I found out about a documentary filmmaker in Jamaica who was shooting his project in a go-go (strip) dance club in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The premise of his film was to document the day to day lives of the young Jamaican women who dance in this small club. I decided that using his access as a jumping off point for a larger story to explore these women's lives would be interesting…so off I went.

'Shades' nightclub is not unlike any other strip joint in the world in its essence: young, nubile women taking off their clothes for the pleasure of men…nothing revolutionary, nothing wholly unique. What was interesting was the way that these young girls lived, day-to-day. Anywhere from 15-25 of the girls, aged 16-28 lived in a single room above the club, sleeping 3 and 4 to a bed.. I wanted to see this room. So up the stairs I went, to the room above Shades, through darkened hallways, the floor squishy with an unknown liquid. This, and the other small room above the club was where the dancers 'entertained' customers privately. Sex for money. I entered the room and was immediately confronted with young girls in various states of undress, crammed between into the 12'X15' room, 6 beds lying end to end, crudely painted pink walls, cockroaches skittering on every surface, and the fan. The ceiling fan was hanging directly below the only light in the room, a dim 60 watt bulb. The result was a maddening strobe effect that, after 5 minutes, was driving me half-crazy. I could only imagine what effect it had on the girls who spent up to 20 hours of every day there.

As with any interesting story, I discovered that there is ambiguity in the issues. Yes, these women were being exploited, on the male-gazing level. Yes, they were living in appalling conditions. Yes, this is another example of a patriarchal culture. But when you talk to these women and realize that there is complexity in each of their individual stories and motivations for doing what they do, it's more difficult to judge them or the people around them.

I come away from this story with mixed feelings, but overall a heightened sense of the way that women around the world continue to be objectified, sexualized and often mistreated, all for the pleasure of men.

Brad Brough
Producer/Director, SEXTV