Page 102 - Metro
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                                                              herself as ‘a bad girl with a bad background’, and light
                                                              heartedly alludes to a personal history of homelessness
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                                                              I think of this house as like my home – this is where things
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                                                              gest that sex work can be congruent with a caring domes
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                Epstein’s film suggests that                   wide shots give us some major clues about the complica
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                the line between exploitation                 herself on the street to bring in customers. Business isn’t
                and empowerment is much                       ERRPLQJ DV LW ZDV GXULQJ .DOJRRUOLHpV YLEUDQW SDVW
                finer than what much of the
                newer discourse around sex                    Sex work on screen
                work acknowledges.
                                                              A sleek, irreverent sequence of archival news clips illumi
                                                              nates the sex trade’s history in the town: headlines declar
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                (SVWHLQ DQG SURGXFHU FR ZULWHU &ODLUH +D\ZRRG ZLWK D SRU   footage showing the recent slowdown in mining caused by
                tal into the strange vertex of the mining and sex industries  WKH      JOREDO ĺQDQFLDO FULVLV  o:LWK JROG DOZD\V FRPHV
                LQ .DOJRRUOLH  :HVWHUQ $XVWUDOLD  7KRXJK .DOJRRUOLHpV JROG  SURVWLWXWLRQ p VD\V RQH DUFKLYDO LQWHUYLHZHH  ,WpV D VOHD]H
                stores were almost exhausted by the end of the 1890s dur   city narrative that departs radically from the usual positive
                LQJ WKH ĺUVW JROG UXVK  WKH PLQLQJ LQGXVWU\ KDV FRQWLQXHG WR  political discourse around mining in Australia that speaks
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                deeper reserves, with the Fimiston Open Pit established by  Footage is arranged in such a way as to point to the hy
                PDJQDWH $ODQ %RQG LQ       6KDGHG LQ VRIW  EULJKW SLQNV   pocrisy of politicians who are supportive of mining, but are
                4XHVWD &DVD LV D JDOYDQLVHG LURQ EXLOGLQJ DQG .DOJRRUOLHpV  in denial or condemning of the complex social issues that
                last original brothel, outliving this period of tumultuous   go with it. A second hypocrisy is found in the widespread
                industrial change.                            disgust that is generally directed at sex workers rather
                   Having received production and development support  than the men who buy access to those women’s bodies.
                IURP 6FUHHQ $XVWUDOLD  3GD /HMJ 'NTRD (2017) adheres to  Western Australian politicians are shown debating the
                the dominant currents of much Australian factual program   oFRQWDLQPHQWp SROLF\  IRUPDOO\ LQWURGXFHG LQ      WR FRQWURO
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                ming by presenting the history of sex work’s ties to mining  commercial sexual services and rescinded in 2000, as well
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                sex worker who, despite their differences, share an unu   the long legal evolution of sex work isn’t always made clear
                VXDO NLQVKLS  &DUPHO KDV D VWURQJ ERQG ZLWK KHU ORQJHVW   to the viewer. While one madam wonders why nobody else
                VHUYLQJ VWDII PHPEHU  %-  ZKLFK LV WHVWHG RYHU WKH FRXUVH  in society is made to apply for a licence before having sex,
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                of sex and capital.                           ZRUNHUV SRVVLEO\ WUDIĺFNHG IURP $VLD SRSSLQJ XS t PXFK
                   :H FRPH WR NQRZ &DUPHO DV D GLJQLĺHG  VOLJKWO\ ORQHO\  to Carmel’s and other madams’ dismay. Though largely
                ĺJXUH ZKR RVFLOODWHV EHWZHHQ IUDQNQHVV DQG SUXGHQFH  abstract to the politicians who debate them, these legali
                when it comes to sex. ‘Well, we offer massage and oral  ties are shown to have profound effects on those within the
                sex,’ she says to a caller in her clipped British accent.  industry: what happens to sex workers’ safety when their
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                sex was just “natural” sex. I mean, there’s the missionary  Cinema has expounded on the thematic link between
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                like a rooting dog, or wanting to put all sorts of things up  ,QR  ,HKKDQ (1971) is known for both its atmosphere of ter
                into women’ – she shakes her head with familiar resignation  rible sadness and the strength of its narrative’s implantation
                – ‘I can’t see why that would excite people.’ Accompanied  LQ WKH VQRZ ODGHQ  JUH\ VNLHG ORFDWLRQ RI :HVW 9DQFRXYHU
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                simply ‘waiting for the right bloke to come along’.   :DUUHQ %HDWW\  DQG VH[ ZRUNHU &RQVWDQFH  -XOLH &KULVWLH




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