I thought I’d had a plenitude of sexual experience when I started—I... had a sex blog where I would write about OKCupid and Craigslist hookups—but most of those encounters were things I was hazing myself through.
I am a New York City-based dominatrix and cultural activist. I started doing BDSM professionally in 2016 after finding a dungeon on craigslist (those were the days) and then mostly did online work for a year or two while I finished college before transitioning to full-time in-person BDSM.
I kind of always knew I was going to end up in the sex industry, to be honest. I became sexually active at a very young age and, despite growing up in a small, conservative New Jersey town, never seemed to possess any internalized shame around my desires.
I had just worked a week in a hot ass kitchen in Lancelin and I didn't make anywhere near what she made in a night, so I decided to go and apply for a job too. The following weekend in Oct 2012 I started my escort career at the same place.
The threats sex workers face are not just from clients or individuals in society; the very system we live within is at the root of much of the violence we face.