The women are moved around, from city to city. Brothels can now outsource labor. This was unthinkable in the '80s when citizenship rights were highly prized. Because we had a large segment of the population that had survived many wars: World War II, Vietnam, and the Korean War. These soldiers had full citizenship rights. The idea that you'd outsource labor and deny these soldiers their citizenship Rights was unthinkable. But not today; outsourcing is commonplace. This cultural separation and physical separation interferes with any effort toward unionization. But that's by design. Cartels overseas and brothel corporations. Mixed in with Innocent Mom and Pops. The situation is complex. And made more so with misinformation.
AIDS Ushers in a New Puritanism in 80's
We learn a lot from Madam X, who’s been around for a long time and has seen everything.
Back then, AIDS was the lovely ladies who helped the nurses take care of sick folks in the hospital. Safe sex meant slowing down the car to 50 miles per hour.
But AIDS, as well as the advent of the internet, has changed everything. Madam X told me a story about placing some of her business cards at a fire station (but no takers, unfortunately!)
And who can forget Craigslist? Low-cost advertising. It was possible, back then, for a woman who needed rent money or whose kid needed a new pair of shoes to become an occasional sex worker during tough times, as perLady Madonna. (A song by The Beatles) But then, that Boston University medical student killed a provider he met there, and the Craigslist erotic services section was shut down. Of course, people get killed all the time at all sorts of venues, like sporting events, bars, political events, concerts, churches, etc. etc. Do they get shut down?
Organizations like Coyote in the '80s were Annette-positive for sex workers. Today, the name is the same, but the belief system within the organization is entirely different. Today, the coyote is pro-racial segregation versus the '80s, when they were against it. Coyote today is pro-labor outsourcing, whereas, in the 80s, they were against it. Why this shift? It has something to do with financing. Today, billionaires, you serve money to redirect liberal organizations. This redirecting instead of helping sex workers with the lowest wages increases labor exploitation. Just like a billionaire can influence a politician, a billionaire can use his money to influence nonprofits. Why are we all in this matrix? They say money is the root of all evil.
Madam X Today
Madam X, a lesbian, for a time suffered from a sex addiction, which meant that it was time to quit this line of work. Today, besides her immediate family, this kind, nurturing lady cares for her 100-year-old uncle. One of her greatest pleasures is baking brownies for her brood. So, the next time the line backs up at the supermarket, try to GENTLY start a conversation with that ordinary granny online next to you. And, if she’s in the mood to talk, what a tale she might tell!