Perhaps I’m naive or live a woefully sheltered life, but until I read the eponymous article in Seattle’s newspaper The Stranger, I had never heard the axiom “Sadder than a whore on Christmas”. Now that I have heard it, just thinking about the saying makes my skin crawl, but The Stranger’s regular contributor Mistress Matisse’s take on … in her words… “the ups and downs of being a sex worker during the holidays” is a delightful piece on what it means to participate in the holiday season and the different ways people do so.
Describing her 21st Christmas in which she sneaks away from her raucous, demanding family to visit a client in a nearby hotel, Mistress Matisse explains:
The client was pleasant and uncomplicated, and the sterile beige serenity of the hotel, with its silent hallways and clean white sheets, was a balm. I returned to my grandmother’s house to have some pie—someone else had whipped the cream—and then it was time for everyone to go home.
It was the best family Christmas party ever.
An honest, funny essay that remains refreshingly unsentimental about either the holidays or sex work. Check it out!
-Eden
