We spoke to a CU student who stripped for extra-cash

This is her story


A third year Journalism student fought to save herself financially by taking up a job in the sex industry. She tells The Tab Cardiff what life is like as a student stripper:

“When I told my friends I was going for an audition, instead of been appalled, they were impressed.”

In June 2016 academic Professor Tracey Sagar controversially claimed there was no difference between a student doing sexually explicit acts on a webcam and working behind a bar.

In response to these statements the Cardiff University student said: “Although it is starting to be more common, it definitely isn’t ‘the norm’, and for the obvious reasons, it’s completely different to a job in a restaurant. I’d like to think a job in a restaurant doesn’t involve any nudity.

“I became involved after I decided to book an audition with a friend whilst drunk on a night out. She’d danced before in Magaluf and decided she wanted to try it in the UK.

“I was completely broke after burning through my student loan on two months’ rent, shopping, and all the text books I was promised would be worth the money, so what did I realistically have to lose? I went for my audition shortly after making the decision to do it in the first place, as I knew if I left it too long I’d chicken out, and within a few days I had my first shift. I was fed up of having no disposable income. I had a ‘regular’ part time job originally, but due to university commitments. I wasn’t able to work many hours, at the end of the month my wage went completely on rent, I relied on what little I had left of my loan and my parent’s generosity.”

“There were some really odd moments. I’ve had guys with foot fetishes ask to suck my heels in a dance. I’ve had someone pay for half an hour with me just to sit and speak to me. I even had men trying to ‘save’ me from the job, and again the unfortunately obvious situation of men trying to pay for ‘extras’. Working with three other students in the same small club, eventually, the demands of the workload and circumstances began to take their toll.

“I’m in a serious relationship now, and although my partner claimed to be okay with what I was doing, I knew he wasn’t. Nobody can be okay with the girl they love dancing naked for other people. It put a strain on our relationship, and that was something I wasn’t willing to accept.”

“It’s pretty damn soul destroying. Some nights you can walk out with nothing, after spending hours walking around in painfully high heels, skimpy underwear, speaking to drunken idiots. Sometimes you get so low about your appearance as well, when you see everyone’s been busy except you, which does happen, you start to question if there’s something wrong with you. There were times I’d get home from work, crawl into bed with my boyfriend and just cry. You have to have the thickest skin imaginable to work in the sex industry.”

“If you’re able to do it without getting emotional and able to detach your personal self from your work self, then it shouldn’t be an issue. I don’t understand why anyone would think it’s an issue working in the sex industry if everyone is safe and happy, surely it’s nothing to do with anyone else except the people directly involved? I didn’t suffer emotionally, but it certainly upset me from time to time. You can’t say what will work for someone and won’t for another in any situation, but especially with regards to the sex industry.”

“For example, if we look at the recent series of Love Island, a female contestant openly talked about the fact she is a stripper. After doing so, the male contestants spoke about her as if she was easy, slept around, even the narrator of the show constantly referred to as a stripper, as if that’s all she is. However, another contestant was also a stripper, but he was male, and due to this it was never mentioned, let alone used as a way to define his character. It’s the same as if a man sleeps with lots of women he’s a “lad” where as if a women sleeps with lots of men she’s a “slag”.

“If you’d have asked me six months ago, I’d have answered the opposite.

“I’d say something along the lines of ‘yeah it’s great, good money, and you feel so empowered because men are PAYING to see YOU!’, but in hindsight, that was just a thing I used to tell myself to justify it to myself. I have no problem with stripping or anyone that does it, that’s not how I want to come across at all. It’s simply not worth it. It’s not worth potentially letting your university work slip due to working nights, due to getting low self-esteem, or due to been greedy with money and subconsciously putting working before university.”

Professor Tracey Sagar of Swansea University’s claims came from the result of a three year study. The study surveyed six and a half thousands students of which twenty two percent were considering working in the sex industry to cover university costs and the study also found that sex work amongst male undergraduates was just as common.