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A full-feature documentary film, Les Criminelles, by Quebec film maker Jean-Claude Lord, opened this past Friday in Montreal, playing in French only, at Cinema Quartier Latin and Cinema Beaubien. Here is the film trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=uA5oei4D0rg The film features interviews with various Montreal sex workers, including strippers who work at the Kingdom strip club, as well as escorts, erotic masseuses, a street worker, a tantric goddess, personnel at Stella, a sexologist and others. The documentary denounces the stigmatization and criminalization of sex work and powerfully illustrates the impact of the stigmatization and criminalization of sex work, in terms of compromising the safety of sex workers, and the impact on the lives of sex workers in general. In seeking to understand the root of society's attitude toward sex work, the film asks several questions: Why is sex for money illegal when sex in return for a meal at an expensive restaurant or a trip is perfectly acceptable? Why is nudity so offensive to so many people when portrayal of graphic violence is perfectly acceptable to these same people? What are the consequences for society of such hypocrisy? In arguing against the stigmatization and criminalization of sex work, the film deals extensively with the fact that a good part of the demonization of sex work is spearheaded by feminist groups, specifically radical feminists. The film points out that the laws against prostitution were written by men and date back to a time when women did not have full right rights, could not vote, and were not considered as full citizens. The film goes on to to highlight the fact that, ironically, today it is radical feminists who are in the forefront of the fight against prostitution, and that feminists who refuse to accept the fact that there are sex workers who have chosen their profession of their own free will, are essentially portraying these women as infantile, immature and incapable of making the right choices on their own, which is not much different from how men viewed women before the birth of feminism. The film compares the actions of these radical feminist groups who campaign for the abolition of sex work to the witch hunts of the 18th century. If you are in Montreal this week and understand French, the film is well worth seeing.