We are a mutual aid network for and by sex workers on “Vancouver Island” doing peer-led advocacy, education & direct aid. We offer micro-grants to island-based sex workers quarterly (March, June, September & December) based on need & social marginalization, for as long as funds exist.
While bad laws and government inaction continue to threaten the survival of our most vulnerable community, we believe that mutual aid and other acts of practicing interdependence help make new futures possible.
Our work is guided by the lineage of Disability Justice. The title for the project was inspired by the works of advocate Mia Mingus’s writing on “Access Intimacy”, which she describes as “that elusive, hard to describe feeling when someone else ‘gets’ your access needs” (2011). Intimate Access points us towards the kind of closeness and care that makes our survival possible.
Values
Cross-Movement Solidarity
We seek to promote much needed solidarity between the disability communities and sex worker communities, both of whom face intersecting challenges and systemic barriers that often go unrecognized or unaddressed due to societal stigmas and misconceptions. We hope to bridge this divide by creating a platform for mutual understanding, collaboration and coalition.
Resisting Isolation Through Dignity & Belonging
The majority of sex workers are disabled, neurodivergent and/or chronically-ill, and more likely to face isolation stemming from compounded whorephobia, stigma, ableism, and state neglect that push us into the shadows. We aim to offer accessible ways to be in community without increasing exposure risk.
For in-person events that we host, we strive for safer ways of gathering that take airborne disease transmission into account, such as encouraging testing beforehand, adequate ventilation and cleaning the air.
Sex workers have long practiced harm reduction, developing brilliant community-based risk management tools that well predates this pandemic. COVID safety should fit seamlessly into this tradition and be just another example of us taking care of each other and building safety where systems fail us.
Territory Acknowledgement
Our work takes place on the stolen territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples – the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations – and the Wsáneć peoples, who have governed and protected these lands since time immemorial.
As sex workers, we recognize how colonial systems criminalize our labor while dispossessing, incarcerating, and disappearing Indigenous people. We are committed to centering Indigenous sex workers by redistributing resources, partnering with Indigenous-led organizations, and grounding our work in ongoing community accountability.
