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

On Privilege: Sometimes, The Struggle Is NOT Real

"We built a luxury dream home but can only afford to have two children."

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No thanks, Facebook.

When Your Estranged Father Appears In 'People You May Know' On Facebook

My relationship with my father was never father-daughter picnics. Maybe when I was very little — or maybe this is less a memory and more of a wish — I have an image of myself as a very little girl sitting on my father’s lap, and we are both laughing. Perhaps my father enjoyed fatherhood when his children were very little, but that joy seemed to curdle into constant frustration as my brother and I grew up.

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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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Sometimes the fights I pick with my fiancé are really fights with myself. Image: Thinkstock.

Becoming Bride: When The Honeymoon Ends Before The Marriage Even Begins

Sometimes the fights I pick with my fiancé are really fights with myself.

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Let's Not Be Friends: On Female Friendship

Sure, "friends forever" sounds nice. In theory. But sometimes it's better that two people just not be friends.

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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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Sexual Violence In The Media

If you watch TV and movies hoping to be emotionally moved or intellectually challenged, you know that means you’ll some

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5 Things To Eat Now That We Know Instant Noodles Are Toxic

Guys, stop eating instant noodles. Seriously, they found lead in them. LEAD. Besides this, our stomachs can not digest them.

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You know you're a newlywed if... (Image credit: Thinkstock)

6 Ways You Know You're A Newlywed

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

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Sex work is not a crime.

Jeremy Corbyn And The Decriminalization Of Sex Work

“If you believe in the decriminalisation of sex work,” Ian Dunt rightfully points out, “you will instantly come under a sustained and highly emotive attack on your morality and your identity.” In this vein, when a man comes out in favor of sex worker’s rights, he becomes “a betrayer of women, a gender Judas encouraging violence against them.”

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