Since then, her confidence has only grown.
‘My job gives me the ability to meet people
from all over the world. I am a very sociable
and open person, I like talking to others,
and I love being on stage and entertaining
people,’ she explains. Stripping makes her
feel independent, standing up to the social
systems that stigmatise sex work. She refuses
to describe her work as ‘empowering’, though,
because any job can be seen that way, and
hers should be normalised. After all, she’s
only providing a service to her customers.
Nevertheless, she explains that clubs still
have very strict requirements when looking
for strippers, with age and body type often
being the biggest factors of discrimination.
‘The owners will almost always pick people
who, in their opinion, will fit in the club
best. They often won’t hire girls aged over
30 or those with a smaller body type. That is
awful,’ Electric Girl says. In response to
issues like these, feminist organisations,
collectives, and sex workers’ body positivity
communities have been created to educate
society on sex work and push changes in
working conditions. And then Covid-19 hit.
Sex work in the UK: room
for improvement
Electric Girl is at home, eligible for the
new government Self-Employed Income Support
Scheme (SEISS), but not many sex workers
are as lucky as she was. ‘According to the
Government, I was registered as a selfemployed
club dancer. I paid my taxes, and
that put me in a safe position, but other
people doing full–body service or escorting
are in a very tricky situation because of
sex work regulations in the UK’ she says.
While prostitution is legal in the UK, running
or managing a brothel, soliciting in public
places, and curb-crawling are prohibited.
That puts sex workers in a dangerous and
unsafe position while at work and, in times
of crisis such as this, may push them to the
brink of poverty and homelessness. ‘This is
why we need full decriminalisation of sex
work. It would bring decisional power and
would put the industry in the spotlight,
without it being underground and exposing
its people to dangers. Society needs to
understand that sex work is work,’ says
Electric Girl.
The awareness of working in unlicensed
places often means sex workers are scared
to call the police or an ambulance in cases
of harassment – the place and circumstances
under which the violence took place would
feel too difficult to explain. Many are
‘scared to look suspicious in the eyes of
the police’, and, to avoid getting caught,
they carry less condoms. It’s not only the
safety of sex workers that is at risk –
mental wellbeing is impacted, too.
Hidden London and its
customers
Despite the social implications that come
with being a sex worker, Electric Girl
feels that the London sex scene has never
been so alive. ‘There are at least 70 strip
clubs in London and seven in Shoreditch
alone. There are body- and sex work-positive
events, workshops, podcasts, and parties
all year long,’ she says, emphasizing on
the collectives and unions fighting hard
for the rights of her community, like the
English Collective of Prostitutes and East
London Strippers Collective, as well as the
Annual Sexual Freedom Awards.
‘To be a stripper you don’t need to have a
background in pole dancing or look a certain
way. It’s just about having confidence,
being a good listener and talker, building
a bond and clicking with the customers,’
Electric Girl says. Intuition is a plus when
it comes to understanding her customers and
how to approach them. ‘I’ve met different
types of people. I don’t attract or have one
type of customer as I always go and talk
to everyone,’ she explains, adding that
tourists often feel much more relaxed and
pursue their desires freely. ‘When people
are in their own countries, they pretend
they are at the club just for a drink, not
for the tits,’ she laughs.
Though she speaks lightly, the stigma stands,
even within her own community. Strippers
don’t always sign their names under the
term ‘sex worker’ and, at the beginning
of her career, neither did Electric Girl.
‘I didn’t want to be called a sex worker
because I wasn’t doing full body service
but after speaking to other sex workers,
I realised it was about building support
and awareness,’ she says, comparing it to
a ‘protective umbrella’ for the community.
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