I don't know Bob, you might be seeing too much into it. I loved the movie, but from a GUY's perspective. The movie might be more about escapism that it is about sexism. At least it makes more sense to me that way.
The "real" story could hold its own, sad and violent as it is. The story is interesting and cliche enough to support an entire movie. There'd be no reason not to show everything that happens in that asylum, blue aprons, rapes, violent tantrums, screams and shit thrown on the walls. You'd just have a bleak movie that would challenge people to view it and then leave a bad taste in their mouths.
So why not perform a bit of magic and turn the story into something more tasty? I really believe that the Brothel World is never a fantasy of one of the girls, but a metaphor that retains all the symbolism, made so that the viewers can escape from the ugly reality.
The Dance World is basically the same thing, only on steroids. While a sexy dance would've been cool, the current escapist generation enjoys more than just a pole dance. There are so many "buttons" being pressed there, that any gamer should have an orgasm. 10 foot minigun? School girls? Dragons? Nazi steampunk zombies?
How escapist can you get?! When the dude in the temple says "These are your weapons, use them", he might refer to our fantasies, the small and insignificant things we all do after 10 hours of work every day. If we can click ourselves happy at the end of a pathetic day's work, FINE! The world is so bad out there, that only a lobotomy might make us immune from empathy. If the only alternative is lying and fantasising, well, DO IT! It's better than hanging yourself.
This is a "show and tell" movie. If you want to tell people that escapism is fine in this crazy world, what better way to prove it than making a movie about an asylum and sexually abused girls AND still have the audience enjoy themselves with a bit of unrelated and misplaced action movie-magic?
This is my take on it... it's something that came to me in the first 20 minutes of the movie, it made sense till the end credits and it made me enjoy the movie immensely. I don't recall ever having such a good time at the cinema.