There's plenty to be said about the sex industry, both here in Australia and worldwide, and there have been plenty of documentaries on the subject. The common feature (perhaps to documentaries about a great many other subjects, as well) is that the more you know about something, the less scary, subversive, immoral, outlandish or deviant it appears to be, and the more you are willing to accept one simple fact: people are people. We're all trying to do our bit the best we know how.
This documentary stands out in succeeding in this goal more than any other documentary I have seen on the subject. Director Catherine Scott brings a refreshingly human angle (and gives a refreshingly human face in Rachel Wotton) to two population sectors who are consistently given the short end of the stick: sex workers on the one hand and people with disabilities on the other. Both groups have been the subject of discrimination and misunderstanding since time out of mind. Sex workers, in particular, (as well as their clientèle) have been demonized and their practices outlawed, ironically by the very same people who fly under the banner of human rights (but often prefer to do so while hiding under a veil of ignorance, misconception and sound-bite dogmas).
This is a movie for activists and feminists to see. This is a movie that says: stop hurting me by trying to help me. Stop and ask me what it is that I want. It showcases "Touching Base", an organization devoted to helping people with disabilities fulfill their innate need for intimacy, this being the best example I have seen of the reversal of roles: it is the sex workers who are doing their best to help those in need; it is the human rights activists who are outlawing their actions almost everywhere.
It's an eye-opener.
