“I quit sales to be a sex worker for people with trauma and disabilities”

Meet the ‘holistic’ sex worker from Yorkshire who quit her job as a sales executive and now helps people with disabilities and mental health problems experience intimacy.

Charlie Stephens, 41, has worked in the sex industry for five years and specializes in seeing people with trauma and disabilities.

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She has clients who have failed to develop physical connections or relationships – and charges £120 an hour.

From sensory massages and empty hugs to the occasional full service, Charlie says it’s a chance for people to “be themselves”.

Charlie’s clients ranged from war veterans to people with mental and physical disabilities and those suffering from mental health illnesses. She has seen people who have never been touched before and says people cried in her arms for an hour.

Charlie says that “everyone” finds beauty when working as a holistic sex worker. “I’m a massive empath and really good at putting (people) at ease,” she said.

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“I have a huge passion for helping people who don’t have access to standard physical and emotional relationships.

“I see people who may have physical disabilities and can’t connect with people in their local area.

“It’s not just about the sex, it’s about the experience you have with a professional in a beautiful, purpose-built space.

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“They come to me and I offer sensual touch, holistic touch, I offer a sensory message that is very therapeutic, very grounding, relaxing, erotic, but very calming and very connected between two human beings.”

Charlie, from South Yorkshire, says her services give people a chance to relax and “unpack”. She said: “It’s for people to come and be themselves and have a chance to shed their baggage, whether it’s a trauma or forget about their disability.

“With someone caressing your face sometimes for the first time.

“So many men in our society are insecure and traumatized, and male suicide is at an all-time high.

“I’ve had grieving men just cry in my arms for an hour. It’s just about creating a completely safe space.”

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Charlie says her job has brought her a few problems – including being banned from the US on ‘crimes of moral turpitude’.

She had planned to see family members – some of whom she had never met before – in the US in September 2022. After her job was approved on her ESTA form, Charlie boarded her flight to the US.

But upon landing he was confronted by TSA (Transportation Security Administration) officers. She said: “They took me into a room and asked me to detail my work.

“I was searched, my passport was taken, none of my belongings could be touched, I was interviewed under caution, my DNA was taken and I was told I was charged with ‘offences of moral turpitude’ after they took out ads . mine

“I was devastated, I couldn’t believe it. I had a suitcase full of gifts to give to my family and was told I was banned from entering the US for 10 years because of my work title.

“The official US definition of prostitution is the promiscuous sexual act for profit or financial gain.

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“The only recourse I had, or thought I had, was that I was told I could apply for a tourist visa and a waiver of inadmissibility.

“Any woman found guilty of engaging in prostitution within 10 years of the initial ban is barred from entry.

“So as long as I keep doing this job, I’m banned.”

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After months of discussion, Charlie finally managed to get a specialist lawyer named Molly Cohen from the Sex Workers Project in the US to take his case pro bono.

She gathered character references and evidence of intent to return to the UK before paying for her US lawyer to fly to the UK for her meeting at the US Embassy.

But she claims her case was dismissed and she was asked to leave after just minutes. She said: “It was humiliating again, degrading again. It was all over in less than two minutes. It was mind-blowing for me. I can reapply but chances are I’ll get the same result.

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“I just want to visit my family there. I will never be able to see my partner in her home country as she also lives in the US.

“I want to make sure that whoever it is, they don’t go through the same trauma that I did.”

A US Embassy spokesperson said: “Visa records are confidential under US law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of this individual case.”