Sex workers' rights activists in Canada. Credit: Shutterstock.
Iris, the 12-year-old prostitute in the movie Taxi Driver, defends her character against Travis “Are You Talking to Me?” Bickle, who won’t hear it. He says, “You walk on the street with these fucking degenerates and low lives and sell your pussy for nothing.” He calls her pimp a killer. When she says he isn’t, Travis says, “Looks like a killer to me.”
His story of her life is the only one he’ll accept. And, eventually, it’s the story that allows him to murder three people (her pimp and two clients) while Iris screams for him to stop, left behind in a whirlwind of violence and uncertainty.
