Live Nude Girls Unite!
This week, as part of the annual law and social justice film series I run at USD Law, I am showing the documentary Live Nude Girls Unite! The film is about the efforts, starting at an exotic dance place named”Lusty Lady”in San Francisco but spreading around the country, of women workers in the sex industries to organize and demand compliance with labor protections and safer work conditions. The film documents the events leading up to the formation of the Exotic Dancers Alliance, which to the best of my knowledge is the only successful SEUI sex workers union.
My RA Tammy Lin and I have been searching for post-film developments. Interestingly, the workers of Lusty Lady made the headlines again in 2003 by becoming the first employee-owned strip joint in the country. Led by a stripper/graduate student in English, the women workers bought the club and turned the business into a cooperative. Other recent developments include the Sex Workers Project which provides legal outreach and advocacy for New York City sex workers and the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network (BAYSWAN) which provides information and advocacy for sex workers in Northern California. Currently, a class action has been initiated against the Gold Club in San Francisco. The Class alleges that Defendants violated California law by treating Class members as independent contractors, when those persons were in fact employees. Unionization in other parts of the world has successfully joined to their respective union groups in their locales In 2002, the Striptease Artists of Australia was formed as a union to represent lap dancers and strippers, while UNITE in New Zealand organizes prostitutes and dancers. Less advanced developments and formations exist in South Africa, Eire, Argentina and Trinidad and Tobago. Any advice on facilitating discussion before and after showing this excellent documentary is most welcome!
–Orly Lobel
Responses welcome in comments, or via e-mail: lobel@sandiego.edu
I have had many discussions before and after my own doc and have noticed that the number one thing that begins a conversation is how the subject effects each person in their own lives. Many women can be judgemental about sex workers but I have to say that I think it is amazing that workers in that industry are uniting, perhaps it will help inspire women on all fronts to do the same. I’ve spoken to many women who work in the sex industry and most of them have also been survivors of some kind of sexual abuse. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could begin a Survivor’s Union and ask for benefits for being molested and raped? Amazing. Progress begins in the strangest places and it always starts with a conversation.
If by “your doc” you mean “Searching for Angela Shelton” –
– see also this: http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=257
I have to take this opportunity to thank you both for commenting here and for undertaking such an extraordinary project. Your film would make a great “social justice” choice also.