We tend to ignore Kickstarter-related missives as a general rule, but local filmmaker Hima B.'s recent email regarding funding for her new documentary took us by surprise. She features an actual fantasy stripper schedule of a 10-year-old girl.
Hima explains:
"I met Arielle during my MFA exhibit at Mills College in 1995 (yes, I’m part of that I-put-myself-through-grad-school-by-stripping statistic). Arielle was 10 years old. I was 27. I was screening my first documentary, Straight for the Money: Interviews with Queer Sex Workers. Arielle was my colleague’s niece and snuck glances at my film as she wandered through the gallery space. She sent me this letter weeks later. My reaction was a mix of horror and amusement. My film had unintentionally influenced a kid to consider sex work! I absolutely don’t condone child sex work. It’s not OK. But the reality remains that girls are influenced by pop culture, inundated by sexual images, and see desirability in sexy. Sexy looks like Power Puff Girls, Lady Gaga (a former stripper) and sometimes...even a sex worker."
And, yes, it is amusing. (Heh, "eat a dick".) And also horrifying. Kids will be kids, we get that. (Parents, please chime in!) Anyway. You should really read more about Hima's newest piece, License to Pimp, a documentary about "the choices that three San Francisco strippers make as their workplaces engage in illegal labor practices." It's a work that sounds more than necessary.