Your men betray you behind your back to take us from behind

Between New York, Atlanta, and Miami, the street life of 4 Black transgender women.

Dominique Silver started working as a waitress in Manhattan, but her friends advised her to earn more money, and the only way was to become a prostitute.

Her mother and sister were homeless, living here and there, but they were embarrassed because of her.

Koko Da Doll started prostituting herself in a van and "succeeding in this crap job," her sister didn’t want her at home.

She confesses that she never would have imagined that some, many, too many want trans women, especially a certain type of sex: however, one must be honest and communicate that you have male genitals because many might feel in crisis with their masculinity, and if most believe that you are homosexual because you have a penis, they do not understand that you are a woman, that you feel like a woman: this is what Dominique wanted to be, in addition to being white, but biology had a surprise in store for her.

Daniella Carter, originally from Queens, is determined and extremely intelligent: very skilled in seeing and understanding her condition as a woman and a Black transgender woman.

She claims to be like a wreck that makes the noise of a Mustang or a Porsche: Black and trans women are in pieces.

Men feel more relaxed with them than with cisgender women, yet they cannot deny to themselves and their entourage that they are alpha males and trade. For this reason, she claims that Black men, always considered inferior, must constantly prove their worth and are therefore led to hide their true lives.

They meet different men who deny what they do, deny the relationship, exploit and fetishize; once they get what they want, they don’t care about the reality trans women live in.

Daniella is a keen observer of her world and beyond: she states that society has normalized the exploitation of others' bodies by men, whether you are cisgender or trans. Despite the constant claim that women’s lives matter, that trans lives matter, they end up back in the hands of men who could kill them at any moment.

She recognizes this work as a constant danger, survival from which she would like to escape.

The normalization of degradation, of devaluation, is imposed by men who give back small change thinking they are doing something good… and this should make me feel grateful? asks Carter, with a peremptory tone of extreme awareness.

Furthermore, she observes that a Black person’s life is limited by how a white person decides it should be, and a trans person threatens that mentality because they have their own dimension, it is not exactly what white people want: the trans person is in the middle, not where they say they should be, and this also applies to Black people.

She does not hesitate to interpret her mother’s disappointment when she learned that her son felt like a woman; that mother, always abandoned by all the men, saw in him the only man who would finally protect her, now sees her as vulnerable as she is...

The fact that mothers would prefer to see them conform to an imposed system rather than orient them to another system that embodies their own truth is a very interesting observation, like all the sophisticated reflections that Daniella communicates to us with great emphasis.

While in Dominique, we perceive a generous indulgence towards clients: she believes they should not be exposed, as a resource would be lost… being their secret, to be carefully hidden, especially if they are powerful men, makes them live in a lie that is already a punishment.

Men are also interviewed in this documentary: rappers, gangsters, and those who do everything to appear virile despite being attracted to trans women, like Lennox Live, CEO of Hush Night, a club for trans women and men attracted to trans women where they have sex in dedicated rooms.

Liah Mitchell, with her long lashes, tells the story of her life with Koko Da Doll, to whom the documentary is dedicated in memory, as she was killed at the age of 35, shot in Atlanta at a shopping center after the film.

Most of their friends died either from HIV or because they were killed by clients.

Stacy Barthe tells trans women that the guys line up, even if they don’t want to admit that they are all in line for them.

A list of clients, many of whom are passive, those fake tough guys who actually want to be used and then go back to their girlfriends as if nothing happened and continue to act tough, never asking for anything.

Trans sex workers who emphasize their marginalization and the fate that unites them with all women, although the latter look down on them...

The lack of solidarity from women towards transgender women is inconceivable, yet it is real, despite being on the same side, and all fighting, or at least should be, for the same rights.

The documentary confirms the illustrious debut of transgender singer-songwriter and music producer D. Smith, in black and white photography that claims the recognition of all shades of life.

The discovery of surprising identities, illuminated by cumbersome bodies and radiant faces that share their experiences, sharing themselves body and soul with articulate, complex, elaborate, and authentic thoughts.

Music, faces, animation, settings, dialogues, reflections: all essential.

I play the street life

Because there’s no place I can go Street life

It’s the only life I know

Street life

And, there’s a thousand cards to play

Street life

Until you play your life away

You never let people see

Just who you wanna be And every night you shine

Just like a superstar

The type of life that’s played

Attempts at masquerade

You dress, you walk, you talk,

You’re who you think you are

Street life

You can run away from time

Street life

For a nickel, for a dime

Street life

But, you better not get old

Street life

Or, you’re gonna feel the cold

There’s always love for sale

A grown-up fairy tale

Prince Charming always smiles

Behind a silver spoon

And if you keep it young

Your song is always sung

Your love will pay your way beneath the silver moon

Street life, street life, street life, oh, street life

Hmm, yeah, oh I play the street life

Because there’s no place I can go Street life

It’s the only life I know

Street life

And, there’s a thousand cards to play

Street life

Until you play your life away