A random woman put her phone in his underwear and started recording (Picture: Darren Shoneye/Getty)
As the strobe lights pulsed, the energy of the club was buzzing.
I was on stage wearing just a jockstrap, as a gogo dancer at Club Circa in Embankment – and it was a very busy Saturday night.
Suddenly, I felt a hand reach out from the throng to shove a camera phone in my underwear. To my horror, I saw that this random woman was recording a video.
Thankfully, a security guard acted quickly and pulled her out of the venue, and I overheard him telling her how inappropriate it was.
It’s a moment that’s burned into my memory. But sadly, it’s not an isolated incident.
I need you to know that people – especially women – thinking they have a right to touch me while I work is assault.
Since 2010, I have been doing promotional events – appearing at Gay Pride, promoting underwear brands in stores – and modelling for gay magazines and charities like the Terence Higgins Trust.
These types of gigs are all about getting everyone’s attention so I am almost always in my underwear, or wearing a harness or singlets, and people are meant to get whipped up to a frenzy the second they see me scantily clad.
But it was only when I became a gogo dancer that I started to experience assault.
Women thinking they have a right to touch him while he works is assault (Picture: Norbert Mery Studio)
I started dancing in the middle of 2021. I had just broken up with a partner and wanted to do something challenging that would get my pulse racing.
My first booking was at WE PARTY London at Brixton Electric in front of 1,500 people. I was terrible – I had never done anything like it before and was trying to find my feet (literally) on stage (I ran out of moves very quickly).
Nevertheless, it was one of the best experiences of my life. My adrenaline flowed like it never had before and the crowd was so welcoming and kind.
My busiest year was in 2022 when I danced around 80 times – at least once a week. I have travelled to dance in Italy, Sweden and Barcelona to name a few, but I’ve noticed a worrying trend.
If I’m gogo dancing at a queer-friendly venue and the crowd feels very ‘straight’, I have seen a spike in people pushing boundaries and touching me – in particular straight women, especially when they are drunk.
The first time it happened, I was handing out tickets at a really small venue, where everyone was squeezing past one another; I felt someone pinch my bum.
He has had to slap people’s hands away (Picture: Darren Shoneye)
I figured someone might have pinched the wrong person because the venue was so packed. However, it happened repeatedly throughout the night and it made me feel like a piece of meat, I found
Source:: Metro
