Norma Hotaling

Norma Hotaling (July 21, 1951 – December 16, 2008) was an American women's-rights and anti-sex trafficking activist. Hotaling was a former prostitute and heroin addict who drew from her personal experiences to create new methods for getting women and men out of prostitution and into what she saw as healthier lifestyles. She founded the San Francisco non-profit SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation) in 1992. She championed holistic methods of "treatment" for former sex workers, and her methods because popular worldwide. As part of her own rehabilitation, Hotaling earned a bachelor's degree in health education from San Francisco State University. In San Francisco, she and SAGE became well known for focusing on men's roles in prostitution by establishing the First Offender Prostitution Program or "John" school, to combat and lessen the demand for prostitutes by males. In April 2008, Hotaling was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and died eight months later. SAGE continued to operate until 2014.

Early life Hotaling was born in Palm Beach, Florida. Her father died when she was three years old. She and her brother were primarily raised by her mother and grandmother. She was sexually abused around the time of her fifth birthday and sexual abuse continued through all her childhood years which were spent in New York and Florida.

Prostitution Although the details of much of Hotaling's first two decades of life are shadowy, what is certain is that she was working as a prostitute by the time she was eighteen. She moved to San Francisco in the 1980s. Hotaling was addicted to heroin and remained an addict for twenty-one years. However, she had a life-saving realization in the 1980s: "I realized that if I stayed in the sex industry, I was going to die. That was clear to me… It was during the time when AIDS was hitting the streets and people were getting infected." It was during her jail work that she made the personal and institutional connections that became vital to founding and building SAGE.

Activism and community role Hotaling was best known for her anti-trafficking advocacy work. She played an active role in changing rehabilitation treatments for prostitutes locally and internationally. In an oral history interview, a SAGE employee under the pseudonym "Angela" said "Treatment as we know it today exists because of people like Norma. She changed the face of treatment as usual in San Francisco by creating trauma-informed care. This led to 'harm reduction,' which was unheard of when we got together and began talking about an organization which was to become SAGE.”

Hotaling was also known for her advocacy for Hepatitis-C awareness.

Personality She is regarded as able to communicate well with the whole spectrum of society, from inmates and prostitutes to politicians. On one occasion she visited the White House and spoke with President George W. Bush about the conditions of trafficked women. On a local level, she regularly collaborated with the Sheriff's Office, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.

Hotaling's death led to significant changes in the community and recovery programs at SAGE. There was a loss of community spirit, Friday-morning meetings and other valued traditions disintegrated. SAGE employee Diana (under pseudonym) said “SAGE was never the same after Norma died. It was never, ever, ever the same. SAGE was like a family. It was more than a place to work, especially to those who were in recovery, which included just about everybody in the building ... What began as 90% survivor-run program became a 60/40 ratio of peer/survivor counselors to professional counselors.”

Honors, decorations, awards and distinctions

In 1998, SAGE's First Offender Prostitution Program/John school won the Innovations in American Government Award from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In 2000, SAGE's Peer Educator Training Program won the Peter F. Drucker Award for Non-Profit Innovation through the Ford Foundation.

In 2001, SAGE and Hotaling won the Use Your Life Award from Oprah's Angel Network.

Published works Hotaling, Norma. “San Francisco’s Successful Strategies: Prevention Services for Girls and the First Offender Prostitution Program.” San Francisco's Successful Strategies, Purdue University, 2001, www.purdue.edu/hhs/hdfs/fii/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/s_mifis06c08.pdf.