Heres an interesting question for you. Suppose youd taken a part-time job to help pay the bills as you raise a kid as a single parent or to put yourself through school. Once on the job, you find out that youre scheduled for shifts based on your hair color. How would you react? How about if the basis of scheduling was skin color? What about if the criterion was the size of your breasts? If this were a shift at a convenience store or a factory, thered be action by local unions not to mention the hue and cry from civil liberties groups, anti-defamation leagues, and the public at large. Why isnt the reaction so impassioned when the worker in question is a stripper who passed the looks test when she was hired? Personally, Id never thought about that until I saw the fascinating documentary LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE. And once I did, a few paradigms shifted.
The film by Julia Query and Vicki Funari states an obvious fact that has until now not been bought up. That this is work, not play, and that any work deserves fair compensation and fair treatment by management. It may be fun or some of the women involved, but should that matter? I mean, Barbara Walters (who makes an improbable cameo) probably thinks of her work as fun, but can you imagine her turning down a multi-million dollar contract and doing it for free? Neither can I.
Querys consciousness on this subject when she was working at The Lusty Lady here in San Francisco. The hours were flexible and the pay was good enough for her to pursue graduate school as well as her writing and stand-up comedy careers. But there were problems. No one was allowed to call in sick, you performed, found a replacement for the shift, or were fired. Being late meant having hourly wages reduced. Dancers were taped surreptitiously by customers. As the daughter of a liberated progressive mother, the solution for Query was obvious and she began to organize a union.
The film tells that story, director Funari intercuts the bitter and frustrating negotiations with quick definitions of the negotiating points discussed (using some clever animations) and stories of the dancers lives. Make no assumptions. As Query puts it at one point, Ive never worked with so many college educated women in one place before. These arent a Hollywood stereotype of strippers. They are strong, empowered women who are fed up and arent going to take it any more despite high-powered, union-busting lawyers and media attention that views them less than seriously. Throughout, Querys sharp humor propels the film with an ironic blend of insight and smarts.
No story is more compelling that Querys. Out as a lesbian to her mother, a nationally recognized crusader for improving the lives of prostitutes, she hasnt come out about her occupation. When she does, its on camera and its profound, absurd, touching and as real a piece of documentary footage as youll find anywhere.
LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE! takes a subject, fairness in the workplace , that weve all thought about and makes us see it in a whole new way.
Your Thoughts?