Samantha Bentley

Two weeks ago, I gave birth to my first son Roman. He arrived at 6AM on January 8, four days early, on the date I wanted. I asked my belly and he listened. He shares his birthday with Bowie, Elvis, and Stephen Hawking, and I have never been so overwhelmed with love and emotion in my life. Everyone tells you, "You don’t know love till you have kids."

The word 'soulmate' has so much pressure attached to it. Think about the weight of that title. Soul Mate. Someone who is, essentially, the person you believe to be eternally bonded to your own soul… quite a hefty responsibility.

I didn't hear the phrase "edgeplay" until quite recently, I always assumed the things I was into were just slightly abnormal kinks and fetishes, not an entire sub-genre of BDSM.

I haven’t even given birth to my son yet and I have already been mom shamed for certain decisions I am making with my pregnancy, nursery, life as a mother, etc. I have always dreamed of being a mother and felt it was part of my reason for being. I didn’t realise how hard I would find pregnancy and the coming to terms with the fact it was actually happening. The life changing decision to have a child REALLY is a life changing one, every single person I know has had a different journey with parenthood, and it is time we stopped shaming people for doing things "differently" to our perceived perfect picture of parenting.

The stigma surrounding veganism continues to grow, but so does its ever rising popularity. As more and more people realise the benefits of a plant based diet, the movement has begun to take over the mainstream media. Unfortunately, there will always be nay sayers, there will always be those who respond to any factual argument with 'But bacon tho!'... Yeah, you're smart and funny. Bet you get all the laughs down the pub.

I stumbled into the sex industry at the age of 18—that was 13 long years ago, so it’s safe to say I know my way around. Doing everything from stripping and feature dancing, to full on hardcore porn all over the globe, for the biggest names in the industry, winning awards (yes we have them), and gracing the covers of magazines.