This year’s festival is especially meaningful as it marks the first since the passing of the festival’s founder, Carol Leigh, aka “The Scarlot Harlot.” Leigh coined the term “sex worker” in the 1970s.

Welcome to Brain-Throbs & Blow Jobs, a new column that highlights the great minds and perspectives of Bay Area sex workers through interviews and photo portraits. Come support your local sex workers this Saturday at the Sex Worker Justice Now rally in downtown Oakland. June 2  is International Sex Worker’s Day,