So What If I'm a Puta
Diaries of Transness, Sex Work, Desire
Amara Moira wrestles with sex work and identity in her piercing essay collection So What If I’m a Puta.
This public diary documents Moira’s decision to use sex work to embrace her identity as a travesti, a distinct cultural representation of trans womanhood. Becoming a puta, a sex worker, was the logical outcome. In “Cruising Lessons,” Moira recognizes her enjoyment of sex with anonymous partners and realizes that she had “always been a puta,” just an unpaid one. Exchanging the pleasure of her body for money became inevitable. That she would write a public blog to chronicle her experiences, attempting to answer the titular question, and discover a radical freedom of self and expression, was an unexpected bonus.
The book is conversational in tone and explicit, even obscene, at times. Most entries recount one or more nights at work using raunchy language. They represent the realities of sex work, including painful encounters, the sweat and stink of bodies at their most vulnerable, and apprehension at the ever-present specter of violence via a trick gone wrong. Woven throughout are philosophical reflections on the nature and necessity of sex work in broader context, articulating a vision of “putafeminism,” feminism that recognizes and embraces sex work. Moira also advocates for better education, safety and protection, and destigmatization. These themes take a stark turn in “Sex Work and Free Love,” which makes explicit the book’s exploration of the tension between being a travesti puta who engages in and with sex work and a travesti puta in a genuine relationship with a partner.
So What If I’m a Puta is an unflinching, erudite essay collection that delivers a no-holds-barred look into sex work as a form of expression and a path to discovery.
Reviewed by
Dontaná McPherson-Joseph
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