Sometimes, pain comes from unlikely places. This piece is from DisClosure, a photography exploration of male escorts I did over a 10 year period. This image was included in the exhibition as a demonstration of the emotional pain that many sex workers experience from doing this type of work.

The quote that went with this image is:

” I didn’t feel like I could ever be emotionally hurt by someone who was paying me for sex.”

When I showed this work at the San Francisco Sex Workers Film and Art Festival, it was met with mixed review. The festival was comprised of 90% women artists and sex workers who were focused on a “sex positive” approach. Just the mention of the need to talk about the emotional or psychological effects of sex work was immediately dismissed.