"I was excited about choosing sex work, and was the happiest I have ever been when I got into it. I performed, met new people and learned from them all the time. I helped people and made people happy."
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.
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.
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.