The Oldest Profession Podcast

Discover the groundbreaking journey of Victoria Woodhull, a trailblazer in women's rights and the first woman to run for president. Explore her transformation from a struggling mother to a pioneering stockbroker who challenged societal norms in the Victorian era. Delve into her intriguing connection with spiritualism and insider trading alongside her sister, as they launched the first female-owned brokerage firm. Uncover the duo’s lavish gatherings that merged elite social circles with revolutionary ideas, including the first American translation of the Communist Manifesto.

At a time where full service sex workers in Seattle euphemistically called themselves seamstresses, Madam Lou Graham was so rich that she served as an alternative to banks, giving loans to business propositions deemed too risky by bankers. She was also largely responsible for the funding of Seattle's school system. At the height of her power, Graham got arrested by a rookie cop who clearly did not know who he was dealing with. She was so influential that she was cleared of all charges AND had the police commissioner fired.

The most famous sex worker of today's music industry, Cardi B unabashedly flaunts and celebrates her past as a stripper in her songs, music videos, and social media. 

Best known for is commercial paintings of the moulin rouge, French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was also a john who (literally) lived in brothels. As a tenant and client, Toulouse-Lautrec created compelling portraits of the full service sex workers with whom he socialized. His empathetic gaze captured the elements of their lives often missed by more sensationalist or romanticized depictions of sex work by other artists of his time.  

Ching Shih went from working as a full service sex worker on a floating brothel in Canton to becoming the one of the most successful pirate captains in the history of the world.

In 1949, Marilyn Monroe, struggling to make ends meet as an actress, got paid 50$ to pose nude for a calendar. She worked as a pinup and, some say, as a prostitute before becoming an internationally recognized sex symbol & box office sensation.  Her vibrant, sensuous charisma, her comedic genius and witty flair deeply resonates with old pros and civilians alike- over fifty years after her death, we're still obsessed with her. 

This Mesoamerican Goddess was the deity of vice, filth, purification, steam baths, lust, fertility, adulterers and, you guessed it, sex workers.  She symbolically castrated priests in elaborate rituals, and provoked and pardoned her followers' sin in a never ending circle of life, sex and death.     

Infamous misandrist martyr and queer icon Aileen Wuornos killed seven men while working as a hitch hiking sex worker in Florida. To say that her life was defined by hardship would be an understatement. She started exchanging sex for resources at 11, was kicked out of her family house at 15. At 35, after killing a number of johns, one of whom a convicted rapist Wuornos shot in self-defence, she was betrayed by her lover who collaborated with the cops in exchange for immunity from prosecution.  Her trial was heavily covered by the media, who feasted on her case because of what they perceived as Wuornos' titillating identity as both a queer sex worker and a survivor of sexual assault. Her last words one camera were: "Thanks a lot, society, for railroading my ass." After spending years on death row, she was executed at the age of 56.      

In this new special segment, Kaytlin responds to the alarming but predictable trend of single women traveling alone being targeted by companies who are spending millions to train their staff to spot 'trafficking victims'. Surprise surprise: the training doesn't actually help trafficking victims, but rather targets old pros. Kaytlin also addresses the recent wave of arrests on seeking.com. 

This week we're doing something a little different- we compiled heartbreaking and heartwarming coming out stories from Coyote Fawn, Allie Oops, and many more.