Amber L. Hollibaugh (born 1946) is an American writer, filmmaker and political activist, largely concerned with
feminist and sexual politics.
Career and writings
Hollibaugh is the daughter of a dark-skinned
Romany father, and a white Irish-American mother. She claims her paternal family were
from Spain and came to the United States in the early 1900s. Her father grew up traveling in caravans, and was harassed and branded by the
Ku Klux Klan. Amber has also claimed her father and maternal grandmother were branded by the KKK. According to her publisher's website, "Amber L. Hollibaugh is a lesbian sex radical, ex-
hooker,
incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adopti ...
survivor, gypsy child,
poor-white-trash, high
femme
''Femme'' (; , literally meaning "woman") is a term traditionally used to describe a lesbian who exhibits a feminine identity or gender presentation. Alternate meanings of the word also exist with some non-lesbian individuals using the word, ...
dyke. She is also an award-winning filmmaker,
feminist, Left political organizer, public speaker, and journalist."
Her father, Ace L. Hollibaugh was born to Roy Hollibaugh and Helen Hollibaugh, both white.
Hollibaugh is the former Chief Officer of Elder & LBTI Women's Services at
Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago. She has been director of education, advocacy and community building at (
Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders
Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders (SAGE) is America's oldest and largest non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults, focusing on the issue of LGBT ageing. Accordin ...
) (SAGE), a New York program dedicated to lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
senior education, advocacy, and community organizing.
In 1970, Hollibaugh was a leader in the Canadian movement for abortion rights. In 1978, she was a co-founder with
Allan Bérubé
Allan Bérubé (pronounced BEH-ruh-bay; December 3, 1946 – December 11, 2007) was a gay American historian, activist, independent scholar, self-described "community-based" researcher and college drop-out, and award-winning author, best know ...
and others of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project. In 1982, she was a speaker at the
1982 Barnard Conference on Sexuality, a key event in what became known as the
Feminist Sex Wars. Hollibaugh has written on the marginalization she experienced afterwards as a result of being a former
sex worker
A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker"
According to one view, sex work i ...
and her involvement in the
sadomasochism community.
Hollibaugh was the director and co-producer with Gini Reticker of ''The Heart of the Matter'', a 60-minute documentary film about the confusing messages women students receive about
sexuality and
sexually transmitted diseases
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral ...
such as AIDS. The film won the 1994
Sundance Film Festival Freedom of Expression Award; it premiered to a national audience on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
.
In the 1990s, Hollibaugh argued that
American liberalism
Liberalism in the United States is a political and moral philosophy based on concepts of unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the separation of ch ...
was in disarray, but was looking to the Left for guidance in how to reshape itself. Stafford has analyzed her memoir ''My Dangerous Desires'' (2000) in terms of femme lesbian narratives.
In 2002, Jenrose Fitzgerald discussed Hollibaugh and Singh's 1999 essay ''Sexuality, Labor, and the New
Trade Unionism
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...
'' in ''Social Text''. Fitzgerald says that their presentation of the relationship between sexual politics and the
labor movement proposed a labor movement "that will take on immigration issues, racism, health care, and the nuances of
economic inequality
There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...
alongside more mainstream labor and '
gay rights' concerns."
In Hollibaugh's writings on sexuality, she has declared that "there is no human hope without the promise of ecstasy."
Meryl Altman says that Hollibaugh is "a powerful organizing speaker, a very fine incisive writer and a brilliant
theorist
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
."
In 2012, Hollibaugh received the Vicki Sexual Freedom Award from the
Woodhull Freedom Foundation
Woodhull Freedom Foundation, also known as Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, is an American non-profit organization founded in 2003 that advocates for sexual freedom as a fundamental human right. The organization is based in Washington, D.C., U ...
.
Publications
Book
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Pdf.**
Articles and essays
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Further reading
* Amber Hollibaugh; Mitchell Karp; and Katy Taylor interviewed by Douglas Crimp.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollibaugh, Amber L.
1946 births
American prostitutes
American feminists
American people of Irish descent
American people of Romani descent
American people of Spanish descent
Historians of LGBT topics
Lesbian feminists
American lesbian writers
Living people
People of Spanish-Romani descent
Sex-positive feminists
American left-wing activists
Lesbian memoirists
LGBT film directors
21st-century American LGBT people
21st-century American women writers
Romani feminists