Live Nude Girls Unite! Film Review

Live Nude Girls Unite! Film Review

The main thesis of this film, Live Nude Girls Unite!, is that individuals who work in the sex industry face many problems in their everyday work environment. This is due to the struggles these workers have to go through in order to gain some of the rights that other individuals in society receive automatically. These rights include health insurance and sick days, as well as safety precautions like two way glass and employee/customer interaction. The film follows the female workers at The Lusty Lady Strip Club in San Francisco, California as they unionize to achieve these rights from the owners, who seem to see their employees as money-makers, and not the PEOPLE they are. Overall, the films thesis is also the fact that these sex workers are just individuals like you and me, trying to make ends meet.

The main arguments that were made in support of this thesis came usually from the females who were working for (and later striking) The Lusty Lady. They contested that these rights they were fighting so hard for were generally handed to others in other industries such as health insurance or sick days. Also, they have to protest to stop certain practices that would not stand up in any other work place such as race inequality and discrimination (such as women’s breast size and hair color.)

This film relates to this course in a number of ways including gender issues and class inequality. Most evident however, is how sex workers are treated in society. In Jennifer K. Wesely’s Exotic Dancers: “Where Am I Going To Stop?”, she states that “It is natural, then, for exotic dancers to experience an identity conflict, feeling that their new identity as a deviant is assaulting their long-held identify as a conventional person.” Society tends to stigmatize sex workers as something less than human, therefore, the inequality they face isn’t really our concern. In Margo DeMello’s Humanizing Sex Workers?, she creates ads to help individuals in society recognize that individuals who work in the sex industry are real people, our mothers, daughters, and sisters. The film also touches upon the conflicts regarding capitalism, with the women fighting for rights from their owners.

The arguments/ points I found the most convincing revolved around the capitalistic conflicts that arose. As the women faced discrimination and conflicts at work, their bosses took away more rights and fired people to keep others in line. It reminds me of the 99% struggling and protesting against the 1%. They just want some equality and protection. Also (while not surprising) I was happy to see how well spoken and articulate many of “these” people are. Who would have thought these “strippers” or “sluts” had points on women’s rights, freedoms, and the fight for better rights in the workplace. There was nothing about this film I did not like, overall Live Nude Girls Unite! was my favorite film we watched in class…no not cause of that!!!! I hope every woman or man in the sex industry gets the rights and privilege they are entitled to.

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