SomedayMija, Youll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman: A Memoir

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Someday Mija, Youll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Womanis a memoir that turns time on its head, circling through terror and joy with eloquence and becoming its own sacrament of resistance. Foreword Reviews, 5-star review

At eighteen, Yvonne Martinez flees brutal domestic violence and is taken in by her dying grandmother . . . who used to be a sex worker. Before she dies, her grandmother reveals family secrets and shares her uncommon wisdom. Someday, Mija, she tells Yvonne, youll learn the difference between a whore and a working woman. She also shares disturbing facts about their familys historyeventually leading Yvonne to discover that her grandmother was trafficked as a child in Depression-era Utah by her own mother, Yvonnes great-grandmother, and that she was blamed for her own rape.

In the years that follow her grandmothers passing, Yvonne gets an education and starts a family. As she heals from her own abuse by her mother and stepfather, she becomes an advocate/labor activist. Grounded in her grandmothers dictum not to whore herself out, she learns to fight for herself and teaches others to do the sameexposing sexual harassment in the labor unions where she works and fighting corruption. Intense but ultimately uplifting, SomedayMija, Youll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman is a compelling memoir in essays of transforming transgenerational trauma into resilience and post-traumatic growth.

Reviews

Someday Mija, Youll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Womanis a memoir that turns time on its head, circling through terror and joy with eloquence and becoming its own sacrament of resistance.
Foreword Reviews, 5-star review

This sharp autobiographical account deftly illuminates prejudice in the American workplace.
Kirkus Reviews

The authors experiences resonated on a very personal level. Many times we never understand the trauma weve been throughtrauma that causes women, especially women of color, to doubt our very being and existence. Thank you, Yvonne, for writing about your experiences as a woman of color and an organizer. For me, this has been a much-needed, healing read.
Eleanor Chavez, Executive Director, National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (District1199NM), AFSCME, AFL-CIO

Its an honor and a privilege to experience Martinez's journey to unlock her trauma, and I would be remiss if I didnt recommend it to my fellow memoir lovers.
The Mistress of the House of Books review

A profound and consuming memoir that is in equal parts disturbing, sad, and inspiring.
Dr. LoSavio'sBook Reviews

As family stories go, the one Yvonne Martinez learned about her great-grandfatherkilled 100 years ago this month by a Utah sheriff's posseis a compelling one.
The Salt Lake Tribune

In this powerful debut memoir, Yvonne Martinez reflects on her life and what eventually led her to becoming a labor activist. . . . A must-read to learn more about this titan.
Shondaland.com, 10 Books You May Have Missed in 2022

Author Bio

Yvonne Martinez is a retired labor negotiator/organizer. She has been published by ZyZZyVa, Crab Orchard Review, Labor Notes, and NPR. She also formerly wrote a local labor blog in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her forthcoming memoir in essays, SomedayMija, Youll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman, covers her childhood in Salt Lake City/South Central/Boyle Heights and her work as a labor negotiator/organizer in California and the Pacific Northwest. Her play Scabmuggers is based on her experience as a National Fellow of the Harvard Trade Union Program in 1994. Yvonne lives in Berkeley, CA, and Portland, OR.