Prurient

In experimental documentary Prurient, Canadian filmmaker and activist John Greyson creates an evocative, politically charged portrait of sex work during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Greyson’s works frequently deal with characters and themes. The 8-minute documentary offers an intimate glimpse into the life of Jacob, a Toronto-based sex worker, and the larger systemic forces shaping the experiences of sex workers during the pandemic. Jacob, who has worked as a professional sex worker in Toronto for ten years, recounts how his in-person work rapidly evaporated with lockdown, “Before COVID, I would probably say at average, approximately five to six clients a week. [During COVID], direct income have been completely, dramatically cut by easily 85 percent if not more” (02:22­–02:36). As a result, a lot of sex-workers like him began to navigate themselves into camming (the internet streaming of adult content via the webcam) due to social distancing. Jacob proceeds to account one of the camming experiences with his client, acknowledging the comedic and laborious reality of sexual performance online. The documentary also explicitly critiques how COVID-19 made visible the lack of infrastructure protecting sex workers. It references the US’s “COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan” application, which disqualifies any applicants deriving income from live performance, or the presentation of any depictions or displays “of a prurient sexual nature” (04:50–05:06). Unlike other industries that could apply for relief funds or pivot to remote work with relative ease, sex workers often face legal ambiguity, and experience intensified surveillance and stigma.

Set to Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga”—an aria expressing suffering and the yearning for freedom—the documentary situates the struggles of sex workers within a broader history of bodily regulation and denied autonomy. Footage from the film Farinelli (1994) accompanies the aria, showing Stefano’s emotional performance of the lines, “let me weep over my cruel fate, and let me sigh for liberty” (Lascia ch’io pianga mia cruda sorte, e che sospiri la libertà). This pairing deepens the theme of confinement, drawing a parallel between personal freedom and the collective experience of restriction under COVID-19. Part of the Toronto New Wave, Greyson employs an experimental visual language to reflect the disjointed reality of lockdown. He uses a fisheye lens and fragmented screen layouts to mirror the disrupted reality of lockdown. Scenes show Greyson jogging alone through deserted Toronto streets at night, while Jacob appears in floating video call windows. At times, the screen divides to display news clips, statistics, and even a shared Google Doc in which the two collaboratively write a poem about the sex worker community’s plight during the pandemic.:

“Salute the working ethic

Of each COVID camster

Refuse precarity

Denounce di-mini-mister

Balanced and bouncing

We kiss and sway

Thus we revolutionize…

Each prurient rainy day!” (7:44–8:20)

Yet rather than portray sex workers as passive victims, Greyson emphasizes their creativity, resilience, and political consciousness. The documentary is both informative and insightful in how it captures the realities of sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting the precarious situation of a community that is often marginalized and neglected during times of crisis.