Live Nude Girls Unite! (2000) - full transcript

- [Voiceover] I
was born in 1968,

the day before Martin Luther
King Junior was assassinated.

My mom raised me to
believe in freedom,

justice, and equality for all.

I dreamed of fighting
the good fight.

But I never dreamed
that my first attempt

at labor activism
would be as a stripper.

[seductive music]

- When I was 27, I
moved to San Francisco

to be a writer and
stand up comic.

So I finally, you
know, came out.



I was the second to last
person to know I was a dyke.

Can you guess who the last was?

- [Voiceover] Your mother.

- My mother.

Then finally my mother
turned to me and she said,

"Julia, can we talk?"

"Julia, every
Friday night you go

"to that lesbian night club.

"What is it called?

"The Clit Club.

"Julia, all of you
friends are lesbians.

"Julia, do they think
you're a lesbian?"

[audience laughing]

- Doing comedy wasn't
paying the bills.



I needed a job with
flexible hours and good pay.

A friend suggested I
work at the Lusty Lady,

because it had a
reputation as the hip,

feminist peep show with
good working conditions.

I was comfortable
showing my body,

especially since there was
no cigar chomping boss.

Most of the managers were women.

So what's the object
of putting on makeup?

- [Voiceover] It's like a mask.

- [Voiceover] A mask?

- [Voiceover] Yeah. Like
getting ready for the circus.

[laughter]

- [Voiceover] You're
a big ol' clown.

- [Voiceover] It's kind of
fun to be a little disguised.

- This makeup I've got right
here belonged to my mother,

in the early 80's and I,

when I was 13 just like
fell in love with it.

I mean what 13 year
old girl would not like

this like sparkly purple powder.

But it's still good,
because it's quality shit.

- [Voiceover] It's not
like she's heterosexual.

[laughter]

[hip hop music]

- [Voiceover]
Unlike strip clubs,

where dancers have physical
contact with customers,

we dance in a small
mirrored room.

The men stand in booths
the size of broom closest

and watch us through windows

at about 15 seconds per quarter.

- I never been inside
of a peep show.

And I remember the
first time on stage,

I couldn't get over how much
it looked like a fish tank.

Like I was under water,
like the mermaid.

And I loved dancing in a
little room with other women.

It was like a
weird pajama party.

Um, I liked the
music, the lights,

and I like the fact
that the customers

look like little things in
boxes, like jack-n-the box.

What we all have
in common is that,

ya know we're all
in it for the money.

Ya know, I wouldn't
be standing, ya know,

in heels for a bunch
of strangers if I
wasn't getting paid.

- But I love working at
the peep show because

I've never worked with so many
women with college degrees.

[laughter]

- Mostly in women's
studies and philosophy.

It's like the figured out
what to do about patriarchy.

Take their money.

[laughing and cheering]

- So what's your name?

- Walter.

- Walter.

How you doin' Walter?

- Pretty good,
how are you doing?

- Pretty good, have
you been here before?

- A couple times.

- [Voiceover] I was working
full time in social services,

but then on my off
day I would strip.

So, yeah, social
work and sex work.

It's kind of odd.

I loved it actually.

I felt that it was
a very strong thing.

Use my sexuality,
my feminine power,

in a way that made me feel good
and a way that profited me.

That I was finally being
paid what I was worth,

which I was not
in my job before.

And the women that I met dancing

were some of the strongest
women I've met in my whole life.

- Sex work is a form of work.

The sex industry is an industry

that pays many peoples' bills,

pays people through
school, raises children.

It helps people start
small businesses.

But, at the same time, I view
sex work as a sacred act.

Even in the most base context,

like this pornographic
peep show,

there's life force in
it and it is healthy.

And I considered myself to be
providing a spiritual service.

A sexual spiritual service.

[simple guitar music playing]

- I was so naiïve.

I really worried that
they wouldn't hire me

because I couldn't
dance well enough.

[laughter]

Gee, mom, thanks for
the six years of ballet.

[laughter]

- My mom had taught me
that I could be anything.

My mom was a nice Jewish girl

and her parents expected
her to marry a doctor.

She rebelled, she
became a doctor.

I went to medical school too,

tucked under my mom's lab coat.

She was a divorced
mother in the 1970's

who told me not to be
ashamed of my body.

To feel entitled to pleasure.

To be independent and strong.

In graduate school
I wrote a paper

analyzing the feminist debates
about the sex industry.

Even though I
argue that sex work

should be understood
as just that, work.

I didn't tell my
classmates or my mother

about my job in the industry.

In San Francisco, I found out

that I could make the most money

at the strip clubs with
stage shows and lap dancing.

But the idea of dancing alone
on a stage was terrifying.

Despite six years of
ballet, I can't dance.

Unlike strip clubs,
at a peep show,

I wouldn't be alone on a stage

and there are poles
I can hang on too.

Now that I could do.

One day I was late to work
by a couple of minutes.

The managers told me I wouldn't
get my scheduled raise.

That's when I started
seeing the problems.

- You could be working
there for two years

and be making 20 dollars
an hour, top wage.

And let's say you forgot
to go to a meeting,

you would be knocked back
down to the starting wage.

And when you get to
like 18 dollars an hour,

you suddenly look different.

You were told that
you were unattractive,

over weight suddenly,
cut down on shifts,

or written off the
schedule all together.

So basically everyone
operated up under this fear.

It's this unspoken thing
of what we're trying

to get rid of you before
you reach top wage.

So it saves them money.

- [Voiceover] I
had never had a job

that didn't allow
you to call in sick.

But here if you
couldn't fine someone

to replace your
shift, you had to work

or risk loosing your job.

So we came to work sick,
coughing and sneezing,

in that tiny little
incubator of a room.

You'd think finding
one women out of 70

to take your shift would be a
snap, but there was a catch.

Your replacement had
to have skin and hair

as light as yours or lighter.

Her breasts had to be as
big as yours or bigger.

We were all classified by race,
hair color, and breast size.

- At a certain point
at the lusty lady,

I started wearing a blonde wig.

Which they barely were
gonna allow me to do

'cause they had me so pegged as

oh dark, dark
exotic, dark exotic.

Dark and exotic which meant
they'd give me very few shifts.

[seductive music]

- I look absurd in
this blonde wig.

It doesn't really
look right on me.

It's just the symbol.

And then that's when I
started getting shifts.

Getting enough shifts.

Making enough money
in the sex industry.

- [Voiceover] The club
would only schedule

one dancer of color per shift.

Thus they had fewer
available shifts.

And in the higher
paid, one on one

fantasy talk booth,
called Private Pleasures,

management wouldn't schedule
black dancers at all.

- At first I felt it was me.

And I started to
look at the schedule

and I noticed that
it was not just me.

I noticed that the
other three black girls

were never in booth.

- Manager back then
said, um, black dancers

were not as marketable
as white dancers.

Therefore it would not
be, it would not be

profitable to
schedule them here.

- Well at the Lusty Lady,
we do have an interest

in expanding the customers idea

of what is sexually attractive.

If you looked at the sales
and rental charts of videos,

you would see that
probably all of the top 10,

are busty blonde women.

Well, there actually
are women of color,

there are brunettes
and red heads,

Asian women, and other
ethnic women in the world.

And um, some people actually
find them attractive.

And too expand their
audience, we, we schedule

based on a diversity principle.

Where we try to
have women of color

represented as much as possible

throughout the day and
throughout the week.

- It doesn't matter
if a specific race

is more or less marketable
than another race because,

you know, it's illegal.

You can't classify workers
on the bases of race.

- The theater has
a no camera policy

and that's to protect the
privacy of the dancers.

It's one of the issues

that probably bother
support staff the most.

Because it's a security issue

and we care about the
people we work with.

And we know that they don't like

being photographed
against their will.

- [Voiceover] Three
of the 13 windows

facing the stage
had one way glass.

So the customers could see
us but we couldn't see them.

Frequently, customers would
secretly videotape us.

We heard rumors
about images of us

showing up on the internet
and in porno tapes.

We complained to management,
but they did nothing.

- We were not being
paid to be filmed.

We were just being
paid to dance there

and you don't know where these
images are going to turn up.

You're just being
taken advantage of on
a number of levels.

It had to do with our safety.

It had to do with ethics.

It had to do with
our legal rights.

This had a lot of people upset.

But Star is just somebody
whose a real hot head.

and she was on stage dancing
in front of a one way.

- There had been a newer dancer,

like dancing for him
for quite a while.

And she thought he had like

a funny toy or
watch or something.

And she push...

She's all, "Star, Star oh
come on you have to see this,

I've been dancing for him for
like 45 minutes or something.

He's got some sort of weird toy.

It keeps blinking on and off.

- I was working with, another
support staff member, Elise.

We got a camera call.

Opened the door, saw that the
customer had a video camera.

Um, we asked him to
step out of the booth

and he passed off the
camera to his friends

and they made a
b-line for the door.

One of them turned around
to throw a punch at me

and I ducked.

And Elise took the
blow in the face.

- Manager was downstairs
the whole time.

And I went down there
and was really mad.

And they were just like

"Star, if you can't live with
it, you shouldn't work here."

I went crazy.

I basically had a big fit.

And I was just like "No,
that's not the way it works.

"I'm working here and
I can't live with it."

- And then it was
almost like a snowball.

More and more people
feeling that way.

- Everyone was just as amazed,

like individually amazed, like
"Oh you're as angry as I am?"

- [Voiceover] Enough was enough,

we decided to unionize.

Here amid the neon lights,
the fake hair, the high heels

was the good fight I
had dreamed of fighting.

[shouting chant]

- [Voiceover] The service
employees union, S C I U,

local 790, agreed
to represent us.

[shouting chant]

- [Voiceover] The
owners were shocked.

To buy us off, they
removed the one way windows

and started scheduling
black dancers

in the Private Pleasures both.

We knew we were on to something.

- Well in a move sure
to send shock waves

through the industry,
nude dancers,

at San Francisco's Lusty Lady
Club have voted to unionize.

- [Voiceover] Media attention

helped keep the
heat on management.

But I worried that my mother
would recognize my voice

and find out that
I was stripping.

I was used to seeing my
mother on television.

My mother is Doctor
Joyce Wallace.

- We need safe houses
for ex-prostitutes.

They get beat up.

They get killed.

There's nobody who
cares for them.

There's nobody who loves them.

There's nobody who wants them.

- [Voiceover] This
woman wants them.

She is Doctor Joyce Wallace.

In her private practice,
she's an internist.

But she spent the last
decade here in New York.

Trying to study and
help the thousands

of prostitutes who live here.

She's developed programs
that use mobile units.

Vans that cruise
the city streets

looking for prostitutes
in need of help.

- There's a lady over there.

See her.

- And I see down here there's
a whole box of condoms.

So they'll come to the window

and you'll just give these out.

- Yes.

- It says "Kiss of mint."

- That's the oral sex.

- I see.

- [Voiceover] I
thought we had won

when we voted in the union,

but the real battle is
at the bargaining table.

We had to negotiate
for a contract.

Management hired
Littler Mendelssohn.

A renowned anti-union law firm.

- [digital voice] Littler
Mendelssohn is representation

of employers includes
advising employers

on lawfully maintaining
a union-free workplace.

- [Voiceover] We
represented ourselves

at the bargaining table.

After all, our union didn't
have a peep show specialist.

I volunteered to be on
the bargaining committee,

along with Jane, Tara,
Decadence, Naomi, Velvet,

and two members of the support
staff, Elise and Scott.

Often others among
the 85 of us workers

participated as well.

We didn't have a
lawyer, but our union

provided us with a
negotiator, Stephanie Batey.

Who had experience fighting
anti-union lawyers.

- Public pressure and other
internal pressure on them

to get a contract.

This isn't about anything else,

but forcing them to
negotiate with you,

to get a collective bargaining
agreement that protects you.

- [Voiceover] Stephanie
told us that owners

don't want a contract at all.

And they don't
agree to a contract

in 70 percent of first
time negotiations.

But we were optimistic.

We wanted sick pay
and health insurance.

We wanted to stop management

from firing us
without just cause.

We wanted an end to
scheduling practices

based on race and breast size.

Stephanie emphasized that we
needed a union security clause,

otherwise management
could bust the union.

We proposed agency shop.

Under an agency shop
contract, all workers

pay union dues and
receive union protection.

Under an open shop contract,
management has more power,

because workers don't have to
join the union or pay dues.

We found it sobering that
the only other strip club

to unionize before us,
had accepted an open shop.

The owners hired workers
who wouldn't join

and they swiftly
lost their union.

I walked into negotiations
expecting to negotiate.

But for the first two
months we just kept

sending proposals
back and forth.

So at the place I'm working now,

we're fighting to unionize
and we voted to unionize

and we're negotiating
with the lawyers.

And the lawyers say things like,

"Well we want to put the
word fun in the preamble.

"Your job will be described
as a temporary, part time,

"fun, employment."

And I'm thinking, do they do
that to the steel workers?

- Alan's exact words were we're
not expected to work hard.

He said this is a part
time temporary job

where you don't have
to work very hard.

- I guess I just asked
him if he was trying

to piss us off by saying that.

I mean, like, why would
you say something like that

to somebody who's,
who's spending

up to 12 hours a day
at a bargaining table.

Ya know, at a job that
they didn't care about

or they thought they were
doing it just for fun.

It's insulting.

- [Voiceover] It is.

- Just making money off my ass.

- So this guy, I'm
in the little booth,

and he says to me,
"So what's your job?"

I said, "I'm a stripper."

He said, "No.

"What do you do for money?"

I said, "Oh, well, I'm a
corporate union busting lawyer.

"I just do this for fun."

[laughter]

- We printed up flyers
every day after bargaining.

Um, we kept the
rest of the workers

really informed about
what was going on

at the bargaining table.

And the lawyer took an
issue with the language

we used to communicate
amongst ourselves.

- Specifically the word pussy

they didn't want us to
ever put in writing.

We've asked 'em to
defend why he thought

that the company had the right

to put those kind of
limits on our free speech.

And he said, "Well I don't
let my kids talk that way.

[laughs] "Why should I let you?"

- He talked about
how offended he was.

"I don't even wanna
say that word pussy"

and pussy, pussy,
pussy he kept saying it

over and over again.

- He was the one who accused us

of sexually harassing
ourselves, [laughs]

by using the word
pussy. [laughs]

- It's funny you
can show your pussy,

but you can't say
the word pussy.

- [Voiceover] What are
you thinking about?

- My knee is killing me.

- [Voiceover] Well
what do you think about

when you're on stage?

- Mmm, most anything.

Um, what I'm going
to do that evening,

other appointments I
have, my body a lot,

and a lot of the time I
look at the other girls.

- The customers come in

and they don't shut their door.

So all their friends can
watch you on the same quarter.

And so all the hall is
getting a free show.

So often, especially
on rowdy weekend nights

we are finding ourselves
to close the door.

Please close the door,
close the door now.

Some guy came into the live
show and did not close his door.

A dancer told him to close his
door and he didn't like this.

So he went into the
Private Pleasures booth

down the hall and
pulled out a gun

and pointed it at the
dancer in that booth.

- What happens during
violent events,

is that we usually call the
cops, they arrive, either A,

just in time to not get
the violent perpetrators

or B, several hours later.

At which point,
the point is moot.

- We were all very
concerned, we thought,

ya know, let's put in
bullet proof glass.

And management's
response was to blame us.

You know, if our tone of
voice had been different,

then we wouldn't have
guns pulled on us.

- Here's the directive straight
from management's mouth.

"And remember that
yelling at a customer

"is not nearly as effective as

"coyly coaxing them
into good behavior."

Being direct with them,
they don't like that.

They want coy coaxing.

The problem with coyly
coaxing is is that it just,

they think, the customers
think you're playing.

And they think it's a game
and they don't listen to you.

You need to like get into
your real world voice.

There's usually two
voices we use at work.

They're like two to three
octaves above your real voice

that you use with the customers.

It's about the same kind of
voice you use with a toddler.

And um, then there's
the real world voice

when you're getting serious
like "Close the door."

They want us to go [sweetly]
"Can you close the door?"

- [Voiceover] A lot
of Lusty Lady dancers

worked at more than one club.

From the world famous Mitchell
brothers, O'Farrell Theater

to the notorious, low
brow Market Street cinema.

I wondered why dancers
at other clubs in town

weren't unionizing too.

My friends told me that
dancers were organizing.

But that in the last 10 years,

working conditions
had only gotten worse.

- I worked in the
lap dancing clubs

because I made a lot
more money there.

I made in one
night what I'd make

in one or two
weeks at the Lusty.

But you know, we made more money

because it was a lot
more intense work.

- When I first started
working out, I thought,

oh, okay I'm gonna
get paid to dance.

And when I walked in I saw lap
dancing for the first time.

And I was like,
what are they doing?

Are they having sex in here?

I mean these women are like
gyrating on the customers.

I was just totally
overwhelmed by it.

- Now the stage
show, which use to be

the central thing of a
strip tease, right now

it's just the part of
your job you have to do

so you can lap dance and
make your real money.

- When I started stripping,
which is seven years ago,

we did stage shows.

I did very flamboyant ones.

I appreciated the teasing aspect
of the stripping industry.

There weren't girls up
in the dressing room

talking about "Oh yeah I'm
getting this customer off."

That was not your goal.

- I noticed over time that what

we had to do to make
our money changed.

- [Voiceover] At
clubs across the city,

dancers were getting paid less
and less to do more and more.

- The conditions got paid
when the Mitchell brothers

took the glass out
of a peep show room.

At the Century,
where I was working,

they took the windows
out of there too.

They started to build
rooms in the back

where we could go
alone with customers.

- Someone was working at Deja Vu

and the manager told
her, "Well it's okay

"if the customers
touch your tits."

And she said, "Well, I
thought that was illegal."

And he said, "No, it's okay."

- Suddenly they wanted
to charge us a stage fee

of five dollars and then
within a few months it was ten.

- In recent years,
club owners nationwide

have started imposing stage fees

which is essentially charging
the dancers to come to work.

Five or seven years ago it
was like five, 10, 15 dollars.

20 dollars.

Now it's upwards at
150 at some places.

- You're relying on your tips.

You're turning in a
percent to management.

If you don't meet your quota,

you're fired or
you're suspended.

- I mean it, I saw, this
is why I left New Century.

Because dancers would cry
or they would get fired.

They didn't make the quota
they would be thinking,

"Oh my god, ya know, I
can't afford to lose my job.

"How am I going to feed my kid?"

But yet, so they'd bring
in their own money.

It really, like,
I felt the stress,

because you have a
four hour shift there.

- [Voiceover] You have
to pay 250 dollars

in a four hour shift?

- In a four hour shift.

Yes.

And of that you get
to keep 90 something.

- There are women who they have

one understanding
of what the job is.

And now once they're
working in the club,

finding that their, all
this pressure and coercion

to do, um, pressuring them
into doing illegal things.

To make enough money
to pay the quota.

- On several occasions there
was one manager in particular,

that would ask me to go out
with the owner's friends

when they came to town.

So, Ya know, definitely
trying to pimp me out.

It was just this
continual behavior

that you would
definitely question

if you were working at Macy's.

Finally I was just
like that's enough.

- [Voiceover] At the Lusty
Lady, we are employees.

Most strip clubs illegally
classify their workers

as independent contractors
to avoid paying wages,

unemployment, and payroll taxes.

Also, independent
contractors can't unionize.

In the early 1990's before we
even thought of unionizing,

San Francisco strippers formed
the Exotic Dancers Alliance

and started organizing
for basic workers rights.

- [Voiceover] Hi, dancer's
meeting, please take one.

Thanks.

We from the Market Streets,
I use to work here.

- I'm just telling ya don't pass

this stuff out to the girls.

We're good here.

We're not hiding nothing.

- [Voiceover] Then why
you have to chase us away.

- Because you're loitering
in front of my building,

ya know, it doesn't
look good for business.

- This is our business,
it don't look good.

- We're trying to run
a clean business here.

Don't need her shit and I
don't need your shit either.

How about we shove
it up your ass.

- [Voiceover] Dancers
at clubs across town

began to sue for recognition
of their employee status,

for restoration of wages, and
to stop sexual harassment.

- And that process
was very interesting.

In that we were told by the
head of the labor commission

that if he were dealing
with agricultural

or um, factory workers,
garment factory workers,

then he would be
more inclined to use

the resources that he had.

But he did not choose to
waste the tax payers resources

on this, quote on
quote, class of workers.

- [Voiceover] We want
prostitutes off our streets.

We want prostitutes
off our streets.

- [Voiceover] I knew that
all sex workers are scorned.

Even my mother was subject
to protests and hate mail

just for trying to help
street prostitutes.

Once she came home to a
bomb threat on her door.

Because of my mothers work,

I had known since
I was a teenager

about the struggle for
prostitutes rights.

By activist such
as Margo St. James.

And Carol Lee, aka,
Scarlet Harlot.

They paved the way by arguing
that sex work isn't shameful.

Now they were supporting
our organizing efforts.

I was thrilled to meet
and work with them.

They said our union was a win
for sex workers everywhere.

- [Voiceover] You
never call me back.

It's your mother.

I would like to know
what's happening with you.

I do care, okay?

And I really want
to talk to you,

because I don't
know what's going on

and uh, that
everything's alright.

Okay, it's been a long time
and I haven't heard from you.

Bye.

- [Voiceover] Hi mama.

Oh, I'm fine.

Um, no, nothing's going on.

I'm writing.

Okay.

Negotiations were crawling.

Management was still pushing

to have the job
formally declared "fun."

We decided to do an
action, a work slow down.

We decided to have
a no pink day.

A day when we danced
with our legs closed.

Management responded by making
an example of one dancer.

They fired Summer for
participating in the action.

We went to them and asked
for Summer's job back.

And when they wouldn't
give back her job,

we hit the streets in a picket.

- This is our reality, honey.

We trying to make
a living, honey.

Don't, don't try
and keep us down.

Don't try and keep us down.

[women chant]

- [Voiceover] No contract.

- [Voiceover] No pussy.

- [Voiceover] No contract.

- [Voiceover] No pussy.

- No contract.

- [Voiceover] No pussy.

- No contract.

- No pussy.

- [Voiceover] No contract.

- [Voiceover] No pussy.

- [Voiceover] Excuse me,
would you like a flyer sir?

- [Voiceover] [chant] We want
Summer, not misuse of power.

We want summer, not
misuse of power.

- They have wives,
they don't honk.

They by themselves, they honk.

- I wish the male
could do it, but

ya know, personally I don't
think I have the body for it.

I'm sure their
supporting themselves,

their family, their kids,
their significant other,

however you wanna go, supporting
themselves through school.

I have no problem with it
myself, but then I'm a man,

and this is a women's' issue.

- Are you gonna call the number

and tell the Lusty you
support our union and..

- Sure, what would
you like me to say?

- I'd like you to say that
you go to the Lusty Lady.

But that, that you won't go
there until they rehire Summer.

The women they fired
for union activity,

who is right here with her son.

- Hey what's up tiger?

- [Voiceover] While we were
picketing outside the theater,

some of the dancers
on stage were trying

to encourage the
customers to leave.

- [Voiceover] Well because I
didn't want my bosses to know

that I was doing
this, but I also

wanted the customers to
know what had happened.

I wrote "Please don't spend
money here, unfair labor"

on my hands and showed them
when I was doing my show.

So that the customers would go.

- [Voiceover] And how
did the customers react?

- [Voiceover] They
nodded their heads,

waiting for their
money to spend out

what was already
in and went home.

- The last customer just
left and the theater's empty.

So maybe, uh, Summer's
job will be restored,

by this evening.

- I need a shop story.

- [Voiceover] Why?

- Because they're closing
the show until Tuesday.

- I mean, we closed
down their business

and made them lose money,
for like what, a few hours.

And they're now gonna close down

their business for three days.

To say to you, "We're going
to lose way more money,

"to keep control over you."

- They can just close
it for no reason?

- [Voiceover] They kept
the video booths open,

but closed the live show.

It was a lock out.

They were trying to scare us.

- [Voiceover] Do you want to
tell me why your going there?

Do you really want
to break a union?

- [Voiceover] Two,
four, six, eight,

don't go in to masturbate.

Two, four, six, eight,
don't go in to masturbate.

Two, four, six, eight,
don't go in to masturbate.

Two, four, six, eight,
don't go in to masturbate.

Two, four, six, eight,
don't go in to master bate.

- I just got off the phone
with the management here

and after telling them
my name and phone number

they still refused to
even tell me their name

they claim that there's
another side to the story.

That Summer was fired
for reasons other
than union activity.

But they wouldn't confirm

that it was because
she missed shifts,

it wasn't, they wouldn't confirm
it was because of bad work.

All they wanted to say was that

there's two sides
to every story.

I advise them, as I'm sure
their lawyers have advised them,

there is severe civil penalties

for lock outs and
for union busting.

And I as a, um, very
dedicated and loyal customer

um, and patron of the
Lusty Lady for years

have become more enthusiastic
about my patronage

since the establishment
of this union.

And if management
continues in this vein,

I'll never step
foot in here again.

- He's going to get a great show

if we are allowed
to organize it.

- We'll, you know, we
will always be happy

about our loyal customers,
that's all I can say.

Thank you very much
for being here.

- Well it's, it's
my pleasure ya know

and just like any other
workers here in America.

Workers in the sex industry
need to have the same rights

and need to have the right
to organize and unionize.

- [Voiceover] The
president of the company

is right here at the door.

She is the one we
talked to in bargaining.

Tell her what you think.

- [Voiceover] You suck!

[loud shout] Rehire Summer.

Rehire Summer.

Rehire Summer.

Rehire Summer.

Rehire Summer.

Rehire Summer.

Rehire Summer.

- They're saying we
did two illegal things.

And we're saying they
did two illegal things.

They are saying we closed reps,

for economic reasons were saying
that's an illegal lock out.

They're saying, "We fired
Summer for breaking a rule."

We're saying

- [Voiceover] No rules' broken.

- She didn't break a rule,

and you made up the rule
after you fired her.

- Okay, so who's going?

- [Voiceover] Decadence.

- Decadence.

Okay?

- [Voiceover] You sure
you okay with that?

- [Decadence] Yeah, I
feel okay with that.

I just want to,
um, like how do we

the building goes up
to, where are you?

27?

- Okay.

You tell me it's your building.

I have no idea.

- [Voiceover] After hours
of brute-less arguing

about who broke the
law, management finally

agreed to an off the
record discussion.

- Woohoo!

- [Voiceover] What
just happened?

- We got her job back.

- [Voiceover] You
just got her job back?

[women cheering]

- [Voiceover] Oh
thank you so much.

Oh thank you so much.

- [Voiceover] In the midst
of bargaining, my mom calls.

Well, she said, "Julia, this
is your mother calling."

Like I don't know her voice.

She said, "I'm coming
to San Francisco

"I'm gonna stay with
you for five days."

Five days.

And I looked around my house and

I thought oh my god,
everything in my house

is like, stripper.

I clean out the house,
it felt like Passover.

Ya know, you have to get
rid of all the bread.

Ya know?

Got rid of all
the stripper gear.

And then she's here and
it's going pretty well,

until we went outside.

It was the one time in my life

I ran into everyone from
the peep show who I knew.

But wasn't really
good friends with.

Because if you're really
good friends with them,

you know their real name.

Instead, we're running
into three girls

and I'm just about to say it.

And I hear it in my
head before I say it.

I'm like, "Mom,
these are my friends

Cayenne, Coco,
Cinnamon, and Octopussy.

[laughter]

Thankfully there was like
instant stripper, you know, ESP.

I'm like, "Hi, this is my mom.

"Mom..."

And they go, "Hi I'm Jane.

"And I'm Mary.

"I'm Peggy Sue."

My mom's like, "They're
such lovely girls."

One day my mom walks
in with Scarlet Harlot.

Saying, "Julia, I want
you to meet the famous

prostitutes' rights
activist, Scarlet Harlot."

Scarlet says, "You're
Joyce's daughter?"

I say, "Yes, you know
me from a benefit

where we both performed."

I look at her with big
pleading eyes and whisper

"Scarlet, please
don't tell my mother."

Scarlet says, "Your out to
everyone except your mother?"

I wondered why I can
tell my mom I was gay,

but not a stripper.

My mom and I were both
fighting for sex workers.

I wanted her to see us as
allies, as on the same side.

We were both feminists.

But feminists have disagreed

about the sex
industry for years.

Some people say the sex industry
is oppressive to all women.

And some people say
that working in the

sex industry can be empowering.

But after hours of dancing
and watching hundreds of men

come and go, I just
found it boring.

- I was active in
the women's movement,

you know, in the 60's.

And one of the founders of
Berkeley women's liberation.

And so the women
that I talk to now

who are in the union movement
have lots of questions

about all of you.

And what's fascinating to me,

is these are women
in their late 40's

who've been very
politically active.

Like for 20, 30 years.

And they feel, you know, why
would women do this work?

They can't relate to it.

And they're very
curious when I explain

how I feel very privileged
that I'm getting

to represent you
in this bargaining.

And how much I fell
that I've grown

and that you've taught me

And how much I admire
you for your courage

because you really are
pioneers in lots of ways.

And it saddens me
'cause these are women

I've been close to
for years and years

and sort of felt are my sisters.

And I can see on this issue,

that we're on very
different paths.

- It seems like a very
simple issue to me.

This is my body and these
are my reproductive organs,

and I'm gonna do with
them as I please.

And it seems strange
to me that like

another women would
say, "Well yeah,

"actually ya know what
somebody can tell me whether,

"what I can do with my
body and what I can't do."

That, it just, it doesn't fit.

Because it's mine.

It's not yours.

- People assume, oh
well see you guys

are being exploited, you
deserve it almost like.

Don't you know exotic
dancers are exploited

whether not you want
to believe it or not.

And it's like, it's like yeah,

but they're not
exploited just because

they're exotic dancers.

It has to do with like
the club's fucked up.

The management fucked up.

They're not getting their tips.

If all that was
in place, then no

I don't think they
would be exploited.

Just because their job
is like, selling pussy.

- It was always my
understanding that

feminist perspective was about

enabling women to have a choice.

- [Voiceover] After we picketed,

management suddenly started
bargaining in earnest.

They offered a raise and
excepted a grievance procedure.

We made some
concessions as well.

- Wages, we are
willing to go down.

We're gonna start
at 14 for dancers,

eight for [indiscernible]

- [Voiceover] By month
five we'd given up

on getting health
insurance and holiday pay.

But we didn't want to
give in on everything.

Well wait sonority and laid off.

- Union security is our
number one priority.

We want agency shop.

- Agency shop is
a big big issue.

I mean the lawyer says they
don't want to do agency shop.

Period.

It's like, they want
to do a contract

but they want open shop.

- It was like reverse
therapy or something,

like [laughs] spending 12 hours
in this horrible beige room.

And just getting hammered for
hours and hours and hours,

that you're not
gonna get this thing

that you thought was
so important to you.

And that all these people are

counting on you to get for them.

- [Voiceover]
That's what we want.

- We said..

- Understand they can do that.

They can come in
and say this is it.

We don't want to
talk about it anymore

we moved to our
last best and final.

- [Voiceover] Stephanie told us

that we were
running out of time.

As we headed for the
final days of bargaining,

Decadence and I were
invited to a conference

to give a talk about
unionizing exotic dancers.

And I was asked
to do some comedy,

but when I got the program
I saw that my mother

was also giving a
talk at the same

International Conference
on Prostitution.

I asked the others if
they had told their moms.

- [Voiceover] What do
they think you do now?

- Ha ha, cocktail waitress.

- The weekend that I was
prepared to tell them

they freaked out because
I got a piercing.

The thought I didn't raise
you to mutilate yourself.

You know, and I'm like, whoa

they can't handle a
belly button ring.

They'll never handle me
being a stripper, ya know.

- I plan on telling
my mom mainly

because I think
she's gonna find out.

And also i think it's a plot
device for the documentary.

But...

[laughter]

- And you think is screwy huh?

- She's just this
incredible, incredible woman

but throughout my youth, I mean,

we just fought all the time.

And I'm much closer
with my mother now

than I've ever been
in my entire life.

And I really love her.

And I really care about her.

And she calls me when
she's upset about things.

I'm worried about
that she's gonna

take it as a slap in the face.

And I don't want
to have to give up

the good relationship that
I've developed with her.

But there's no way that
everyone who's there

is gonna keep it
a secret for me.

Ya know, what
would I have to do?

Distribute flyers?

Please don't tell my mama.

- [Voiceover] Decadence
and I left negotiations

for the conference.

We met my mother
in Santa Monica.

She agreed to a
video taped interview

about our relationship
and her work.

But she kept putting
the interview off.

Insisting that we
go sight seeing.

- Oh look at the
Hollywood sign, Julie.

- [Voiceover] I figured
she knew something was up.

You'll comfort my mother after

I come out to her about
being a sex worker.

- You're coming out to
your mother finally.

The very famous Joyce
Wallace, I love that.

I am waiting.

She, here's this woman,
she's like the most famous

in the country for doing out
reach to women on the streets.

Your her daughter,
she doesn't know,

it's just so interesting.

- I know that your worried that

I'm gonna make a revelation
to you that your gonna hate.

- Yeah.

- It's not that bad.

- You better make it now.

- Okay, I'm not only
making a documentary

about the LL dancers,
I'm one of them.

And all of my
creative work that...

- And this is only strip tease?

- Yeah, it's no
contact with customers.

- I'm not upset about
this as a revelation.

Okay?

- Okay.

- I would be really
upset with prostitution.

I really feel that's,
that for a woman

to allow a man into her
body, who she has not chosen

and she has not cared
about is demeaning.

- Well

- And i know that's not
a popular thing to say

at a prostitution conference.

And I have to
qualify it by saying

that's the way I
feel for myself.

and that's certainly the way
I would feel for my daughter.

- I think your work is wonderful

and I'm so proud of you
and I love you so much.

And I didn't want to
have any lies with you.

But I was quite willing
to keep this a lie,

I didn't really need
to tell you this.

But we're both at the conference

and I'm presenting
and I'm doing comedy

about other work that I
use to do in the industry.

Which is, I was a professional
dominatrix for a while.

- Oh god.

Well I'm not kind, you know,
real feeling good about this.

I came to this conference as
somebody who is gonna present

and I don't want
to have attention

for anything else
other than my work.

- Well I don't present, I don't
do comedy under your name.

I do comedy [indiscernible]

- So let's keep it that
way and um, maybe not.

Now as you see, you put
me in an awkward position

because I don't
want to tell people

that your not my daughter.

You are my daughter.

And I don't want it
known that Doctor Wallace

from New York, who is an expert

has a, uh um, a daughter
who's in the smut business.

- But I'm, what you
did is help women

- No I think it takes away
from my professional message

and my professional is

- Your professional message
is that women on the streets

didn't have to be...

- I think you should not
have come to this meeting.

- No.

- I think you should not
present at this meeting.

- Mama, I present about
being a union worker,

you're proud of that.

- No I'm not proud of you being
at this meeting presenting.

- You're proud of Christina
holding the camera,

who should be closer by the way.

- It's good your telling me now.

- I needed to tell you before
the conference happened.

- It would've been nice to
tell me a long time before.

- But you didn't want to know.

You came and visited me.

You saw all my shoes.

Why didn't you notice?

- Just a lot of boots.

- And we have to swallow pride
in almost every kind of work.

But it is much better
to work with your mind

than with your body.

- I agree.

- So why aren't you doing that?

You have a first class mind.

And it bothers me
that you have never

put yourself into a position
where you could earn a living

except now by taking off
your clothes for odd men.

- Well that's not true.

I went to graduate school

and was a very good
graduate student

and could've been
decent at that.

- You left it.

- I left it because it was
not what I wanted to do.

We weren't talking just
about sex work anymore.

- You don't rewrite history.

- It was the fight.

The same old fight.

The same old dance.

Don't tell me that I
never ever put myself

in a position of being
someone you could be proud of.

- It's not...

- [Voiceover] Each
of us wondering,

am I a good mother?

Am I a good daughter?

[violin music]

My mom said that I
shouldn't tell people

that I was her daughter.

She started wearing dark glasses

to cover her swollen eyes.

Despite feeling shell shocked,

we still had our work to do.

- I'm telling ya, that I'm
talking about a population

that is very different
from almost everything

you have seen at this meeting.

I do not work with
beautiful glamorous women

who wear push up bras.

- I had to come out
to my mother today

about being in the industry.

And I just told her I do
work for social justice.

I'm a professional dominatrix.

- I work with women
who are wearing

everything they
own on their back.

Who have not eaten
in a long time.

- Maybe you've seen my ads?

I'm Mistress Yente.

There's an ad.

I'm in full, you know,
thigh high leather boots.

And I'm holding a
crop and it says

"Call me, or I'll just
sit here in the dark."

- And when we examined the data,

we were shocked to
find that those women

who perform more
fallacio than vaginal sex

were more likely to be infected.

- After getting paid
to give golden showers,

now, every time I
pee, I feel jipped.

- We gave out half a
million condoms last year.

So I like to think
that we're responsible

for one half a million safe
sex acts in New York City.

- Strippers are a really
interesting group to organize.

They're very kind of classy,

they really got a, a
real cowboy mentality.

- [Voiceover] On the last
day of the conference,

Decadence and I gave our talk.

I was happy that my mother,

still in her dark
glasses, attended.

- [Voiceover] So
where we are now

in the negotiating process,

we've been in bargaining
for five months.

We have won many things
that we didn't have before.

And we also have a
written guarantee

that the one way windows will
remain out of the theater.

- [Voiceover] At the
end of the conference,

my mother stood in the
parking lot with me.

I wanted her to be
proud of my union work.

She started to cry.

She said she wasn't proud of me.

She drove away and didn't return
my calls for three months.

- We've come to a
point at the table

at which we are at in pass.

They're not gonna move anymore.

- [Voiceover] We met with
the rank and file to find out

what they would be
willing to strike over.

- We need to be able
to say without bluffing

"If we don't get
this, we'll walk."

- I wouldn't want to
strike over a sick day.

That's the only thing
that, if we were to strike,

is that agency shop.

- I personally,
there's points like

I would give in on
the paid holiday.

But if it were to
come down to striking

on any of the points that
anybody felt strongly about

I'd be behind them and
I'd be striking it.

- [Voiceover] All of us
agreed that we had to have

agency shop and a sick day.

But when we returned
to negotiations

management presented us with
a last best and final offer,

that included a sick
day but not agency shop.

- Yeah, they've got to
accept our agency shop.

- If we don't get agency shop,
I think we should strike.

- [Voiceover] Normally a
last best and final offer

is non-negotiable.

You accept it or strike.

But we didn't give up.

We made a counter offer.

- I just wanted to like
shake them, you know.

Do you want a strike?

We don't want to strike.

You don't have to
let this happen.

- [Voiceover] All day
long and into the night

offers and counter offers
went back and forth.

- [Voiceover] So it's,
um, 20 to midnight.

- It's never gonna end.

- [Voiceover] And we
thought we had a deal.

- [Voiceover] Oh yeah.

- And now they're
changing the deal.

So who knows what's
gonna happen.

- [Voiceover] Okay, here
I am in the room again.

- [Voiceover] Finally,
management brought us

their final last and
best and final offer.

- All I wanna go away from
here is with a contract.

And I'm not happy
with it either.

But it's gonna give us more
to work with in the future.

- [Voiceover] I agree.

- I think we've fought too
long to risk losing everything.

- We're all kind of
coming to a consensus

but really not feeling good
about you not being here.

- [Voiceover] Someone
else explain it.

- Here.

- It's called Maintenance
of Membership.

- [Voiceover] There final
offer was a compromise,

between agency
shop and open shop,

called Maintenance
of Membership.

New employees wouldn't
have to join the union

but we would meet
with each new worker

to explain why he or she should.

And once the did
they were protected

from management
bullying or bribing them

into quitting the union.

- We do know if we agree
to this we get a contract.

If we strike, we may get
something much better

or we may get something worse.

Okay?

Alright, bye.

Okay?

Consensus?

- It's gonna make
us work and that

and I think that, maybe
in the back of my mind

I wanted to believe that
when this was all over

I could rest.

[laughing]

I know it's a ridiculous thing.

But in a sense this
keeps us honest

because we do have to
keep doing the work

to create a better
work environment

for people in the sex industry.

- [Voiceover] All
that remained was

for the workers to
vote on the contract.

- We ready?

- [Voiceover] Yup.

- Okay.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

- No.

- [Voiceover] Oh.

- Wow.

- And a yes.

- 71 yeses and one no.

[cheering]

- [Voiceover] We became
the only union strip club

in the United States.

[upbeat music]

As word of our success spread,
we got calls from dancers

in almost every
state in the union.

Dancers who wanted to
organize their clubs too.

I flew to Philadelphia
to meet the dancers

who were organizing there.

- We heard like, drips
and drables of you know,

there was a union
for exotic dancers

and isn't that funny.

Well you know what?

No, it's not funny.

- What they did
was decided, okay

we're gonna give the
girls a weeks notice

or a week and a half
notice and that's it,

and they no longer get a salary.

Well that's what got us going.

- So we called the labor
department, fair wage and hour,

the department of
justice, and the IRS.

And we got all these
forms and information

and then we got the thing going.

You know, we have
all the other girls

signing a petitions right now.

- We already have
the customers who say

they won't cross
that they'll walk.

- [Voiceover] Yeah, 90 percent
of our costumers are union.

- [Voiceover] Really?

- Yeah, they're
all union people.

They will not cross
a picket line.

- I wanna go to work
with a teamsters

bumper sticker on my uh

- [Voiceover] Cooch.

- Yeah, wear it across my chest.

That's my new work uniform.

- Yeah slap that
right across here.

How you like these?

- [Voiceover] Jane
and I flew to Alaska

to work on a campaign
in Anchorage.

What the did was fire the
first five main activist

then blocked everyone
else out the next day.

They fired the people before
they talked to their lawyer

and really fucked up.

Pretty much said it was
because of union activity.

Said something like.

- [Voiceover] I'm gonna
shut this place down

before I let a union
control my money.

- We've been financing
these two men's'

extremely posh room
with food too long.

I can't pay for my
son's hospital bills

when he broke his arm.

But the owner can have a
20,000 dollar birthday party

for his six year old.

And I've never seen
him do a table dance

or deal with the
smelly old drunk.

- Did it heal?

- [Voiceover] Say
thank you boys.

- [Voiceover] Thank you.

- [Voiceover] Thank you.

- [Voiceover] Bye Jonathon.

- See you next time when
I break my other arm.

- [Voiceover] Okay [laughs].

- [Voiceover] The National
Labor Relations Board

is investigating our charges

of unfair labor practices
against the Showboat.

- Do you have an intent
to organize letter
in our case file?

Okay so that, so

- [Voiceover] The Lusty Lady
inspired the Showboat girls

to unionize, hopefully the
Showboat girls will inspire.

The New York girls to unionize,

the New York girls will inspire.

Indiana girls to
unionize and so forth.

And hopefully it'll
be a nationwide thing.

- When they were trying
to fight unemployment

- What did unemployment say?

- Some kind of legal shit.

- I didn't even try.

I figured that

- [Voiceover] Excuse me Mom.

- [Voiceover] What?

- Um, why every day
do you get fired?

- 'Cause mom's a super hero.

And I'm fighting the bad guys.

- So I sit on the corner
here handing out flyers

for the EDA benefit.

And the guys in
big suits came out

and informed us that we
weren't allowed to be here.

And they were all
like glaring at us.

And it was very clear
that I will never

get a job on Broadway,
but that's okay.

'Cause now my mama
knows what I do

and I'm not allowed
to do it anymore.

She told me that.

She called me up the
other day, she said,

"You're not allowed
to do that anymore."

So thank you mama.

- Well I don't know
that I'm proud of.

I mean, I'm proud of
her because she's smart,

and witty, and with it,
and uh, very independent.

And she looks good and you
never know what to expect next.

Um, I'm not proud of her
because she's a stripper.

She was always independent,
strong, stubborn, difficult.

You know, so I'm glad
that she empowered

or helped to empower these women

to make their working
conditions better.

I like to see it as a
civil liberties issue.

- You know I've always
been strong and feisty

and uh, aggressive.

If I hadn't been part
of a union effort

I wouldn't have as much control
over my working conditions.

And it didn't matter how
aggressive, or Jewish,

or smart, or witty, or,
or, you know, strong I was.

Personality didn't provide me
with good working conditions.

Being part of a group,

organizing successful
union effort did.

- Now I think you should go out

and unionize other industries.

[laughs]

Do you remember the
time with Grandma

when you were five years old?

No.

Well you were running
around the house naked.

And uh, my mother said to you,

"You have to put something on.

"You should be ashamed."

And I really, I just
took her by the shoulders

and I said, "Never,
ever tell my child

she should have shame."

I was so upset with that.

And um, I think ya over did it.

[laughing]

It's okay.