My ex girlfriend, my first true (young) love, has been an addict for a long time. This complicated, kindhearted woman grew up with poverty, abuse, and mental health struggles. She’s had severe asthma for her entire life and I watched her almost lose consciousness while she couldn’t breathe bc her mom couldn’t afford her inhaler till the next day, she begged me not to call an ambulance because her mom couldn’t afford the bill. I watched her fight her mom and miss her absentee dad and try to scrape together enough money to feed herself and her little sister. And then she turned to coke, and then opiates. She’s been a heroin addict ever since.
I’ve had to set boundaries with her because she would reach out to me begging for money. I’m still friends with her on social media and I’m watching her spiral. A week ago she posted a photo of her empty inhaler begging anyone to send her an inhaler or some money. The next day she suddenly had an onlyfans and was posting full nudes on fb with only the necessities censored “100 photos + 20 videos - cheap”. She looks so sick. Emaciated. Track marks on her arms. And there were men in the comments saying “hell yeah send me a link 😉”. She’s a lesbian and a domestic abuse survivor. The idea of these disgusting men jacking off to her and sending her $10 while she’s struggling to breathe and not go into withdrawals is making my fucking skin crawl. My heart is breaking for her.
I don’t wanna hear any of the sex work is real work bs. I’m so tired of women being exploited at every turn. If my ex had any other option to make enough money to care for herself, she would never be doing this.
The fucking kicker is that I found out the next day that her 20 yo little sister is escorting and ‘modeling’ now too. Poverty and trauma breed sex work. It is an end of the road option. And it shouldn’t be an option.