Whenever my job is mentioned in newspapers, blogs, or magazines, the same tropes tend to pop up: moral panic, drug abuse, violence. Journalists quote us selectively, so that it sounds as if we’re living out the sex-negative, whorephobic stereotypes the public are used to consuming.
I am curating alternate realities–realities where Black women are safe to submit; where white men understand their true place, and understand that it is an honor and divine privilege to serve Black women.
We’ve come a few teeny steps forward on the stigma-front (to all the SW activists, thank you friends you’re so brave and so excellent, I wish I was brave too but I’m so fucking tired) but it feels like the only SWers that some of society is willing to accept are a niche bunch: ritch bitches.
Fighting stigma can be one of the most gruelling and dangerous parts of existing
as a sex worker. With mainstream media projecting harmful and often false
assumptions as to who sex workers are while simultaneously coopting our
aesthetics, the battle to tell our own stories is ongoing. Today we speak to
editor and creative director Penelope Dario about her new industry focused
magazine Petit Mort [https://www.petitmortmag.com/] and the importance of
documenting and showcasing the creativity of th