Many face an existential choice: run out of money or continue to work, in spite of the risks.
Democrats keep playing up the clichés the press loves that have made the war on sex trafficking the new war on drugs.
Fired from her schoolteaching job after revealing she had once been a Craigslist call girl, Melissa Petro describes the world that awaits people who leave the trade.
Shutting down the adult classifieds site could force some users into poverty or onto the street, says former sex worker Melissa Petro.
Writer Melissa Petro says to give the guys a break—women are writing and editing these magazines too.
By sanitizing the true profession of the "masseuse" hired by Craigslist killer Philip Markoff, Lifetime only reinforces the idea that sex workers can't be sympathetic victims, says Melissa Petro, a former Craigslist sex worker and New York City teacher who was removed from the classroom after her past came to light.