大象传媒

Aaliyah grew up a devout Muslim but now makes adult content for the online service Only Fans. She鈥檚 often pictured wearing a hijab. Aaliyah is her stage name. She鈥檚 had death threats but believes that expressing her sexuality and making her own choices about her body are empowering. She has also had support from young Muslim women and couples. She was brought up in the UK as a Muslim and began to question her faith at the age of 12, when her parents got divorced. She says, 鈥淢y work now is definitely a rebellion against my upbringing. I鈥檓 tired of being told how women should be鈥�. Aaliyah still describes herself as Muslim and feels that her sex work is more important than the version of Islam she grew up with.

Can you be a sex worker and still follow your faith? Sex work has always challenged religion. Although it鈥檚 broadly considered immoral within Christianity, Islam and Judaism, sacred texts carry some mixed messages. Women sex workers often see male religious leaders condemning them in public, whilst buying their services in private.

In Bangalore in India, women at a sex workers cooperative think religion is compatible with their work. One Christian, who鈥檚 a mother and wife, says her family don鈥檛 know how she makes her living. 鈥淚 can talk to God about it when I can鈥檛 talk to my husband鈥�. In Nigeria, a Muslim sex worker we鈥檙e calling Zara operates in an area where sex work is illegal and dangerous. But she draws strength from her faith. 鈥淚 know what God says about selling sex, that it鈥檚 against the religion but he understands that I have to do it.鈥�

In this edition of Heart and Soul, for the 大象传媒 World Service, Julia Paul speaks to consensual female sex workers in the UK, Nigeria and India and explores how faith and sex work co-exist in their lives.

Producer: Julia Paul
Series Producer: Rajeev Gupta
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
Editor: Helen Grady