Melissa Petro
Contributor
After Surviving Torture, Noura Al-Jizawi Is Fighting for Other Syrian Prisoners
After working as a prominent activist against the Assad regime, Noura Al-Jizawi was "kidnapped" on a bus and sent to prison without charges for seven months. Upon her release, she became a key figure in the battle to make space for Syrian women's...
'It Gets Very Intimate for Me': How Sex Workers Experience Pleasure with Clients
While many people think of sex work as either entirely exploitative or purely professional, a new study on intimacy, relationships, and pleasure in the sex industry highlights the ambiguity in many sex workers' approach to their jobs.
How a Mom’s Sex Worker Past Can Be Used Against Her—and Her Kids
Being a new mom is hard for anyone. For many former sex workers, it means balancing custody battles and workplace discrimination with midnight feedings and peek-a-boo.