@RandilynrhoadesNy may have been here

Aphrodite, the Goddess of beauty, desire and the protector of sex workers... It’s a shame they left that out of my high school classics.

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 still remember I was so pumped in my first booking that the client had to tell me to calm down haha. It felt so easy and natural for me so I kept doing it. But it wasn’t until after several months into it that I fully comprehended the value of what I provide.

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.

The lives of 19th century women are known to us today mainly through their letters and writing, but also through the then new (black-and-white) portrait photography, and the vivid paintings, pastels and watercolours of impressionist artists.