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

Your friends might know more about style than you do. So learn from them already.

Copycat - Don't Be Ashamed To 'Steal' Your Friends' Styles

The biggest fashion mistake of my lifetime may not be what I wore, but what I didn’t.

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Seeing as I didn’t have any firm idea of what I wanted the dress to look like, I figured it’d be easier. Ha! Image: Scott Webb/Unsplash.

Becoming Bride: The Dress

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

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Since when has "just don't get pregnant" been an effective promotion of reproductive health?

The Zika Virus: Why Now Is The Time For Reproductive Justice In Latin America

Use insect repellent, sleep under a mosquito net, and just don’t get pregnant — is this the best we can do for Latin American women?

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My wedding will not be the most important day of my life. Image: Melissa Petro.

Becoming Bride: We're Getting Married (FINALLY)

For someone like me — someone with difficulty forming and maintaining relationships, who has struggled with commitment, and who’s got intimacy issues galore — surely, you can see the appeal. You don’t need to be Freud to figure out why, at a disturbingly young age, I looked forward to the day a man would commit.

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Image via YouTube.

Why "Kiss Bang Love" Is Not For Me

On FYI’s newest, Kiss Bang Love, the show sets one man or one woman up with ten strangers who the contestant will kiss, one after another, while blindfolded. From these ten hopeful suitors, the contestant chooses five and then two, with whom they go on “intimate 24-hour dates.” The producers ask: Can blind sexual chemistry lead to love? I say, probably not!

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Sex trafficking victims matter, but there are countless sex workers across the spectrum who wouldn’t describe themselves as victims of sex trafficking. They matter, too.

4 Things To Know About Human Trafficking

Want to work responsibly on the issue of sex trafficking? Here’s some of what you should know.

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To the individuals, families and communities affected by the tragedy in Orlando: the pain and fear you feel right now is real. Image: Thinkstock.

Becoming Bride: On Orlando, Hatred, And Privilege

Hate hurts us all, but we don’t all receive it with the same systemic intensity. Those of us with the privilege to do so need to push against the borders of what is “permissible” in this society. We need challenge the idea of “normal” — rather than conform to it — so that all of us can live more closely to our truths.

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Image: CC Patrick Tomasso

Bibliotherapy For The Wedding-Obsessed Bride 

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

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newborn baby (image credit: thinkstock)

I'm Scared To Have A Baby

After gaining as much as forty pounds and pushing a cantaloupe out my vagina, I wondered: will my body ever be the same?

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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.

I Was A Real Life Pregnant Stock Photo Model​

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.

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