Editing Showgirls (section)

== Plot ==
Young drifter Nomi Malone hitchhikes to [[Las Vegas]], where she aspires to make it as a [[showgirl]]. After being robbed by a man who picked her up, Nomi meets Molly Abrams, a young professional in the Las Vegas entertainment industry; Molly ultimately takes Nomi in as a roommate. To make ends meet, Nomi begins [[Pole dance|poledancing]] and [[Striptease|stripping]] at [[Cheetah's]] Gentleman's Club, run by Al Torres. Molly invites Nomi to visit her at work, backstage at the [[Stardust Resort and Casino]], where she is a [[Dressmaker|seamstress]] and [[costume designer]] for ''Goddess'', the Stardust's traditional Vegas-style, topless dance revue. While there, Nomi meets Cristal Connors, the lead female of the ''Goddess'' cast. While making smalltalk, Nomi mentions to Cristal that she dances at Cheetah's; upon hearing this, Cristal derisively tells Nomi that what she does is akin to "[[prostitution]]". Upset, Nomi refuses to go to work at Cheetah's that night; she and Molly go dancing at the Crave Club. Nomi then starts a fight with James Smith, a bouncer at Crave, and is subsequently arrested. Later, she pays James little mind when he bails her out of jail.

Cristal and her boyfriend, Zack Carey (the entertainment director at the Stardust Casino), visit Cheetah's to see what Nomi does, with the two requesting a [[lap dance]] from her. Although the [[Bisexuality|bisexual]] Cristal is attracted to her, the lap dance request is based more on a desire to humiliate Nomi, by insinuating that she truly does engage in a form of prostitution. Reluctantly, after Cristal offers her $500, Nomi performs the requested lap dance. James, the bouncer at Crave, and who happens to be at Cheetah's that night, gets a peek at Nomi's lap dance; the next day, he visits Nomi's trailer, suggesting, yet again, that what she is doing is no different than prostitution. James choreographs a new dance routine for Nomi, but then wants to have sex with her in-exchange; when Nomi refuses, James gives the role to Penny{{snd}}a former co-worker of Nomi's.

Later, Cristal arranges for Nomi to audition for the [[chorus line]] of ''Goddess''. Tony Moss, the show's director, humiliates Nomi, asking her to rub [[ice cube]]s on her nipples to harden them for the topless audition. Furious, Nomi abruptly leaves the audition after scattering ice everywhere, in a fit. Despite her audition, Nomi gets the job and subsequently quits Cheetah's. Cristal then further humiliates Nomi, suggesting that she should make a 'goodwill appearance' at a boat 'trade show', which turns out to be a thinly-disguised prostitution/[[Sex trafficking in the United States|sex trafficking]] set-up. The chance to be Cristal's understudy comes up after she hurts herself. Undeterred, Nomi sets out for revenge against Cristal by claiming her role in ''Goddess''. She seduces Cristal's boyfriend, Zack, who then secures an audition for Nomi to be Cristal's understudy. Nomi wins the role, but when Cristal threatens legal action against the Stardust, the offer is rescinded. After Cristal taunts her even more, Nomi snaps, and pushes Cristal down a flight of stairs, causing her to break her hip. Only after the injury is Cristal officially replaced by Nomi as the show's lead. Despite having finally secured the fame she sought, Nomi is disillusioned. She further alienates her roommate and friend Molly, who realizes Nomi caused the hip injury.

Molly later relents, attending Nomi's opening-night celebration at a lavish hotel, where she meets her idol, musician Andrew Carver. Carver lures her to a room, where he brutally beats her before he and his two security-guard friends proceed to [[Gang rape|gang-rape]] her to the point of hospitalization. Nomi finds out and immediately wants to call the police. Zack explains that the Stardust will bribe Molly with [[hush money]] to protect Carver (one of their star performers), before then explaining about Nomi's 'sordid' past: Zack discovered that "Nomi" was born Polly Ann Costello in [[San Francisco]], from which she ran-away at age 15 to work as a prostitute after her parents' [[murder–suicide]] in 1989. After escaping from a [[Foster care|foster home]] in nearby [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], California, the following year, Polly changed her name several times. She was also, Zack says, arrested several times, in several states, for various crimes ranging from drug possession and exchanging sex for money to [[Assault|assault with a deadly weapon]]. Zack [[blackmail]]s Polly (Nomi), vowing to conceal her past as long as she agrees to not report the rape and assault.

Unable to obtain justice for Molly without exposing her own dubious past, Nomi decides to take matters into her own hands. After brutally attacking Carver alone in his hotel room, Nomi then makes two hospital visits: the first being to inform a semi-conscious, but recovering, Molly that Carver's actions did not go unpunished, and the second, to Cristal, apologizing for pushing her down the stairs and injuring her. As Cristal was not pressing charges against Nomi, and her lawyers had secured her a large cash settlement, she forgives Nomi. Cristal admits that she attempted a similar stunt, years earlier; they exchange a reconciliatory, slightly romantic kiss. Nomi leaves Las Vegas and hitches a ride to Los Angeles, ironically with the same man who previously robbed her on her way to Vegas; she subsequently holds him at knifepoint demanding the return of her suitcase.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114436/quotes/?ref_=tt_trv_qu | title=Showgirls (1995) – Quotes – IMDb | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>