Live Nude Girls: Film Review

Live Nude Girls Film Review

            “Live Nude Girls”, is a documentary that followed a group of women who pursued a career as strippers. The group of women in this film all worked a peep show facility called the “Lusty Lady”. In the facility women did not perform lap dances and never had to touch the customers. The customers were located in private rooms were they paid by the minute to keep the window open were the girls were located. Many of the girls complained about customers videotaping them. Another major issue the girls faced was the scheduling made by the owners. The women were often scheduled by their race allotting only one shift for women of color. The workers for the Lusty Lady finally banded together in a fight against a bad work environment.

            I found the women’s protest completely justified. The women fought management not just with protesting but were also the first exotic dancers to start a union in order to protect their rights as workers. This directly relates with the ad campaign called Humanizing Sex Workers (Demello). In this campaign the author fights to establish human rights for sex workers. I believe that the heavy amount of stigmatization in the sex industry has made it very difficult for these individuals to receive fair treatment as a worker rather than a “stripper”.

            What was most frustrating about this film was how much that management was able to get away with. With poor wages and poor scheduling the women wanted to gain even an ounce of control because without them, what would the Lusty Lady be after all. Other than that the women had very convincing arguments regarding their mistreatment. On top of that their determination made an impact in American history making them the first stripper union.

            Even with their large accomplishment stigmas are still being put on people who work in the sex industry. As a society we value people in different ways. What these women did was pave the way for other exotic dancers to also start up their own unions. Instead of being looked at as a “slut”, their master status could be “human”. In the text Jennifer L. Dunn describes some of the difficulties women go through. She describes how women often get into relationships to avoid the horrible stigmas of being labeled a slut for sleeping with multiple partners. For the women at the Lusty Lady their jobs alone give them that label. I think an interesting point to research is if opinions would change if one of your family members became an exotic dancer. Would you be upset with them? Would you talk to them again? Or is there a possibility that you can love someone regardless of the skeletons in their closet. The point I am trying to make is don’t hate appreciate.

Work Cited

Demello, Margo. "The Society Pages." Sociological Images. N.p., 12 10 2011. Web. 8 Apr 2012. <http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/10/12/humanizing-sex-workers/>.

Dunn, Jennifer L. Everyone Knows Who The Sluts Are": How Young Women Get Around The Stigma". Allyn and Bacon

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