Melissa Petro, the schoolteacher ousted for writing about her sex-work past, wants you to know she’s not a fame-whore. But would that be so bad?
In an interview with Marie Claire, Petro discusses her decisions to strip and later sell sex on Craigslist, and talks about her current status — now that she’s been booted from the classroom, she’s been relegated to one of the New York City school district’s infamous “rubber rooms,” where she believes she’ll remain in limbo til she quits. But amid all this, something else stood out. Says Petro of all the media attention she’s receiving:
In one paper, I’m being made out as some sort of moron blabbermouth. In the next article I’m villainized for somehow masterfully calculating this whole thing. I’ve been called an “attention whore” and a “media whore,” which is honestly more offensive than just a plain old whore, because at least when I was prostituting, I was getting paid. Let it just be said that I’ve in no way profited off these circumstances, certainly not monetarily. I don’t write for the money, or for the publicity — certainly not this kind of publicity. I write because I’m a writer, and because these are issues I feel strongly about.
I’m not really sure I buy this. I believe Petro didn’t want to lose her job, or be vilified, and I believe she hasn’t profited from the experience (yet, that is — a little notoriety never hurt anybody’s book-deal prospects). But most people who write for publication do think about being read — if they didn’t, they’d just keep a journal. And really, what’s wrong with that? Why is “attention whore” the ultimate insult?
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