As we have discussed in class the consequences of being part of a deviant group are often being treated as objects rather than full human beings. This idea was clearly documented in the film Live Nude Girls Unite. This film follows the female dancers from New York’s Lusty Lady as they try to unionize. At the time, that this film was shot this was a groundbreaking endeavor in that no other adult dance clubs had been unionized prior.
Julie, the narrator of the film and dancer, begins by describing the trials that the women often experienced while dancing. The women expressed harassment from the male clients, constant demotions from management in an effort not to pay the women high salaries. The women were often encouraged to do illegal things in order to be paid more. Many of the nonwhite women expressed discrimination in the amount of shifts and pay they received. In the article Exotic Dancers: “Where am I Going to Stop,” Jennifer Wesely explains that many strippers see their performances as a job only and do not identify themselves as deviant in their outside lives. This was the case for the women from the Lusty Lady. In their outside lives, many of them were mothers and advocates for work place safety. In any other work place, the harassment these women faced would be reprehensible and there would be no question as to the fault of management in this type of situation. However, because people in the sex business are not often seen as full humans many treat them as if they deserve this bad treatment. In the article Humanizing Sex Workers by Margo DeMello, it is explained that many sex workers were shot, beaten, etc. by actor Charlie Sheen and that because they were sex workers it is as if they were “asking for it”. This is how many of the women were treated at the Lusty Lady and other dance club, at the time this movie was filmed.
The most convincing point in this film was showing how deviant groups in society can band together to get the rights they deserve and to be seen by their employers as more human and also how people seen as deviant can become less that human and not be afforded simply human rights. The least convincing point in this film was that even though Julie’s mother was a huge advocate for safe treatment of prostitutes, she was very embarrassed by her daughter’s profession of as a nude dancer. This clearly shows that the women, although making great strides, were still seen as deviant even from people who loved them and fought in some of the same circles as them.
