Everything I hated about Anora

and when I say everything, I mean everything

I would like to start by saying that these are all my personal opinions. Anora received a lot of backlash especially from sex workers all over the world, but there are plenty of them who also really enjoyed the movie, which is of course absolutely fine. I was watching it with my boyfriend and he loved it, however he completely understands my point of view. But if you’re a person who doesn’t know any sex workers and is not in any way involved in the industry, you should read our thoughts and opinion about it. I am not the only one who decided to write a full, kinda angry blog post.

When I heard that there was a new movie about a sex worker coming out, I was skeptical. It was advertised as a love-story and it was even being described as a “modern-day Pretty Woman” which is one of my favourite movies of all time. But still - my gut was telling I wasn’t gonna like it. I was sure it was gonna be the classic story - sex worker falls in love with a boy, rainbows and butterflies are in the air but eventually she has to go back to work and the guy is not happy about it and makes a scene. Conclusion - sex workers are not able to have successful romantic relationships. Yeah, we’ve heard that before.

After seeing the movie I was actually surprised that it was even worse than I expected. I did enjoy the beginning at the strip club. Nice costumes, beautiful women dancing at the pole… what’s there not to love? I kept waiting and waiting the for male romantic lead to show up on the screen and after like 45 minutes I realised that the romantic lead was Vanya. Skinny boy who looked like he was 13 years old, pothead with barely any brain cells but the worst thing about him? He didn't know how to fuck a woman at all.

I don’t know, should we somehow have believed that she actually fell in love with him? Or was she faking it because of the money? Or was she just stupid enough to believe she was in love with such a spoiled brat? I mean sure, us women - we’ve all been there. Situashionships, falling in love with someone’s potential, being overly trustworthy … Okay, maybe she was very young and unexperienced. We never really got to know anything about her past or life in general. However, when she was going to his house for the first time, she was very confident and there was no sign of her being nervous. So she must have done it plenty of times. Not just stripping but also having sex for money. Hookers don’t really dress like this for outcalls anymore. Discretion and elegance is everything and by wearing mini dress and high heel boots to a client’s home or a hotel you’re basically telling everyone around you get paid by the hour. I simply don’t believe that any woman would fall for a guy who fucks her like she was a rabbit. The first time he prematurely ejaculated which was embarrassing, but okay, it happens to the best of them. However even during their second encounter she was trying not to laugh. As a woman who had a lot of sex - you just don’t fall for a man like that unless you’re a virgin. I don’t even think that oxytocin is being released during a bad sex? I’ve got my very own “lovestory” with a drug dealer who I had absolutely no future with, but because he looked like a Greek God and made me cum and squirt in the first two minutes we fucked, I thought we were destined to be together. Even if he messaged me now after 3 years I would still probably leave everything to have his babies. Anything for getting another taste of him.

But back to Anora - so my guess is she was in love with the money and the fact she no longer had to work. Which is why she was so heartbroken when she found out she was played and none of that was real. Shocking.

Haven't we seen this portrayal of a sex worker so many times before? Broken, desperate, naive, money hungry and uneducated. It’s simply boring to watch by now. But I guess if Sean Baker would make a movie about a sex worker who loved her job, was very successful in it, cared about her clients and the love story was with an actual decent man who understood and respected her, it wouldn’t receive a single Oscar nomination. Anora was clearly ashamed of her work and hated it. That’s why she got delusional so quickly and left her work in the strip club without even thinking it through. Again - that’s not the case for most of us. We do it because we want to. We enjoy it. It makes us thrive. When you call us a hooker or a prostitute we won’t be hysterically yelling back at you saying we’re none of those, just like Anora did. Because we do have sex for money and that’s literally the definition of being a prostitute and a hooker. Those words are not insults unless you let them be.

There is so much potential for movies and shows about sex work. Mikey Madison and Sean Baker said how much they respect sex workers and that a sex work should be decriminalised but did they actually explain to the audience what it means? What are the laws now and how they are affecting our well being and safety? Of course not. Actual sex workers have to do it. Educating people whilst working their asses off to pay their rent, trying to advertise their services on platforms that hate them and being de-platformed losing one account after another. This movie was completely useless for sex workers - it didn’t bring any awareness and only brought even more stigma. Even though there was no whorephobia and the movie was made to be sympathetic towards Anora, there’s zero sympathy towards sex work. I really wonder if Sean and Mikey thought that making a movie about a stripper who was stupid enough to be manipulated like that, treated like garbage and was seemingly very broken and troubled, people would be like - “Oh yeah sex work is really work and it should be decriminalised, I agree.”

Anora being compared to Pretty Woman is an insult to Pretty Woman. Sure, Pretty Woman is also problematic in many ways, it’s been forgiven since it was made in 1990. All you need to know is that it has Julia Roberts and Richard Gere and they have insane undeniable chemistry. It’s such a cosy rom-com with so many legendary scenes and lines. I watch it at least once a year and I can never get bored of it. The only similarity to Anora is that they stole the line from Pretty Woman when they are negotiating her pay.

Going all the way to the ending now. I found it extremely triggering when she was alone in the house with Igor, she was provoking him and told him that the reason why he wouldn’t rape her, was because he’s a faggot-ass-bitch. How stupid do you have to be as woman to say that to a man you just met, who restrained you earlier that day and you’re completely alone with him in a house. And after she said that she just calmly went to bed to sleep? This behaviour made me feel physically sick. Maybe because us women, we’re always blamed for being assaulted and we constantly have to fight so hard to prove that we’re not the problem. Men are. Yet provoking a man and especially calling a straight macho guy gay? Even I would say that she was asking for it if he actually did something.

Surprisingly I have barely anything to say about the very last scene. Another cliché - broken girl feels like she’s supposed to have sex with the one and only guy who showed some sort of compassion and kindness towards her, even though she’s clearly shaken by everything that happened and not even thinking clearly (has she ever?). And because Igor is a man and not very smart one, he just sits there and let it all happen. Just the cherry on the top of an absolute rubbish movie.

If you wanna watch a movie with a hot girl? Watch Anora. If you wanna watch something that will give you an insight to a life of a sex worker? Please, watch these:

• The Deuce

• Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

• P-Valley

• The Girlfriend Experience

• Jeune & Jolie (a French movie called Young & Beautiful in English)

• Secret Diary of a London Callgirl

and most importantly - read memoirs of sex workers and read their blogs. Don’t expect that a white dude like Sean Baker, who’s clearly obsessed with sex workers, will give you any real insight into our lives.

L. xx