Confessions of a New York Public School Teacher

Monday, 27 September 2010 | by Pat's Picks

Here’s a new way to look at sex ed: The New York Post says a public elementary school art teacher has outed herself as a former prostitute. The woman, who has an MFA in creative nonfiction, recently wrote a piece about her stint as a sex worker for the Huffington Post, in which she used her real name and photo.

Melissa Petro says she worked in the sex industry in London and in Mexico before soliciting clients via Craiglist’s now shuttered Erotic Services section. She describes herself as a “former sex worker, researcher, writer, educator, and feminist.”

Read her Huffington Post essay, entitled, “Thoughts From a Former Craigslist Sex Worker.” Outing herself seems to be a common distraction for Petro. In this Rumpus essay, “Not Safe for Work,” she again identifies herself as a former prostitute and current elementary school teacher.