Liz Kotz discusses documentary film's use of the sex trade, brining to attention issues of sexual and gender representation, the power politics of sex and shame, and feminism on both a global and a local level.

Kotz specifically discusses Bangkok Bahrain and India Cabaret in terms of the global context of imported cultural practices, influenced by tourism and capitalism, and shaped by local constructions of gender, nudity and display. On a local level, Manning's film Stripped Bare addresses homosexuality in the sex-trade, and the possession of power over the audience.

These documentaries intersect sex work and sexual representation with discussions regarding "male gaze" and politicized "sexual slavery", providing a common framework for these women-centric, feminist issues of representation and control.