Content warning: this piece contains accounts of child sexual abuse and violence against a sex working minor as well as discussion of structural violence. I spent my teen years selling sex on the internet. I grew up on the Craigslist Erotic Services section, finding men who would pay me for something I didn’t take seriously… Continue reading Thinking About Cyntoia And My Black Body
Tag: abuse
How Everyone Has It Wrong On Blac Chyna
Recently, Blac Chyna has been relegated to being nothing more than a sex worker by opponents and supporters alike, people who reference her “finesse” and gloss over the abuse she’s suffered, reinforcing a dangerous narrative. Her humanity and her role as a mother are edited out of the persona people are now creating for her,… Continue reading How Everyone Has It Wrong On Blac Chyna
Flesh And Bone (2015)
Flesh and Bone is on Starz, and predictably over the top, and you know it will be from the moment the credits start. A tiny ballerina dances amidst red dust that’s maybe blood, maybe drugs, who even knows, accompanied by a cover of that Animotion song “Obsession.” Flesh and Bone is a dance story, and… Continue reading Flesh And Bone (2015)
Who’s The Victim: The Tragedy of Latesha Clay
Content warning: This piece contains general discussion of child sexual abuse. Reading about the plight of Latesha Clay, the child in Grand Rapids, MI sentenced to nine years in prison after being used as live bait in a robbery scheme, the thing that struck me was the use of the word “victim.” Of course, referring… Continue reading Who’s The Victim: The Tragedy of Latesha Clay
The State Is A Trafficker: Why Alaska Arrested Amber Batts
On April 4, 2014, Anchorage Police Department officers responded to a report of a “hysterical female.” The woman reported that she had lost her purse and she believed her coworker had taken it. In response, she’d threatened to tell the police about the “prostitution ring” they were involved in, and her coworker had threatened to… Continue reading The State Is A Trafficker: Why Alaska Arrested Amber Batts