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Sufferer Sex industry has ruined me

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I just feel so lost and alone. I feel like Im being left behind. I feel like everyone around me has this sense of homeostasis in their lives, but Im sitting in the corner with a tornado sweeping through my body. I don’t think it is the tornado that is the worst part though. It has to be the fact that I don’t have anyone who understands what Im dealing with.

All the warning signs were shadowed behind a sense of freedom and independence so enticing I couldn’t keep myself from it. At the beginning, a few stone cold c*nts warned me of the hell I was about to descend into. But they didn’t know me. Their faces never smiled and their words were abrasive. I didn’t listen because ‘I was better’ than them.

It all started the first weekend I danced. All the girls talked about how the only girls who went in the back rooms f*cked. After sitting with a bachelor party, They paid for us to have a private room. When he asked to f*ck, I said yes. I thought I had to.

From that moment forward, I was changed forever. Everything I had believed about the world suddenly became a lie. This man was supposed to be getting married in the next 12-16 hours. Instead of anxiously waiting or spending time with his soon to be bride, he was there… f*cking me… some random paid for hoe whose name he didn’t even know.

From that moment forward, I have been unable to love. Its awful, because I really do love in my heart, but its like there is a force field around me that wont let me use that love or give into it. It feels impossible to trust anyone despite what the facts show. I want so badly to be held and be loved, but anything more intimate than friendship, I break down. The problem is, I don’t know why I break down. Everything becomes so fragmented. I become so scared of everything. I don’t know how to get a grip.

I don’t know how I cannot blame myself. All the situations that still haunt my mind, I chose them. I chose to stay. I knew when I should have left or not even entered the situations at all. I said yes when I could have said no. I was warned of the horrors I would encounter, but I didn’t listen. I was told I would be this exact person before I even took my first step on a stage.

I can't keep living like this. Its so embarrassing to talk about this because who the f*ck can't go to the god damn beach in the summer? I know life can be so much better than this. I have a consult set up with a therapist in two weeks, but Ive seen soo many over the years. Every time i feel like my issues are too much for them and they don't quite get it. They always ask the same roundabout questions. I try to picture what my life will look like if and when I get past this, but I freeze up and start to cry because I just don't see how I can ever be ok around sexuality.
 
Hi, I'm sorry you're feeling this way.

Is it being a sex worker or the actions of others that has "ruined you"? BTW I don't think you're ruined... just needing to do some healing and to find your new you. To learn to trust again... yourself as well as others and the world. You mention the choices you made. Truly what were your other choices? Did you have any? Would they have been better for you and if you think so, are you so sure? Did you know which choice was better when you were making them? We can only do the best we can.

We don't know the past that you lived that may have led to this. Were there previous traumas? How was home life, your childhood? A lot of people who find themselves in the sex trade have experienced sexual or emotional abuse.

While right now I'm not working, in therapy, with issues surrounding the sex industry I am working on reframing how I think of certain choices I made when I was younger.

I was a chronic runaway for years. I had been in foster homes and group homes and eventually I would no longer stay anywhere... I just ran. I had no place to go but still, I ran. Needless to say this put me into a lot of dangerous situations. And forever the question I've asked myself is "Why did I put myself in those situations?" My answer... "My choice. I chose to runaway so I chose to let worse things happen to me. I put myself in those situations." "How stupid, I should have known better"

I am now trying to accept that I was not in fact putting myself IN those situations. I was taking myself OUT of one that I didn't feel I could survive (more emotionally than physically). It's really hard because I try to use the new way of thinking about it but then I go right back around to "But... then this happened and it was my fault." So lots more work and practice needed but I know I'm on the right track with this.

The reason why it is important to do this is because guilt and self blame will hinder your healing.
 
Bbb-
First for what its worth, I am so sorry you are going/have gone through all of this. I got sucked in to dancing in college for a short stint. I cant speak to your path personally but all different paths in that industry involve SOME kind of trauma. I wish someone would have told me that the industry is romanticized. I figured I could just do the dancing part which I loved, and shut myself off to all the other monstrous stuff. Its not possible. People drug you even when you say no, people do things even when you say no, all the people that work there start breaking you down-Rather than feeling powerful like movies show, you walk out feeling soulless.

You have definitely been traumatized. It also sounds like your wounds are very fresh and deep.
Pat yourself on the back for giving it another try with a therapist soon. I have gone through many therapists too, one of the things that happened to me (I was doing a private dance where I always said no, but this one guy when I had my back turned without any notice slammed his fingers up me and I wasnt turned on so it really hurt and was such a personal invasion I ran to the kitchen and hid there for 30 min until he left) I feel its more normal than people think to have to go through several therapists to find a good fit especially with this kind of stuff. But my personal advice is if they aren't specifically trauma specialists, I encourage you to try to see those and find a good fit. Once I started filtering through that kind of therapist, I am with the perfect one now on the second try.
It is going to take some hard work developing trust again, with relationships, etc. But you can do it because it sounds like you really want it.
 
Hi, I'm sorry you're feeling this way.

Is it being a sex worker or the actions of others that has "ruined...

Thank you for your reply. I definitely agree with what you said. There is a lot more I did in the industry that is causing me pain now. It is so hard to not blame myself because 'i put myself in those situations' but You are right. It was the best decision I could make for myself at those times. It is just hard to know that and go easy on myself when Im triggered.

Bbb-
First for what its worth, I am so sorry you are going/have gone through all of this. I got sucke...

My wounds are fresh and deep. Im just starting to realize why Im triggered and things I've locked away in my head are starting to come into consciousness. I do really want to be better. Im so tired of carrying around guilt and shame from other peoples wrong doings, but I'm still struggling with blaming myself. I just want to find a good therapist so bad. Im so happy you found a therapist that is working for you. I think this therapist specializes in trauma, but I will definitely double check before I waste money on a consult.
 
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Its definitely hard not to blame ourselves. We always say there's something we could have done, said, but as I said rest assured even when or where you could have said no, some people are so evil that they will coerce you to one way or another just to get what they want. Every time you start beating yourself up, counteract it with at least you were strong as well as smart enough to get out. How much more trauma did you save yourself from. I feel so much for the poor women and men that cant do that, feel they don't deserve better, or god the poor people forced into trafficking against their will. Keep us posted on how you are doing and if this therapist is a good one and can offer you a soft place to heal.
 
I don’t know how I cannot blame myself. All the situations that still haunt my mind, I chose them. I chose to stay. I knew when I should have left or not even entered the situations at all. I said yes when I could have said no. I was warned of the horrors I would encounter, but I didn’t listen. I was told I would be this exact person before I even took my first step on a stage.

I'm a combat vet. I chose it. I signed up for it. I was warned about it. I did it.

None of that somehow magically means I don't have to deal with it.

Blame is a distraction.
 
From that moment forward, I have been unable to love. Its awful, because I really do love in my heart, but its like there is a force field around me that wont let me use that love or give into it.
I'm going to ask a few tough questions - but please, know that they aren't meant as attacks.

First off: have you been diagnosed with PTSD?

Next: This statement - "from that moment forward, I have been unable to love"...how are you so certain? It is a very large thing to say/think about oneself, and it reads like it's you giving yourself a bigger problem than you actually may have.

You say you can feel love. OK - so that means, you are capable of it. You go on to say that it's like there's a force field around you that holds you back. I'm curious - what would you be able to do, if that force field weren't there? In other words, how would you know that you were expressing love?

(And what kind of love are we talking about? Romantic, platonic...how we think about things is directly related to how we feel about them; and most people struggling with their mental health are struggling with what are called cognitive distortions - ways of thinking that we develop over time that interfere with our ability to see things more as they are, and to consequently manage the intensity of our feelings about them.)
 
Hi, Do you have a history of trauma before this incident?

PTSD requires certain kinds of trauma and it sounds like you had regrettable sex while working as a stripper? This doesn't rise to the level of trauma that can cause PTSD. Are you familiar with the diagnostic criteria of PTSD?
 
Eve- where are you coming from in that statement-That does come off as degrading and offensive so please describe and maybe we can clear the air for @blackbackpack and others. I have been on here for several years and no one else in a thread has had to give a list of their credentials of why they have PTSD. I know that sex was her main example, but have you been in the sex industry? Day to day you are fighting very potentially dangerous situations. maybe she doesnt feel comfortable saying everything. Choice or not, the after trauma deserves the same respect as other types because 90% of gals go in thinking they can avoid the nasty parts. Im sure people join the military saying they are going to be one of the lucky ones who dont get shot. Sh*t happens, we find ourselves in bad situations. Lets respect eachother in all of our paths. This is a family place.
 
No magic answer here....just want you to know that there is no judgment....and kudos for reaching out. I have not personally been in the sex industry, but worked overseas with women and girls who had been trafficked. I believe that in the US and most of the Western world there is a very twisted belief that it is a choice when so many times it is not.
So just want you to hear that you have taken an important step to even question what is happening and that you want and DESERVE more....you are worth love whatever that means to you, you are worth respect.
You are heard and you are not alone.
 
Lets respect eachother in all of our paths. This is a family place.
It's perfectly fine to ask posters questions about why they think they have PTSD. Support doesn't always consist of affirmation; and asking questions does not remove any validation of the OPs experience.

I guess I'm just a slut crying wolf. my bad.
That's not what was said. You should check out the community constitution to get a sense of the dynamic here. As I said above, peer support is about a lot of different things. Part of being here is to talk about your experience. People will comment on it, identify with it, try and provide a different way to look at it, ask questions about it...take what's useful, and leave the rest.

I do want to ask again, because you didn't respond - have you been diagnosed with PTSD or seen anyone about obtaining a diagnosis?
 
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