 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(September 2012) |
Ashly Lorenzana (born 1987) is an American sex worker, freelance writer and writer of the autobiographical memoir titled Sex, Drugs & Being an Escort. [1] Lorenzana currently resides in Portland, Oregon where she was born.
Lorenzana's memoir, Sex, Drugs & Being an Escort, [2] is a collection of journal entries written between the years 2006 and 2010. The frequency of journal entries is quite erratic; some months include several entries while others are spaced several weeks apart. Some months included in the journal pass in complete silence, featuring no entries at all.
Lorenzana is given credit for a number of quotations which circulate heavily on social sites such as Twitter and Tumblr, most of which relate to addiction, honesty and perception. [3] Her work has also been quoted in a number of online articles and publications, sometimes using her analogies and satire on the topic of drug addiction to illustrate points made on unrelated subjects, including finance. [4]
After publishing her memoir, Lorenzana was invited to be a guest at The Red Umbrella Diaries live reading event in New York City, hosted by sex worker advocate Audacia Ray.
Ashly began her work as an independent escort around 2005, at the age of seventeen. She primarily advertised her services on Craigslist in the now defunct "Erotic Services" sub-forum after learning that her mother was also using the site to find customers for her escort services. In various news stories, [5] Lorenzana has voiced her support for online escort forums and communities, claiming that they provide a safer environment for sex workers and allow for easier screening of new clients.
Lorenzana is known for openly admitting to struggling with substance abuse problems, particularly a long lasting methamphetamine addiction that began in her late teens. In her writing and in several interviews, [6] she has explained that her mother was also an addict and that the two of them often engaged in recreational drug use together as a shared hobby.
In an August 2012 column in The New York Times , [7] Lorenzana is credited for writing a consumer review which led to the ultimate demise of paid review service GettingBookReviews.com. Lorenzana wrote the negative review and published it on a number of consumer complaint sites after initially hiring GettingBookReviews.com to review her memoir, and later declaring that the company was in fact scamming their customers and that she refused to use their reviews after learning that writers were only being paid to write five star reviews for books.
A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency. The client must make an appointment, usually by calling a telephone number. Call girls often advertise their services in small ads in magazines and via the Internet, although an intermediary advertiser, such as an escort agency, may be involved in promoting escorts, while, less often, some may be handled by a pimp. Call girls may work either incall, where the client comes to them, or outcall, where they go to the client. Some porn stars are known to escort as well.
Virtual sex is sexual activity where two or more people gather together via some form of communications equipment to arouse each other, often by the means of transmitting sexually explicit messages. Virtual sex describes the phenomenon, no matter the communications equipment used.
Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict, or Junky, is a 1953 novel by American Beat generation writer William S. Burroughs. The book follows "William Lee" as he struggles with his addiction to morphine and heroin. Burroughs based the story on his own experiences with drugs, and he published it under the pen name William Lee. Some critics view the character William Lee as simply Burroughs himself; in this reading, Junkie is a largely-autobiographical memoir. Others view Lee as a fictional character based on the author.
Drugs and prostitution have been documented to have a direct correlation.
Male prostitution is a form of sex work consisting of the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male prostitutes have been far less studied than female prostitutes by researchers. Even so, male prostitution has an extensive history including regulation through homosexuality, conceptual developments on sexuality, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic impact. In the last century, male sex work has seen various advancements such as popularizing new sexual acts, methods of exchange, and carving out a spot in cinema.
Jennifer "Jennie" Ketcham is an American writer, reality television personality, blogger, and artist. Before 2009, she worked as a pornographic film actress and director under the name Penny Flame. She later appeared on a number of television talk shows to discuss sex addiction, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tyra Banks Show, The View, Entertainment Tonight, Extra and Lifechangers.
Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction (1997) is a novel by Luke Davies.
Shopping addiction is characterized by an eagerness to purchase unnecessary or superfluous things and a lack of impulse control when it comes to shopping. It is a concept similar to compulsive buying disorder (oniomania), but usually has a more psychosocial perspective, or is viewed as a drug-free addiction like addiction to gambling, Internet, or video games. However, there is "still debate on whether other less recognized forms of impulsive behaviors, such as compulsive buying [...] can be conceptualized as addictions."
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, later called simply Rehab with Dr. Drew, is a reality television show that aired on the cable network VH1 in which many of the episodes chronicle a group of celebrities as they are treated for alcohol and drug addiction by Dr. Drew Pinsky and his staff at the Pasadena Recovery Center in Pasadena, California. The first five seasons of the series, on which Pinsky also serves as executive producer, cast celebrities struggling with addiction, with the first season premiering on January 10, 2008, and the fifth airing in 2011.
Maressa Hecht Orzack was an American psychologist who was clinical associate in psychology at McLean Hospital; Coordinator of Behavior Therapy Affective Disease Program, also at McLean Hospital and assistant clinical professor of psychology, Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She also held private practice at Newton Centre.
Shelley Lubben was an American author, singer, motivational speaker, and pornographic actress. As a performer in the adult film industry, she was known professionally as Roxy. After she left the sex industry, Lubben became a born-again Christian and anti-pornography activist. From 2008 to 2016, she was the executive director of Pink Cross Foundation, which reached out to women and men in pornography and spoke in public forums about the hazardous working conditions that she experienced in the porn industry. In January 2016, Lubben closed Pink Cross Foundation.
Ann Rachel Marlowe is an American critic, journalist and writer working in New York City.
Love addiction is a proposed model of pathological passion-related behavior involving the feeling of falling and being in love. A medical review of related behaviors in animals and humans concluded that current medical evidence does not have definitions or criteria on an addiction model for love addiction, but there are reported similarities to substance dependence, such as euphoria and desire in the stimuli, as well as anhedonia and negative levels of mood when away from the stimuli, intrusive thoughts on it, and disregard for adverse consequences. There has never been a reference to love addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a compendium of mental disorders and diagnostic criteria published by the American Psychiatric Association.
Requiem for a Dream is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher McDonald, and Marlon Wayans. It is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Hubert Selby Jr., with whom Aronofsky wrote the screenplay. The film depicts four characters affected by drug addiction and how it alters their physical and emotional states. Their addictions cause them to become imprisoned in a world of delusion and desperation. As the film progresses, each character deteriorates, and their delusions are shattered by the harsh reality of their situations, resulting in catastrophe.
Marie Nyswander was an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst known for developing and popularizing the use of methadone to treat heroin addiction.
Whispers and Moans is a 2007 Hong Kong film directed by Herman Yau. It is based on the 2006 book Whispers and Moans by Yeeshan Yang, investigating the Hong Kong sex trade. It has a Category III rating in Hong Kong.
The Internet has become one of the preferred methods of communication for prostitution, as clients and prostitutes are less vulnerable to arrest or assault and for its convenience.
How to Murder Your Life is a memoir by fashion and beauty journalist Cat Marnell. It was released in 2017 by Simon & Schuster and became a bestseller.
Veronica Monet is an American author and activist for sex worker rights. Her early activism focused on disproving stereotypes about sex workers and advocating for the decriminalization of all sex work. From 1989 to 2004, she was a high-end escort and courtesan. Monet's later work focuses on anger management, healing shame, and helping couples integrate their sexuality with their spirituality.
Keri Lynn Blakinger is an American journalist and author. She is an investigative reporter for The Marshall Project, where she covers criminal justice.