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
FOSTER COALITION-BUILDING/CROSS-MOVEMENT SOLIDARITY
We seek to promote much needed solidarity between the disability community and the sex worker community, both of which 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. By fostering dialogue and building trust, we believe that we can amplify our common goals of autonomy, dignity, and justice.
RESISTING ISOLATION THROUGH DIGNITY & BELONGING
Sick & disabled sex workers are at a compounded risk of isolation stemming from whorephobia, stigma, ableism & eugenic state policies, all of which can push workers further into the shadows in an efforts to avoid being outed and/or doxed.
Medically high-risk sex workers who’ve been shut out of society due to COVID-19 minimization and pandemic denialism makes attending in-person events inaccessible. We want to offer a more accessible way of being in community and fostering connection that doesn’t put workers at an increased risk of exposure while doing so.
