A one-woman show tracing 10,000 years of sex worker history is coming to Denver's Bug Theatre on September 29. Kaytlin Bailey, described as an activist, writer, and performer, presents The Oldest Profession at the Navajo Street venue, blending stand-up comedy, personal history, and a projected art-history slideshow into an hour-long production intended for adult audiences.
The show runs from 6:45 to 9:30 pm on September 29 and opens with a set from Denver comedian Lizzy Wolfson, according to the event listing from Colorado Public Radio. Wolfson moved to Colorado after working on ranches and in agriculture before establishing herself as an LGBTQ comedy producer, and she now co-hosts the WolfHawk Comedy Podcast while regularly performing at Denver venues including Comedy Works, per Lizzy Wolfson's official site.
Bailey's solo show covers ground from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis to the Venetian Renaissance, the women's suffrage movement, and the origins of the modern sex worker rights movement, per the event's own account. The performance also draws a personal thread from Bailey's upbringing as an Army brat.
From Comedy Stages to National Advocacy
Bailey's pivot from stand-up comedy into full-time advocacy traces back to 2018, when Congress passed FOSTA-SESTA, federal legislation that expanded liability for web hosts and led to the shutdown of online platforms sex workers relied on for safety and client screening, according to KQED. That law amended Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to hold websites liable for facilitating sex trafficking, the outlet notes.
Bailey runs Old Pros, a nonprofit media organization that advocates for sex worker rights through storytelling. Bailey also hosts The Oldest Profession podcast, which focuses on historical figures she calls old pros and their connection to the ongoing fight for sex worker rights.
A Colorado Debate That Stalled in Committee
Democratic state lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 26-097 in February to decriminalize consensual adult commercial sex statewide, and the bill's status is listed as Lost. The supplied sources do not detail the bill's specific provisions.
The supplied sources do not establish the current classification, penalties, HIV-testing requirements, felony enhancements, or registration rules for prostitution in Colorado.
Framing the Policy Debate Through History
Bailey's show cites institutional research to back its political arguments, noting that global health bodies including the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have each supported decriminalization of sex work as a policy that reduces violence, according to the show's own event description. That framing echoes the broader public health distinction those organizations draw between voluntary adult commercial sex and illegal human trafficking.
The Bug Theatre, located on Navajo Street in Denver, is a performance venue and a fitting backdrop for a production that pairs personal storytelling with a slideshow tracing historical depictions of sex workers across centuries. The Oldest Profession is presented at the venue.
