I’ve been a stripper for almost two years now. The money is fantastic and the dancing keeps me fitter than all my friends who religiously get up at 5am to jog and then have nothing but a smoothie for breakfast. I’m the best in the business- well, at least my club.

I worked my way up from a sleazy place (probably just a front for selling drugs, judging by the amount of tips that went straight up the manager’s nose...) to the classiest, fanciest in the city. It doesn’t even look like a strip joint from outside: an old building, with the innocuous name “Babylon”. We get quite a few tourists who think it’s a Middle Eastern restaurant. And quite a few that stay- if they don’t have wives to drag them out.

From when I was little society has over-sexualised women. Told us we need to look and behave a certain way in order to have any value. You have to be skinny, but also be a D-cup, and not too skinny because nobody likes ribs poking them when you’re in bed. You can’t be too muscular- that’s just unattractive- and you can’t be too soft- do you not care about your image at all?- and forget about being fat because then you’re clearly unhealthy and disgusting. You have to be pale, but not like a ghost; or dark but not like dark chocolate. You can also tan yourself orange and get lip fillers to look like one of those Instagram influencers but even then people will accuse you of photoshop. Who can blame them? Models in magazines are so airbrushed they hardly appear human.

So I decided early on to use my sexuality to my benefit. I show off what I have: on my most confident days I even put glitter on my stretch marks. The men that come in here (some prominent guys if you catch my drift) think that they are in control. They believe that tips and male attention are what keeps this place running, keeps us dancing, and we let them believe that.

We’re good at judging you when you walk in. Sometimes you try and act more confident once you’ve entered, but by then it’s already too late. If you’re the vulnerable type then we can make you feel small. Like you need to prove yourself to us. If you’re cocky or stand-offish then we can lead you to believe that you are a king and we are simply entertainers in your court. We can also do it the other way round, depending on our level of skill.

Point is: it’s a woman’s world. We hold the upper hand. We make the big bucks. And sex? Sex is a tool of pleasure and power.