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“I Get Paid To Listen To People’s Problems, I Am A Naked Therapist”: Leaving The UK To Work As A Stripper In Berlin

Before speaking to Eliza Blue, I didn’t have much of an opinion on sex workers but I believe people should be free to do whatever they wish. It wasn’t until after our conversation that I reflected on my own sub-conscious biases around sex work and discovered a newfound respect after allowing a sex worker to tell me their story. Sex workers are rarely present in the media in a positive light, so it was gratifying to both myself and Eliza to speak about sex work so freely.   

Eliza, who goes by the name Blue, is a 22-year-old sex worker who uprooted her life in England – leaving behind family, friends and a university offer – to work as a stripper in Berlin. Blue was born in East Africa and lived in the UK from the age of five in Bracknell, a small town in the south east of England.

When I sit down to talk with Blue, she radiates confidence and an attitude that many of us lack. When I ask about how sex work makes her feel, she only thinks for a split moment before saying, “It empowers me.”