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

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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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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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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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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You can stay sober without AA — at least, I've been able to.

4 Ways I Stay Sober Without AA

Without a doubt, going to AA meetings saved my life. But after six years of devoted participation, my attendance dwindled until, about a year ago, I stopped going entirely. Contrary to what I was taught when I was in the program, my sobriety’s just fine. You can stay sober without AA — at least, I can. Here’s how I do it.

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The woman, the myth, the wax. Courtesy of Flickr.com

Hillary Clinton Has Better Things To Worry About Than Her Pantsuits

Would Sheryl Sandberg be able to get away with leaning in while donning Zuckerberg's signature v-neck T-shirt and jeans? History says no.

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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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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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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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I realized that part of the reason I was constantly partnering with “broken” people was because that's how I viewed myself. Image: Thinkstock.

Becoming Bride: 4 Things I Learned From Online Dating

I do have one advantage when it comes to meeting people online: I really like dating. I like getting dressed up and going out. I even kind of dig meeting someone new. I know these are aspects of dating other people dread, but I’ve always enjoyed these things. Perhaps this is one explanation for (or else a result of) my sex work past, I dunno. I know that, in the beginning, I thought of dating as an adventure. I didn’t take it too seriously.

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