For centuries, debates about sexuality have been shaped by a persistent divide: between purity and transgression. This split still shapes how societies talk about sex, power and agency—often leaving little room for the complexity of real lives. Drawing on decades of experience as a high-end escort, a sex worker rights activist and a survivor of both childhood sexual assault and domestic violence, Veronica Monet brings a perspective rarely heard in public discussions of feminism and sexuality. In this talk, she examines the long-standing Madonna-whore divide and asks what it means for movements that claim to pursue women’s liberation. Join Monet as she argues that the idea of "erotic empowerment" is often misunderstood or applied too simply, and calls for a more nuanced feminism—one that confronts the prevalence of sexual violence and takes seriously the ways trauma, agency and survival shape people’s relationships to intimacy, power and work.