Posted on by Miss Brook$

face or no face?

Vanessa D’Alessio wrote a great piece over at TitsandSass around the issue of showing your face in conjunction with your online escort work. My response got eaten by the Intertubes, I think. Instead of reposting, I decided to expand on it a little here.

This article has been at the back of my mind since I read it last week. My arc has been slightly different than hers. When I started stripping, I was fairly out and allowed myself to be photographed, topless, for one of my club’s websites (back when the Internet was indeed tubes that connected computers using gerbils and string). They never removed the picture despite repeated requests, even after I left stripping and began escorting. (It was later removed only because they redid their site.)

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

fosta/sesta for online escorts

The news of last week sent me reeling. I should have been better prepared but other than assuming the bill would pass, I did nothing. So…I’ve done what many have done as far as my online work persona goes; and thought about things.

personal privacy

As someone who has touted the value of personal privacy for years, you should take steps on that front. Abine’s Delete Me service is not that expensive and very well worth it. If you can’t afford the fee, they show you how to do it on your own (it’s time-consuming). I bought their service a couple years ago and am extremely happy with it.

For years, I’ve recommended How to Stay Invisible and it’s still worthwhile when it comes to offline privacy. The Lifeboat Strategy is very expensive and informative, and best for those with a lot of money to protect. The website does have free information available. I’ve found the best online privacy resource yet to be Hiding From the Internet, written by a former FBI agent. And then there’s the very excellent A Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy, written by Violet Blue, who is very sex worker friendly.

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

how my personal choices affect everyone else who isn’t me

I should have Storified this but didn’t because I only have so much time and energy.

A question was posed on Twitter about not seeing guys of a certain race. I gave a flip, but honest answer, about why I no longer see Indian clients (even though Indians aren’t actually a race, they’re an ethnicity). And I don’t. I made that decision a year ago, after months of soul-searching and debate.

All of that debate was with two friends who would hear about my complaints after each and every appointment with Indian guys and they would pose the obvious solution: “Stop seeing Indian clients.” I would argue back with all the arguments I got on Twitter, plus my worry about it affecting my finances.

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

moving past the backpage shutdown

Welp, that was inevitable.

When I was touring a few months ago, and Carl Ferrer, the CEO of Backpage, was arrested, I had about $800 of credit in my account. I started spending and not replenishing because I knew BP wouldn’t last much longer. As of today, I have less than $200 in my account. I have no way of getting that money back, that I know of, but at least it’s still there and it’s not very much, really.

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

uptown thief

Finally, a book that features sex workers as main characters, not as main victims or main outcasts! The reviewers talk about the amazing revelation that sex workers are real people, thanks to this story. The author thanks $pread Magazine, the St. James Infirmary, Bay Area SWOP, and The Harm Reduction Coalition and Training Institute in her long list of acknowledgements. Uptown Thief by Aya de Leon is the first in a series featuring the sex workers introduced in this story.

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