Editors note: mention of abuse
As someone who started sex work post the 2008 financial crash, I am always drawn to stories of what seemed to be the halcyon days of the 1990s and 2000s, when money and optimism were abundant. This was what originally drew me to Neon Girls by Jennifer Worley, an autobiographical account by a sex worker in an old-school peep show in San Francisco in the 1990s.
The book starts with our author, a radical queer femme, looking to make extra cash and stumbling upon a peep show in San Fran’s old Red Light District. After a brief audition she’s accepted to work there and I read with misty eyes as she described the immense diversity of her co-workers. From lesbian anarchists to single moms, people doing their PhD like her, enigmatic foreigners with fabled pasts, people of all heritages and gender expressions… part of me recognises that this is very much still the case today.
In the peep show, strippers stand on a stage lined by pay-per-view windows, where lone men load machines with cash to see the beautiful array of naked nymphs and pleasure themselves. Our author openly admits she thought she’d feel exposed and somewhat degraded when performing here, but her experience on the stage is anything but. She comes to realise that in this topsy turvy world the people naked on stage hold the power, as shown in scenes where strippers block abusive customers' views of the stage until they repent, and more heart wrenchingly, when the childhood abuser of a dancer appears. and the dancers band together to protect her. Justice is served as he is chased out of the establishment by staff and other patrons.
She comes to realise that in this topsy turvy world the people naked on stage hold the power...
However, anyone who's ever worked for a boss at a sex establishment knows not every dancer is created equal. Racism and fatphobia are rife and most dancers are subject to a litany of restrictions on their looks, behaviour, and time that just would not exist in the traditional job market.
As our author sees more and more dancers fall foul to these strict rules and potentially lose their livelihoods, she feels there must be some way for the workers to stand up to this tyranny from management. Lounging in the dressing room one shift, she sees a pamphlet for a union, The Exotic Dancers Union. Being a young worker, she’s yet to be introduced to union organising, along with thinking sex workers would not be eligible, so this is her lightbulb moment.
She begins trying to rally her co-workers, all who have reservations for genuine reasons: being fired, losing money, being penalised even more. But after an incident of the dancers being filmed without their consent the dancers all realise the only way to stand up to their employer is by organising the bargaining power of a union. After some inspirational organising of the workers, they finally unionise, not realising they just made history in doing so. The dancers at The Lusty Lady became the first ever fully unionised sex establishment in the US.
After some inspirational organising of the workers, they finally unionise, not realising they just made history in doing so.
This gives the workers strength in numbers and the ability to bargain in a structured way with management to improve their working conditions. Unsurprisingly, it goes down like a lead balloon with the Lusty’s management – they pushed back, and tried to union bust. After an uncomfortable period the workers agree there's only one course of action: going on strike.
The strike floors the management but greatly increases the comradery between the dancers, gaining press attention, garnering public support, and opening the public's eyes to the abuses of labour law in the sex business. Defeated by this show of worker strength, the management eventually put The Lusty up for sale, hoping to put the dancers out of work entirely. But in another historic turn of events the dancers themselves pool their resources and buy the venue, thus turning the business into a worker co-operative.
They go on to structure the business with the aim of fairness to all. Gone were management reviews of dancers, and a peer reviewed set of team leaders were instituted, to rotate every 6 months. As the author finds out, this structure is not without its problems. Disputes among co-op members occurred, but The Lusty ran in this structure until 2013, when the landlord refused to renew their lease, finally bringing an end to the US’s only sex worker cooperative.
In another historic turn of events the dancers themselves pool their resources and buy the venue, thus turning the business into a worker co-operative.
We can learn so much from Neon Girls. As I write, sex workers the world over are denied labour rights, face life-changing stigma, and very few legal protections. Reading Neon Girls, we see that there IS strength in numbers and that the only way we’ll achieve our goals and get our needs met is to work together.
Sex work is an attractive career for many leftists as we are quite literally seizing the means of production. We have a long way to go until we reach our goal of full decriminalisation globally, but there are bright sparks of worker power popping up everywhere – an excellent example being the UK Sex Workers Union who have made some huge legal wins for UK sex workers.
At the time of writing this article I am in conversations with my comrades in Amsterdam about how we too can improve our working conditions. The Netherlands has extremely restrictive and damaging laws around sex work and workers are prey to predatory landlords charging sky high rents for safe working locations. Neon Girls planted a seed in me that I hope can form into powerful organising (and hopefully unionising) of my Netherlands colleagues. I hope this too inspires other workers around the world to start working together to show our collective power and make the future a better place for all sex workers.
Are you a sex worker with a story, opinion, news, or tips to share? We'd love to hear from you!
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