“For a long time, I thought I was completely unattractive to everyone because of my disability and could never have sex and actually saw myself as being far removed from any sexuality. It definitely helped me to have sex with you so passionately.”

These words are from Rike (28) who lives with Möbius syndrome and has used a sexual service and experienced a change in her relationship with her own body. As the introductory words make clear, there are people who suffer from difficult access to sexual experiences due to prevailing ideals of beauty and other circumstances.

Mut zur (un)behinderten Lust – Eine Reise zum Selbstwert durch Leidenschaft (in English, “Courage for (un)hindered desire – A journey to self-worth through passion”) is a documentary which shows the process of a journey of discovery towards more self-worth, starting with the first booking request and shows how Rike’s relationship to her sexuality, her body and pleasure changes significantly over the course of two dates. Accompanied by the “supporting” sex worker Ben Nordmann, who not only brings closeness, appreciation and sexuality, but also the idea and motivation to enable new perspectives on one’s own body with the help of film and photography.

Rike and Ben worked together on the title, aim and message of the film. It is very important to both of them to draw more attention to the topic of ‘sexuality and disability’. Even if no obvious “disability” is recognizable, there are many people who are prevented from a self-determined sexuality and should encourage them to embark on a journey. Effects like Rike’s give us a lot of courage to embark on the journey and question the accuracy of avoidable ideal images.

“I actually had a date with sex afterwards! Without paying at all. =) I don’t think I would have dared to do that if we hadn’t met and you had shown me through the meeting and the photos and videos that I can also be worthy.” ~ Rike

Director Statement:
Sex work and porn has beside entertaining and pleasure values also educational values. Addressing various humans with various stories, shapes or hesitation is upmost important to create a more diverse, tolerant and inclusive society within sexuality and beyond.