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Scarlet Road follows Australian sex worker Rachel Wotton with a few of her clients and their families — John finds himself wheelchair-bound from Multiple Sclerosis while Mark, also in a wheelchair, must speak with the help of an electronic communication board due to Cerebral Palsy. Beyond Rachel illustrating her philosophy that human touch and sexual intimacy can be some of the most therapeutic aspects to our existence, the doc also includes her involvement with the Scarlet Alliance (Australian Sex Workers Association) that “aims to achieve equality, social, legal, political, cultural and economic justice for past and present workers in the sex industry.” An ultimate goal is to help create the first non-profit brothel.
Jezebel recently wrote up the film with a quote from Rachel that helps put things in perspective: “Part of my reason for doing the film was to wipe away the ‘us and them’ mentality. We’re all one car accident away from being in the same position as these guys. Tomorrow we could all wake up out of a coma and not be able to eat let alone have sex or touch ourselves. What I say to people is imagine the next time you go to have sex or masturbate having to call your mum and have her organize it all for you.”
Scarlet Road’s first SXSW screening is Monday, March 12th at 1:15pm (Vimeo Theater) with additional screenings at Violet Crown and Alamo Drafthouse Lamar. Find the full SXSW Film Lineup here, and check out { …to continue reading this article: Article source: }
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[...] experienced as secret and shameful, particularly growing up. Watching director Catherine Scott’s documentary about sex worker Rachel Wotton who works with people with a disability, I was moved to tears by [...]
[...] experienced as secret and shameful, particularly growing up. Watching director Catherine Scott’s documentary about sex worker Rachel Wotton who works with people with a disability, I was moved to tears by [...]
A must see documentary, 12 December 2011
10/10
Author: imdb2-556-923983 from Australia
There’s plenty to be said about the sex industry, both here in Australia and worldwide, and there have been plenty of documentaries on the subject. The common feature (perhaps to documentaries about a great many other subjects, as well) is that the more you know about something, the less scary, subversive, immoral, outlandish or deviant it appears to be, and the more you are willing to accept one simple fact: people are people. We’re all trying to do our bit the best we know how.
This documentary stands out in succeeding in this goal more than any other documentary I have seen on the subject. Director Catherine Scott brings a refreshingly human angle (and gives a refreshingly human face in Rachel Wotton) to two population sectors who are consistently given the short end of the stick: sex workers on the one hand and people with disabilities on the other. Both groups have been the subject of discrimination and misunderstanding since time out of mind. Sex workers, in particular, (as well as their clientèle) have been demonized and their practices outlawed, ironically by the very same people who fly under the banner of human rights (but often prefer to do so while hiding under a veil of ignorance, misconception and sound-bite dogmas).
This is a movie for activists and feminists to see. This is a movie that says: stop hurting me by trying to help me. Stop and ask me what it is that I want. It showcases “Touching Base”, an organization devoted to helping people with disabilities fulfill their innate need for intimacy, this being the best example I have seen of the reversal of roles: it is the sex workers who are doing their best to help those in need; it is the human rights activists who are outlawing their actions almost everywhere.
It’s an eye-opener.
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