Buying Sex 2014
Distributed by First Run Features, 630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213, New York, NY 10036; 212-243-0600
Produced by Annette Clarke
Directed by Teresa Macinnes and Kent Nason
DVD , color, 75 min.
Sr. High - General Adult
Sexuality, Sexual Behavior, Pornography, Feminism, Women’s Rights, Women’s Health
Date Entered: 10/02/2014
Reviewed by Sara Parme, Digital Services Librarian, Daniel A. Reed Library, SUNY FredoniaProvocative and political, Buying Sex follows the behind the scenes of Bedford v. Canada, the court case which attempts to reform the laws relating to sex work. But the larger questions of the documentary are why sex work exists and if sex work should be legal. The film interviews representatives of all people affected by sex work - current sex workers, former sex workers, children of sex workers, the men who use sex workers, brothel owners, lawyers, law enforcement, the media, and citizens.
Similar to 2000’s Live Nude Girls Unite! which followed a strip club workers’ attempts to unionize, none of the sex workers in Buying Sex are portrayed as stereotypes. Each side of the argument is portrayed seriously. Much of the film is spent dissecting the opposing views and laws about sex work in Sweden and New Zealand.
This is a thought provoking film and ripe for class discussion: sex as business, law, the gender pay gap, agism, sexism, racism, biology, gender stereotypes, and parental leave reform.