Melissa Petro

Melissa Petro

Bio

Melissa Petro is a former sex worker and "hooker teacher" who has written about the industry for HuffingtonPost, Salon, and others. She is also the founder of Becoming Writers, which provides free and low cost memoir-writing workshops and mentoring to writers of all backgrounds and experiences. More info at http://becomingwriters.wordpress.com. 

Melissa Petro Articles

May Is Masturbation Month And I'm The 2%

You may have heard the old joke that 98% of people masturbate, and the other two percent are lying.

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Leave the kids at home. Image: Thinkstock.

Becoming Bride: Don't Bring Your Crying Kids To My Wedding

The quickest way to reveal yourself as a douchenozzle — not to mention unoriginal — is to remind someone who’s about to get married that most marriages end in divorce. The second-quickest way to offend is tell us what our wedding has to be like or whom we need to invite.

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I’m glad I didn’t get married when I was younger. But delaying marriage has certain disadvantages, too. Image: Brandon Morgan/Unsplash.

Becoming Bride: On Being An Older Bride

The other day on Facebook, one of my friends remarked that I was a “later-in-life” bride.

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Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

What Not To Say When You're Pregnant

A lot has been written about what not to say to a pregnant person. Being on the opposite side of that, I’ve learned pregnant people make mistakes, too.

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At a certain point in my adulthood, I stopped trying to force friendships that just didn’t work.

How To Break Up With Your Best Friend 

How do you break up with a best friend?

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I'll just get a new one.

Your Bike Is Stolen, And It's OK: Signs You've Changed Social Class

The other day my friend on Facebook had made a remark about how there are people who have multiple income streams and travel abroad constantly and drive cars and eat at restaurants every week and then talk about class privilege like they don't have it and in my mind I was like, Oh. Yeah. She’s right. In the past six months or so, my life has dramatically changed.

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Credit: ThinkStock

What Drunk White People Get Away With, People Of Color Are Killed Over

Drunk or not, it’s a fact that white people are more prone to acting like assholes to authority figures—because we’re more likely to get away with it.

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Often, when the story is spoken out loud, it loses at least some — if not all — of its power.

Your Embarrassing Story Is No Big Deal 

We’ve all been in a situation where we've thought NO ONE CAN EVER KNOW THAT THIS HAPPENED TO ME.

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When he said he loved me, I knew it was true. Image: Melissa Petro.

Becoming Bride: The Engagement Party

When I first got sober, I started to accept that the “happy” occasions in life — holidays, birthdays and other special events — might not only feel happy. When I’m “supposed” to feel good, I feel nervous, anxious, and embarrassed. The center of attention, I feel vulnerable and on display.

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Abstinence-Based Sex Ed Doesn’t Work: Duh

Teaching sex ed the right way doesn’t have to be weird or hard.

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