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An elementary school teacher from the Bronx, New York, has been reassigned for publically revealing her past as a stripper and prostitute, the New York Post reported yesterday. The question this story has thrown up is whether this demotion, as well as the coverage the story has received in the press, confirms that society is afraid of sex workers.
Melissa Petro has been teaching art at the PS 70 elementary school in the Bronx for three years, and has been open about her profession prior to becoming a teacher. In an essay for The Rumpus, published in the June of 2010, Petro wrote about her experiences and explained her need to speak out about sex work, despite what her colleagues might think. And in a Huffington Post article earlier this month, Petro revealed that she had used Craigslist to facilitate a brief career as a prostitute. It was this revelation that apparently caused PS 70 to remove Petro from her classroom.
Parents of pupils at PS 70 are predictably outraged – and have …
… spoken out to the New York Post regarding the revelations, saying that they do not want a former sex worker to be in contact with their children, or do not want their children to find out about Ms Petro’s past. PS 70’s principal, Kerry Castellano, referred questions to the New York Department of Education’s press office, who confirmed that Petro had been reassigned to administrative duties pending an investigation.
In my mind this, along with the coverage this story received in the New York Post (‘gives a new twist to ‘sex ed’… ‘the tattooed former hooker and stripper’), can be said to perpetuate the idea that contact with a sex worker, current or former, somehow poisons society. The reaction of the parents of PS 70 and the press to this story seems to confirm a view that children being taught by a former sex worker might somehow be contaminated by their presence or influenced by their former work.
This echoes certain homophobic arguments – how many times has some wacko pastor declared that gay people shouldn’t be around children because they’ll ‘recruit’ them or somehow influence them into ‘inappropriate’ ways of thinking.
Whilst it would be all too easy to criticise Petro for revealing information that, as an intelligent woman, she knew could jeopardise her job, I think there’s more going on here, especially if we look at the treatment of Petro alongside the treatment of homosexuals. Most of us would agree that being able to live openly as a homosexual is a fundamental right – so why doesn’t living openly as a former sex worker demand the same right? Whilst I can certainly understand the parents of PS 70’s pupils being unhappy about Petro teaching their children, I think the treatment of Petro is unjust. Anna North, writing on Jezebel yesterday, sums this up nicely:
‘Obviously the two [former sex workers and homosexuals] aren’t the same – except in so far as they reveal our culture’s deep anxieties about how other people fuck. These anxieties could cost Petro her job – and no matter what you think about sex worker’s complicated politics, this is unjust.’
Whilst Pedro could have perhaps been more discreet, or thought more carefully about how her choices would impact herself, her employers and the children she taught, I think there is a level of gross unfairness in this story. What do you guys think?
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On one hand, I say it’s no big deal. She wasn’t talking about it with her students in her classroom, which highlights the larger issue of: should teachers be held accountable for what they do outside the classroom as part of their teaching jobs. Seems to me, we expect teachers to live like monks and nuns when they leave the school, an expectation we don’t put on other professionals. That’s what I find most distubing: teachers being fired for drinking, smoking pot, being artists, having kinky sex all while NOT in the classroom or school. We’re saying teachers can’t have personal lives unless those personal lives are completely G rated.
On the other hand, when you’re dealing with elementary school aged kids, the rules are going to be less flexible and the outrage greater. We imbue our children (under the age of 12) with an angelic innocence that borders on the absurd. And she should have known that and proceeded with more caution. I’m not saying it’s right, I’m saying that’s the current climate.
Being a teacher (K-12) does not give one the most freedom to be an activist, pundit, or crusader.
Many aspects of the NYC Dept. of Ed. operations may seem antiquated, even precious…but the fact remains that teachers and other staff are actually expected to set an example by behaving according to a higher standard, especially in the public eye. This is made clear at the outset, amongst all the other various forms to fill out and sign, not to mention the background checks they run on all prospective employees.
I do believe that it’s a bit sketchier when a person is discussing past behavior, but if I knew her personally, I would have strongly suggested that she use a pseudonym or otherwise disguise her identity…while maybe this counteracts her desire to speak out and advocate for sex workers (and for this I commend her), many teachers use more discretion for less controversial reasons. I am a former DOE employee, and I am also aware that other DOE employees have committed (and sometimes, gotten away with) much worse things than what Melissa Petro did. I think they will probably do a cursory investigation, determine that she isn’t endangering anyone, and write something creatively titled “letter in the file.” It’s exactly what it sounds like. Her problem will be getting rehired…if parents are in that much of an uproar at her former school, she may have to seek a transfer (may even be encouraged to do so by the principal)…but then prospective new schools may be turned off by the afore-mentioned letter and/or potential for their own group of parents to create uproar. Unfortunately, the real problem here was not what she did in the past, so much as the publicity generated by her choice in revealing it.
Melissa Petro made a bad choice, but I don’t believe she’s currently likely to endanger any kids. I sincerely wish her the best possible outcome to her current situation…and hope she’s learned a valuable (if painful and unintended) lesson about managing your public identity in the 21st century.
So…she used to be a prostitute and then became a teacher? And this is bad? Are all women who work in the sex trade supposed to do that for the rest of their lives?
I don’t understand this outrage at all.
She’s going to turn all of her students into prostitutes and homosexuals! Don’t you understand how dangerous this is??!?1! Because we all know that once someone has worked a certain job, they will try to convert people to that job; I know I certainly force people into becoming Target cashiers.
Were the children she was teaching delivered by stork? Immaculate conception? Have none of the parents ever been paid for doing a job, even one they disliked? She isn’t still working in the sex trade, right? While I admit she may have gone about this in the way most likely to raise hackles, she’s not advocating that students go out and do this now, or anything remotely like that. She’s saying I feel for these people because I have experienced the same, and something needs to be done about it. In an ideal world, those same parents would be saying “Let’s educate (ha!) our children so they don’t have to do what this teacher has had to do, and so that they can have better futures.” Obviously not an ideal world here.
Female sexuality frightens the masses. It always has.
While it may not be right, teachers are held to a higher standard than most other professions. She knew this when she decided to out herself as a former sex worker. What did she expect?
When someone who is in a mentoring position is attacked for revealing (in a sensible manner) a part of their lives (or past) in order to benefit students and people- and not for the sake of being shocking or out of desire to be “besties” with their students- I have to ask what the hell is wrong with our education system. I know on this site the subject of personal relationships between teachers and students if brought up a lot. To me facebook is far different from this. Facebook is malleable. Settings change, scope of information we can share changes, new people are constantly appearing. A teacher shouldn’t have a facebook which is accessible to students if only for their own peace of mind. It is not something well thought out (in my case) or an arena in which a mentor/student relationship can grow. (Caveat: They make a separate account just for students!)
But in this case, the teacher was clearly sharing something deeply personal in order to probe an important issue. It wasn’t like she typed “@littlebobby ur dad use2 come n 4 a lapdnce evry Fri & buy my puC for 2k on his b-day” and it whirred off into cyberspace. She had a legitimate medium for serious discussion.
Maintaining the right distance can be tricky in this type of relationship. It is important to keep it both organic and professional. In my opinion this teacher took a stand likely knowing there would be a backlash. Hopefully this doesn’t bite her in the ass too hard.
Hmmm…
Three years?
She is probably tenured.
You can’t compare being a sex worker to being gay. One involves a choice. You may not like it, but by revealing that she previously BROKE THE LAW sets a very bad example for elementary school children. This has nothing to do with her “sexuality.” Is sex work related to sexuality? Did she do it for pleasure or for money? If she was doing it for pleasure, was it really sex “work”? She admitted to being a prostitute, which is illegal. Teachers are supposed to be held to a higher standard. That’s just the way it is. It was irresponsible of her to think otherwise. If as a teacher you don’t believe you should have to answer to those standards, find a new profession.
This is a horribly ignorant way to view how sex work comes into people’s lives in the first place- and reaffirms for me why this teacher speaking up was so important.