From Anora to Showgirls, the stories, lives, and imaging of the working girl have inundated the subject of films---typically highlighting scrappy, yet lovable femme protagonists that come from little and claw their way through the underbelly of society. But who has authored these stories? Rolling through the credit lines, it's clear to see that real-life showgirls are rarely named---if at all---as contributors to said films.
So, who has been given the authority to create the worlds and stories of sex workers on-screen, and what has this validated access done to our perception of femme labor, economies, power, and existence?
Visual artist, Regents Professor of Art, and Chair of Video and Imaging at the