STRICTLY BUSINESS : PROSTITUTE, POLICE EVENTS TO SHARE HOTEL.

Byline: Jenifer Hanrahan Daily News Staff Writer

About 200 prostitutes from around the world and 30 police officers from across the country will check into a Van Nuys hotel next month.

And if all goes as planned, neither group will have much to do with the other.

The Airtel Plaza Hotel will be sex central when several hundred college professors, counselors, lawyers, public health experts, sex workers and their clients convene March 13-16 for the International Conference on Prostitution.

At the same time at the same hotel, the Los Angeles Police Department will be wrapping up a two-week seminar on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program, which puts officers in classrooms teaching kids to ``Just Say No.''

The coincidental scheduling of the events was just that.

Coincidence.

``We're not uncomfortable with it. But it's not something we would normally request,'' said Edward Arambula, training coordinator for the LAPD's DARE division, Western Regional Training Center. ``We wouldn't want to interfere with their ability to conduct business. . . . I mean the hotel. Not the hookers.''

Norma Jean Almodovar, a former LAPD traffic officer-turned-call girl whose prostitution association is co-sponsoring the sex conference, wants to make one thing clear to the police: The sex workers are not here to work.

``I told them the minute they show up at the hotel, they're retired,'' said Almodovar, co-chairwoman of the conference and director of Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics Los Angeles, an organization of prostitutes and their supporters.

Kevin McCarthy, who manages the hotel which hosts dozens of business and academic conferences each year, said he expects it will be an interesting week.

``I expect everyone to conduct themselves professionally,'' McCarthy said.

After three days of academic discussions, the tweed-and-loafers crowd will mix with the fishnet-and-spiked heel types at the International Hookers' Masquerade Ball. About 400 sex workers and academics are expected to attend the invitation-only party.

``With so many off-duty cops around, the prostitutes will have little trouble finding dates,'' Almodovar quipped on COYOTE Los Angeles' Web page. ``Ball organizers are considering charging the police officers double the normal ticket price to cover the cost of bail should any prostitutes be arrested.''

Academics only

Cal State Northridge's Center for Sex Research is co-sponsoring the conference on prostitution, one of the largest gatherings of sex workers and experts, said James Elias, center director.

``We're not here to titillate,'' Elias said. ``This is an academic conference to discuss the issues related to prostitution, and that also includes the concerns of the prostitute and sex worker population.''

The Center for Sex Research, a group of about 30 academics from major universities in the United States and Europe, was established 15 years ago to study sexuality issues. Self-supporting through donations and programs, it is based in an office in Cal State Northridge's School of Social and Behavioral Science.

Still, this is no ordinary dry meeting of the minds. This academic rendezvous is going to make strange bedfellows.

While the conference is invitation-only, the public is welcome at an accompanying International Sex Worker Art Exhibit - in the sanctuary of a North Hills church.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, the keynote speaker, may find herself upstaged by Sydney Biddle Barrows (the Mayflower Madam) and Xaviera Hollander (the Happy Hooker) and Margot St. James, a San Francisco madam who founded COYOTE, which is currently lobbying to decriminalize prostitution.

``We'll have all the grande dames of sex,'' Almodovar said. Heidi Fleiss was scheduled to attend, but she's in federal prison.

Almodovar, who won't answer directly when asked about her current occupation, is organizing the art show and ball, which are sponsored by COYOTE Los Angeles, from her Panorama City apartment.

Worldwide interest

She networks with sex workers worldwide via Whorenet, a private Internet mailing list. Since the United States does not grant visas to women who admit ever having worked as a prostitute, Almodovar got permission from officials for sex workers from other countries to attend.

``Otherwise, all these women would have to lie and risk getting arrested,'' Almodovar said, ``and I could have been arrested for suggesting that they lie on a federal document.''

Almodovar is raising money to pay air fare for current and ex-sex workers from India, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa to attend the conference. The cost of the trip, she says, is more than many of the women earn in a year.

``We are desperate for money. It's very important that we get them here. They can take back knowledge about STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and safe sex practices to their countries.''

Most of the money raised has come from private groups dedicated to preventing the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Myriad of topics

At the conference, subject matter will run from the deadly serious to the bawdy. Attendees will debate the pros and cons of legalizing prostitution, the impact of sexual tourism on economies and women, and methods of promoting safe sex.

Professors will present research papers, including those titled ``Female Footsuckers: Feminist Theories of the Fetish Meet the Sex-Positive Whore,'' ``Junkies, Dykes, and Prostitutes' Rights,'' and ``Being a John.''

The conference, which will focus on prostitution among consenting adults, also will explore the myriad abuses sex workers endure.

``It can be very depressing, looking at how we're treated around the world,'' Almodovar said. ``Obviously when so many of us get together for an occasion like this, something that has never happened before in our history, we want to have some fun.''

Performance artists, exotic dancers and drag queens will entertain at the masquerade party, which will feature the crowning of the ``International Queen of Tarts.''

The ball, a tradition started about 20 years ago in San Francisco, is a chance for the sex workers ``to let our hair down'' and get to know each other, Almodovar said.

But there will be limits.

``We told them no nudity, top or bottom,'' Almodovar said. ``There will probably be academics and researchers there. It will be hard enough for them to deal with a group of unruly whores. We don't want to freak them out too bad.''

SEX & DRUGS

While police officers are learning how to teach kids to ``Just Say No,'' prostitutes and researchers will be considering sexier material at overlapping conventions next month at the Airtel Hotel in Van Nuys. A look at one day's agendas of the DARE training seminar and the International Conference on Prostitution:

Prostitution topics

``Junkies, Dykes and Prostitutes' Rights''

``Implications of Conflictual Motivations and the Shift in the Balance of Power from Those Protective of Work Practices Labeled Deviant to Those Gaining Kudos for Entering a Secretive World''

``After the Headlines Cease, The Lives of Women Beyond the Arrest/Scandal/Notoriety in High Profile Prostitution Cases''

``The Lives of Transgender Sex Workers in Detroit, Michigan''

DARE itinerary

Officers taught to explain DARE to faculty and to schedule sessions with schools

Overview of drug trends among students

Officers practice anti-drug lessons, including ``Learning Resistant Technique or `Ways to Say No,' '' ``Building Self-Esteem,'' ``Learning Assertiveness,'' and ``Managing Stress without Taking Drugs''

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Box: SEX & DRUGS (see text)