Melissa Petro

It's time to talk substantively and honestly about how sex work isn't any one thing.

A week or so ago I started shopping for a wedding dress, and guess what? Shopping for a wedding dress sucks!

If you missed my weekly column this summer all about getting engaged and planning a wedding, here’s the highlight reel: after doing

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.

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.

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

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

Stock photos seemed to get pregnancy and parenting all wrong. When a Facebook friend posted looking for a real life pregnant stock photo model, I offered.

"Certainly, my life as an alcoholic was not what most would imagine. I was a writer, living in the West Village of New York City, enrolled in a prestigious graduate program and working on a book. At least, this was my cover story."

No exaggeration, when I close my eyes— even for a second— I see white dresses.