Must Read: New Book Talks 1950s Pittsburgh, Sex Workers, Generational Trauma, and Police Corruption
A couple of weeks ago, I was scrolling through the Pittsburgh City Paper, and I came across an article by columnist Jesse Sage titled: ‘New book details the life of a 1950s Pittsburgh sex worker who fought the law, and won’. As an avid reader, history nerd, and lover of all things Pittsburgh, it would’ve been grossly irresponsible for me to not click on that post.
After reading the article, I was enthralled by the story, and amazed that it had actually happened. I had to get the full story from the horse’s mouth. In this case, the horse is Jason Kirin, a writer and researcher of Pittsburgh’s history of violence against sex workers; work he does in honor of his grandmother, Shirley Cavanaugh, who is the subject of the aforementioned book. So, I bought the damn book.
From The Furnace With Love: The Multigenerational Tapestry of Shirley Cavanaugh by Jason Kirin
Shirley Virginia Cavanaugh was born on November 12th, 1928, just before the start of the Great Depression, to parents Alma and Frank Cavanaugh. Shirley “spent her youth impoverished in the polluted industrial suburbs of Braddock, PA.”
In 1873, Andrew Carnegie built the Edgar Thomson Steel Works on the site of Braddock’s Field. As the steel industry boomed, so too did the population of the town of Braddock. Its population peaked in the 1920s at 20,000+ people when Shirley was born. The town of Braddock, and more specifically the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, is well known thanks to the novel ‘Out of This Furnace’ by Thomas Bell.
At a very young age, Shirley Cavanaugh dealt with abandonment and abuse at the hands of her parents and/or their spouse(s). Following the death of her estranged father, she spent the remainder of her adolescence bouncing around between different reform schools and orphanages.
By the time she reached her late 20s, Shirley had already abandoned her first two children, and fallen into (albeit reluctantly) the world of prostitution. It was around this time in her life that she became an informant for the head of Pittsburgh’s Vice and Narcotics Squad, Lt. Allen Carnahan, a man whom she was also involved in a deceitful love affair with. Carnahan took interest in her after she was arrested for assault and battery against a police officer, as well as prostitution.
That all came to a screeching halt when Cavanaugh and Carnahan got into an altercation at an after-hours club that resulted in Carnahan being shot by his own service weapon. The ensuing investigation of what became known as “The Carnahan Affair” led to the disbanding of the Pittsburgh Vice and Narcotics squad, as well as numerous punishments and reprimands that shook Pittsburgh police.
An important figure in this (true) story was Judge Louis Rosenberg, Pittsburgh’s Director of Public Safety, who quickly took over the investigation as he was of the mindset that the police should not be investigating themselves. Rosenberg was unique, in this investigation, to the other judge(s) and police officers who played a role in this case, because he was able to come to a very unbiased opinion based on the facts - unlike others who either felt beholden to protect their brothers in blue, or simply viewed Shirley as a violent prostitute with no regard for the law. Even still, he didn’t stray to the side of public opinion either, which over time was strongly in favor of Shirley. Kirin provides a clipping of Rosenberg’s obituary at the end of the book in which his colleagues describe him as “incorruptible”, adding: “He labored over every decision, to make sure that he was correct and fair…”
It is because of people like Rosenberg, and many folks in Pittsburgh, who were able to look past the sensationalized headlines and see a human being that was being railroaded by the public officials that were supposed to be protecting her, that Shirley Cavanaugh was cleared of any wrongdoing. That is a lot to ask of people in 2024, let alone the 1950s. And that is a perfect segway into one of the most important themes of the book: intersectionality; more specifically, intersectional feminism.
Intersectionality is a term that was coined in 1989 by Kimberlè Crenshaw in a paper published to the University of Chicago Legal Forum. Originally, Crenshaw used the term to argue that the courts’ narrow view of discrimination put black women in a hole, arguing that in discrimination cases, courts were only considering one issue: either you were discriminated against because you’re a woman, or because you’re black. Crenshaw used the argument of intersectionality to assert that it’s possible for the two to “intersect”, and that a black woman can be a victim due to a combination of race and gender.
Crenshaw’s argument can be reasonably applied to include all marginalized groups. The idea of feminism was brought about to combat discriminatory issues as it pertained to white women (historically speaking). In Shirley’s case, intersectionality can be applied, because she is not only a woman, but she is a woman that is a sex worker as well. The headlines about her from numerous sources included in the book are all the proof you need to see that many people had a preconceived notion about who Shirley was, and therefore, how she should be treated.
Kirin was able to beautifully illustrate his desire to reflect on his own beliefs about intersectional feminism and sex work because he is an indirect product of a sex worker. The two-decades-long journey he went on, unpacking his traumatic family history, to not only better understand sex work, but also to reconnect the dots of his broken family tree and get a grasp of the slew of mental health issues that stem from the rocky upbringing of one women during the great depression; it’s really something to marvel at.
‘From The Furnace With Love’ is an extremely well-written exploration of familial healing that goes back nearly a century and covers topics that are progressively becoming normalized, including, but certainly not limited to, substance abuse and mental health. In the last five, or so, months, I have been dealing with my own substance abuse issues, having gone to rehab and securing a decent period of sobriety. In doing so, I’ve had to do some reflecting on my own beliefs, as well as, learn to cope with some of my mental health issues without self-medicating. I only bring that up to say: I can really appreciate and respect that Jason Kirin is willing to unpack all of this generational trauma and spark necessary conversations in a very public manner; and he did so in a way that was truly eloquent.
One more thing I want to acknowledge about this book:
I mentioned earlier that I found this book when it was referenced in an article by Jesse Sage of the Pittsburgh City Paper. In her sex column called ‘Pillow Talk with Jessie Sage’, she covers a myriad of topics, including sex worker advocacy. At the end of the book, Kirin includes a call to action, urging readers to donate to the Pittsburgh chapter of the ‘Sex Workers Outreach Project’. Having familiarized myself with Sage’s work, and after reading this book, I can say, with confidence, that these two are sensational advocates for women and sex workers, and both have extremely personal ties to their ideology. While I’m not educated on the issues facing sex workers like they are, I am sensitive to the tribulations of all people, and they’ve made a supporter out of me. So, I will donate what I can to SWOP Pittsburgh, and sign it “Friends of Shirley”.
“Sex Workers Outreach Project Pittsburgh (SWOP Pgh) connects sex workers to social services,
facilitates community education, and administers a cash mutual aid fund
I’ve said a whole lot about this book in this soliloquy, but I was careful to leave out a lot of things, because I could never tell it the way that Jason Kirin did it. I mean seriously, there’s got to be a Netflix limited series on this as soon as possible; it’s really amazing. I urge everyone to buy a copy and see for themselves.
Follow me on twitter/x: @jay_newm
Subscribe to receive email updates about new posts and follow me on socials!
