A teacher was outed for past sex work. Now she’s written a book about shame

‘Not only have you failed, but in shame you hold yourself singularly responsible for that failure,’ Melissa Petro writes. Composite: The Guardian/Melissa Petro

Shame is often weaponized against women – see Anita Hill, Amber Heard and Kamala “cat lady” Harris. Melissa Petro is all too familiar with the experience. In 2010, she was a public school art teacher in the Bronx and the New York Post published an exposé about her former sex work; she was removed from the classroom.

In her book Shame on You, Petro, 44, interviewed 150 subjects about their own shame spirals, exploring mom shame, financial shame, body shame and career shame.