In the 1990s, Siobhan Brooks-King led a movement that resulted in the first-ever sex workers union at a strip club in San Francisco. She has gone on to interview sex workers across the country and has published several articles as a result. The story of the unionizing efforts at the Lusty Lady are chronicled in "Live Nude Girls Unite!", a documentary by Julia Query. Siobhan is featured in the film.
Brooks' research and advocacy expands to broader topics of gender and institutions, women of color and mental illness, queer race identities, women in the media, race and class. She is the author of the book "Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry" (SUNY Press, 2010).
Siobhan Brooks is currently an associate professor of African-American studies at the California State University, Fullerton. She holds a B.A. in women's studies from the San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the New School University in New York City.
