Whores Day Quiz Answers!
Happy Whores' Day everyone! If you haven't taken the Whores' Day Quiz on instagram yet, look away as these are the answers! You can find the quiz here (or by searching for tryst.link on Instagram if our profile is blocked)
1. When police raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969, what was the name of the trans sex worker who, according to queer legend, threw a shot glass into a mirror and kick-started the Stonewall Riots?
2. What was the name of the 68-year-old brothel that inspired both a ZZ Top song and a Broadway musical?
A: The Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas.
3. What caused the closure of Belle Brezing's famous Kentucky brothel in 1915?
A: The temperance movement. In 1915, anti-vice policies were put in place due to political pressure from America's Protestant churches. As well as leading to alcohol prohibition, this also forced the closure of many brothels.
4. Which Ancient Roman festival is especially associated with sex workers?
A: Floralia. This was an annual festival celebrating Flora, goddess of flowers and blossoming plants. Sex workers of all stations celebrated Floralia with games, performing nude, and engaging in what their contemporaries described as licentous behavior.
5. Where is the sex-worker-run organisation Aileen’s located?
A: Florida. Aileen’s is a peer organisation and space for women working along the Pacific Highway. It gives providers a safe space and advocates for the rights and safety of sex workers. It’s named after Aileen Wournos, a queer survival sex worker who was executed by the state in 2002.
6. What was the name of Lulu White’s famous brothel in Storyville, New Orleans?
A: Mahogany Hall. Created with an investment of over $40,000, Mahogany Hall was known to be lavish and often hosted emerging jazz performers.
7. Who coined the term ‘sex worker’?
A: The term "sex worker" was coined in 1978 by sex worker activist Carol Leigh. She argued that, for many, sex work was a choice – a perspective that was rare at the time – adopting the now-popular mantra, “Sex work is work”.
8. Which famous French shoe company is associated with full service Sex Workers?
A: Louboutins. These distinctive, red-soled shoes have acquired ‘sex symbol’ status in fashion, and are often adopted by escorts and other providers as part of their branding.
9. What was the name of the sex worker friendly social media platform launched in 2018 in response to FOSTA/SESTA?
A: Switter. Switter was a sex-worker-friendly social platform built on Mastodon, an open-source system that is considered a decentralized alternative to Twitter. Twitter's creator Assemble Four was eventually forced to shut down this platform, citing the dangerousness of Australia’s Online Safety Act, a piece of 2021 legislation that’s very similar to FOSTA/SESTA, as well as the reintroduced EARN-IT Act in the US, and the newly reintroduced Online Safety Bill in the UK.
10. True or false, credit card companies allow content that contains squirting but not urination?
A: True. Despite the ongoing debate as to whether squirting is in fact urine, credit card companies disallow urination from being displayed on platforms they provide merchant facilities for. Credit card companies act as a censor through their enforcement of discriminatory and outdated rules particularly concerning sex and queerness. Other acts which are banned under these rules are blood (including mensuration blood) and fisting.
11. What is the name of documentary released earlier this year by Red Canary Song?
Flying in Power is a documentary that centers issues of Asian migrant massage and sex workers. The film was produced entirely by women, non-binary, trans and queers of the Asian diaspora with more than half of the production team being former sex workers.
12. Pornstar Chloe Cherry played which sex working character in the TV series Euphoria?
A: Chloe Cherry stared as sex worker Faye in season 2 of HBO's Euphoria.
13. Santa was inspired by which 14th century Saint, also known as the patron Saint of Prostitutes?
A: St Nicholas was the saint who inspired Santa. St Nicholas was also known as the patron Saint of Prostitutes as after his parents died, it was said that he redistributed their wealth to the poor, including whores. Santa loved whores and so should you!
14. Which famous sex worker said the following: "I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'.”
A: Maya Angelou. Renowned for her revolutionary writing and contributions to the civil rights movement, Maya Angelou was a cultural icon who talked openly about her experiences as a sex worker.
15. The New Orleans Storyville brothels of the early 1900's are known as the birth place of which type of music?
A: Jazz. The brothels of Storyville were known to violate segregation laws by advertising “colored” and later “Black” women to white men. Jazz was considered disreputable at the time but Madame's such as Lulu White, frequently employed Black musicians to play in their brothels, saloons and dance clubs allowing the genre to develop and spread.
16. Which Playboy centrefold helped create the JPEG?
A: In 1972, Playboy magazine’s Miss November, Lenna Sjööblom, became the test image for the University of Southern Californias compression algorithm which made image files more manageable and transferable. The use of her image became industry standard for engineers industry wide and is a crucial piece of internet history.
17. Which famous sex worker had the smash 1976 hit Blitzkrieg Bop?
Dee Dee Ramone. The band’s song, “53rd & 3rd,” describes the Manhattan intersection, also known as “the Loop,” which was a well-known spot for male prostitution in the 1970s. Dee Dee Ramone composed the song and it’s said to have been based on his experience as a sex worker on this corner to support his drug addiction.
In fact, the whole look and brand of the Ramones was inspired by hustler culture, which is distinct from other forms of queer culture. The torn jeans, dirty shoes, and leather jackets were inspired by a growing scene of disaffected young men who were gay for pay, or hustlers, to get by after fleeing their, often abusive, homes.
18. Complete this sentence: Rights, Not ____
Rights, Not Rescue. This is a common slogan used by sex workers advocating for their rights, and in turn decriminalisation, in response to sex work abolitionists denying Sex Workers autonomy by promoting a rescue agenda which fails to address the issues preventing Sex Workers from leaving the industry such as discriminatory workplaces and lack of social support for disabled people and mothers.
19. Name two contestants from Ru Paul's Drag Race who have come out publicly as current or former Sex Workers?
Given the prominent intersection of sex work and queerness, it's no surprise that many queens from Ru Paul's Drag Race including Willam, Jiggly Caliente, Rock'm Sokura, Kandy Muse, Katya, Peppermint, Ilona Verley have come out publicly as current or former sex workers.
20. Which dancer, who Ernest Hemingway called her the most sensational woman anyone ever saw, aided the French resistance during World War 2?
Joesphone Baker! Josephine was an American-born French actress, dancer and singer. She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture and refused to perform to segregated audiences. Renowned for her iconic banana skirt, Baker became a cultural icon of the 1920s. She aided the French Resistance during World War 2 and received awards from the awarded the French Committee of National Liberation and the French military.
21. Which famous Black Dominatrix made clients read Black Feminist History?
A: Mistress Velvet. Mistress Velvet, a nonbinary, Black, feminist communist and dominatrix, was known for making their clients read Black feminist theory, as described in a 2018 interview with HuffPost. They were also known for their fierce advocacy for “sex workers’ rights, communism, sexual education, anti-imperialism and Black and transgender liberation” according to Block Club Chicago.
22. Which historical Japanese courtesans were famous for their high platform sandals known as geta?
A: Oiran. During the Edo period, Geishas, who were trained in classical art and entertainment, also geta while they danced and entertained their clients. Oirans, Japanese highest-ranking courtesans, wore getas as high as 12 inches.
23. Which queer sex worker was the first to do the ‘half and half’ act?
A: Zorita. Born Kathryn Boyd, Zorita was an American burlesque dancer. In her well-known "Half and Half" act, she would dress as both a bride and groom. The groom would slowly strip the bride in this number and it would of course end in a wedding night romp.
24. Was Benefits Benetint really created for strippers?
A: Yes! Created in 1976, Benetint was used by exotic dancers to tint their nipples, making them more visible for those in the audience and enhancing their noticeability.
25. What is the unofficial name of the Swedish Sex Workers Union?
A: Fuckförbundet. Fuckförbundet is a grassroots organisation and peer-to-peer community founded by and for sex workers in Sweden and Swedish sex workers abroad.
Wordsearch words
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