CAMMIE TOLOUI
FIVE DOLLARS FOR THREE MINUTES
18 OCTOBER — 1 NOVEMBER, 2019
While I was studying for my degree in photojournalism in the early 1990s, I was already devoted to documenting various subcultures and taboo subjects – sexual deviants, wild punks, riots...
So when my homework assignment was to document my life for a week, it was a natural step to bring my camera into the peep-show booth where I worked as a stripper at the now-infamous Lusty Lady Theatre in San Francisco. I doubted that anyone would let me take their picture, but I quickly discovered that some people are willing to do anything in front of a camera and others would do anything if you offer them a discount...
“Because I was who I was, they didn’t take me seriously. They thought I was of no consequence, just a naked woman slut who would not be a threat to them,” Toloui says “In their hard-on state, [many patrons] thought I wanted them and that’s why I wanted their photographs. A lot of times, they would cum and you would see them go, ‘Oh wait. Did I let her take pictures of me?’ Then they’d run off. It didn’t occur to them to ask me, ‘Who are you? What are you going to do with that?’”
A review by Miss Rosen can be read here: https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/11/the-radical-feminist-sex-worker-who-photographed-her-clients-at-their-most-grotesque/
