Films Focus on Prostitution

Twenty people gathered last night to discuss an unusual topic on the Harvard campus: sex workers on film.

Ummni Khan, a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School, led a clip screening and discussion on the roles and portrayals of sex workers in contemporary film at the Harvard College Women’s Center last night.

Khan’s chosen clips—from mainstream films such as “9 1/2 Weeks,” “Pretty Woman,” “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “Monster,” and “My Own Private Idaho,” and the documentaries “Born Into Brothels” and “Live Nude Girls”—showed sex workers in several different lights.

After each clip, Khan, who is an assistant professor at the Department of Law at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, encouraged the assembled undergraduates, alumni, and graduate students to react to the characters and their portrayals.

The intimate discussion, so to speak, centered around the various issues and factors surrounding the sex industry, including class, sexual orientation, race, and gender.

They also addressed agency and power struggles experienced by the sex workers and their clients both in film and in reality.

Some attendees, such as Rheeqrheeq A. Chainey ’11, a women, gender, and sexuality concentrator, were attracted to the subject matter because of their fields of study.

“I’m always interested in events like this because it’s so tied into my concentration,” said Chainey, who is also studying drama and who appreciated that the discussion focused on film.

The event was co-organized by Matthews Mmopi ’11 and Eva B. Rosenberg ’10, two students who work at the women’s center.

After the discussion, Rosenberg said she was happy with how the event turned out.

“There were so many issues raised about such an interesting topic,” she said. “It was great to have Ummni Khan here to facilitate the event, and hopefully people leave here with a genuine interest or thought about the points we discussed.”

Khan’s written work, which focuses primarily on sex culture and sex workers, includes a dissertation on how nonlegal domains come to bear on the legal regulation of sadomasochism.

Her current research considers the social and cultural impact of “Janes” (sex workers) and “Johns” (clients) on the stigmatization of the sex work field, particularly taking into consideration the influence of the film industry.