After “Anora” (2024)’s Best Picture win at the Academy Awards, it’s easy to think that we’re seeing social progress in the film industry. Considering the widespread stigma surrounding sex work, many might find it surprising that a film that makes the topic its main subject received such wide acclaim. 

Despite the attention the movie has gotten for its willingness to engage with sex work, it still highlights an important need in the film industry to promote media by those who live through the experiences films cover rather than just observe them from afar.

According to Jack Schenker, a writer for Hammer to Nail, Sean Baker, the director of “Anora,” is of the “few American filmmakers” to show a “dedication to portraying marginalized communities with dignity and complexity.” While this commitment is admirable, many sex workers’ reactions to the film have shown an underside to this progressivism that displays the exigency for a different approach. 

In an interview with The Guardian, Sam, a member of the East London Strippers Collective, said that the film only represented a “really small sliver of sex work,” as not all sex workers share in the privilege of being white, having a United States passport or speaking English fluently. Though Anora (Mikey Madison) does face challenges and stigmatization throughout the film, her unique set of privileges also makes it difficult for the film to be an accurate depiction of many sex workers. 

Another issue arises in its character development. Marla Cruz, a writer and sex worker, criticized the film for being based on stereotypes of sex workers being “crass, impulsive, and pathologically sexual,” as well as the ending of the film wherein Anora receiving a bit of care from a man is deemed emotionally baffling, as though “sex workers have little experience being loved and cared for.” 

Aside from the criticism of the film itself, its popularity has also been called into question. Many sex workers have wondered about whether the film would have reached the same level of fame if it had been made by a sex worker, rather than by a white man observing them. This is a fair question, considering that there is a noticeable lack of sex-work films actually made by sex workers within popular media. 

This demonstrates the need to promote and encourage media made by, rather than simply about, sex workers and other marginalized groups. Regardless of how much research a director like Baker does on a community, there will always be a level of knowledge that can only be gained through lived experience with marginalization itself. Promoting directors and writers who have this intimacy can be a possible method to avoid the pitfalls that “Anora” falls into. 

One notable example of initiatives that take this type of approach was the Whorehouse Cinema festival in Amsterdam, led by sex workers to foster a space that challenged popular depictions of their life. This gave sex workers an opportunity to be the ones driving the media that surrounds their lives, rather than being merely muses or objects for others’ analysis. 

Something unique about the festival is that its existence emphasizes the need for uplifting stories about sex work, rather than ones that reify the same tropes we’ve already seen. This can help to alleviate the issues seen in films like “Anora,” which ultimately fail to give much room for progress or hope in this context. 

As sex work inevitably continues to be an object of discussion within films, it is critical that we push for more events like the one described above in an effort to reshape common depictions of the subject. When society itself already holds stigma against sex work, it is all the more important that films surrounding it fight back against rather than reinforce those perceptions. 

This will also give way to the possibility of change both in and outside the film industry. Sex worker and author Laura LeMoon puts it well: “‘Anora’ is a reminder that Hollywood actresses win awards playing fake sex workers while real sex workers die and no one cares.” It’s also a reminder that changing who and what we decide to promote can make a real impact on the status quo of exploitation and erasure for sex workers.  

This goes for films across the industry. When considering films that discuss marginalized communities, it’s important to prioritize media made by members of those groups. In a similar manner, this can help to challenge harmful stereotypes and encourage a more inclusive media industry.