Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor Highlight

Julia Query, a former Lusty Lady dancer and queer Jewish comedian, made a documentary called Live Nude Girls Unite! about the conditions at the club, the workers’ quest to unionize, and the process of bargaining their first contract. “Margo St. James and Carol Leigh, a.k.a. Scarlet Harlot, paved the way by arguing that sex work isn’t shameful,” Query says in a voice-over. “Now they were supporting our organizing efforts…. They said our union was a win for sex workers everywhere!” In the documentary, shots of women spending long hours at the bargaining table tussling with management over sick days and union security are interspersed with interview footage of workers like a young Dr. Brooks, who echoed generations of sex workers with her blunt assessment that “what we all have in common is that we’re all in it for the money. I wouldn’t be standing in heels for a bunch of strangers if I wasn’t getting paid.”