![](\"https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8zMzQ1ODI1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTcxMzcwODgxOH0.I2mQm02K70oaui76HHqoRlOo2mt7mQeMLJfEIFg60L8\/img.jpg?width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tall Milk<\/a> throws a tea party on a sunny afternoon in their Bushwick one-bedroom. Tea crackers, Jordan almonds and an assortment of tea bags rest neatly on a floral porcelain dish. The kettle whistles and they pour steaming water into Victorian-style tea cups with small, delicate handles, the kind you pinch between your thumb and index fingers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s a perfect Tuesday tea party for two, a delightful get-together where Tall Milk and I have set aside time in our busy work days to sit and talk about sex, porn and trauma.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tall Milk, their chosen professional name, is a 6’3″ Brooklyn-based artist, writer and sex worker. With mythical blue eyes, pouty lips and flaxen hair that tumbles well past their abdomen, Tall Milk resembles a life-sized Victorian doll, an appearance that has become an enduring theme in their work \u2014 in the hyper-feminine, fetish wonderland of their OnlyFans account, the baroque kitsch of their apartment decor and the romantic styling of their garments: layered ribbons, laces and silks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s in part a constructed costume, a fantastical getup for their kinky clientele, and in part it\u2019s leaning into the genetic cards they were dealt, playing up the statuesque proportions of their body. \u201cI\u2019m just a giantess in my tiny apartment trying to make stuff that I think is beautiful,\u201d they tell me, smiling. They gaze up at the crowded shelves, some piled with antique dolls and others with fleshy, whimsical masturbators.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI want to look at beautiful things all the time,\u201d they explain. \u201cI\u2019ve collected dolls since I was in foster care and got dolls for good behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tall Milk is an Evangelical Christian cult survivor who spent the latter part of their childhood in the foster care system. Much of their work draws from their puritanical background, exploring, interrogating and experiencing the full spectrum of sexuality as a means to heal from trauma-borne shame.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the floating shelves, stacked beside French boudoir dolls, is their artistic life force: a collection of books and memoirs written by sex workers. While moonlighting at a Manhattan lap dance parlor, Tall Milk worked at one of New York\u2019s venerated institutions, the Strand Bookstore, where they began promoting sex work books in-store and on Instagram. They especially loved the \u201890s-era memoirs and books \u201cwhen all the discussions about whether or not porn is exploitative were being had \u2014 and won \u2014 by sex workers.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inspired by the radical voices of sex worker authors they were reading and promoting at work, Tall Milk set out to share these stories while nurturing an artistic expression of their own. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thus was born the collaborative short film trauma p0rn<\/em>, based on Andrea Werhun<\/a>\u2019s memoir Modern Whore<\/em><\/a>, a sumptuous dreamworld with a dark underlying message. Using a multimedia collage style, pulling in various art fragments like props, text from the book and an original shoot with Werhen, Tall Milk addresses the critical issue of trauma porn. This is Tall Milk\u2019s second foray into turning sex workers\u2019 books into visual art, the first being a film that used Rachel Rabbit White\u2019s<\/a> Porn Carnival <\/em>poetry book.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTrauma porn is when a client eroticizes trauma,” Tall Milk tells me. An example is “asking [sex workers] while they\u2019re working, \u2018What\u2019s the worst thing that\u2019s ever happened to you?\u2019 or \u2018What went wrong that you ended up here?\u2019\u201d The response these men are seeking, Tall Milk explains, is for entertainment\u2019s sake, a shocking anecdote to tuck away, and not because they have a vested interest in receiving the weight of the potential answers. They’ve even had incidents where a client has blamed their loss of arousal on a \u201cdepressing\u201d exchange.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese men, who are themselves damaged and unable to navigate their own lives, will pry too hard into our humanity while still thinking of us as objects,” Tall Milk says resolutely. “Then they will act surprised when their dicks get soft realizing you\u2019re a person and sometimes won’t want to pay for the session.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The role of the sex worker often includes minimizing one\u2019s humanity in order to sustain the illusion of the fantasy, acting as a vessel of care and pleasure only. \u201cPeople see us as either demons or some kind of embodiment of sex,\u201d Tall Milk shares. \u201cArt from sex workers shows our personality, resilience, humanity and takes our narrative back from how others [construct us] in corny books and movies.\u201d In their artistic collaboration, Tall Milk and Werhun both condemn the exploitative realities of trauma porn and celebrate the vibrancy and nuance of sex work from their own perspectives. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And while these books, films and other artworks are vital for the community in documentation and tribute, they\u2019re equally important for society at large. \u201cWe know the secrets of the world.\u201d Tall Milk says. \u201cSocietal issues are magnified in sex work and therefore we are often faced with the violence that comes from a racist, sexist society.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tall Milk was raised in their father\u2019s cult with eight other siblings and their mother. With strong ties to the Evangelical church, they were taught that their female-born body was one to be shamed, covered and controlled by forces outside of themselves. \u201cAs an ex-hardcore Christian and ex-virgin-till-married good girl, I tend to fixate on restrictive sexuality and sexual freedom in my art,\u201d Tall Milk says. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Their childhood was shrouded in guilt and physical isolation. \u201cWe were locked in the house or in our bedrooms, so we used our imaginations to become superheroes and spies,\u201d Tall Milk says. \u201cMy Precious Moments doll was my first glimpse of beauty that rescues. Every day, I’m clawing out of that sad room and reaching for something beautiful, something that makes me feel my pulse. I\u2019m playing dress-up.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For many, careers in the nebulous sexual arena \u2014 burlesque performers, exotic dancers, dominatrixes \u2014 fulfill an array of artistic channels and pursuits. Through personas, costumes, music and props, the erotic conductor is tasked with creating the perfect conditions in which fantasy can occur. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tall Milk\u2019s ad hoc career as a dominatrix allows for a full spectrum of creative expression. \u201cI get to play a mother, an actor, a doctor, a witch!\u201d Tall Milk exclaims. \u201cI get to inject my personality into my work and connect with all the \u2018me\u2019s of the world: crossdressers, weirdos, crybabies, losers and freaks. By accepting others, I accept myself.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For their next project, Tall Milk is interested in producing a short film series called Dollhouse Diaries <\/em>where they and other sex workers would play with dolls and talk about inner child healing. \u201cInstead of using fellow sex workers for trauma porn,\u201d Tall Milk explains. \u201cI’d like to ask them things like, \u2018What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you as a sex worker; what dolls did you play with as a kid; what’s your love language?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Check out Tall Milk and author Andrea Werhun’s short film trauma p0rn<\/em> below.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-90.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-91.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-92.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-93.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-95.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-96.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-97.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vivabella.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/img-98.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
\n