ANSWER Detroit Mutual Aid and Operations
Donation protected
A Network of Sex Workers to Excite Revolution (ANSWER) is a Detroit-based collective of sex workers that came together in the Spring of 2019. We founded ANSWER with the belief that decriminalization is only one piece of the juicy liberation we deserve; as sex workers and as humans just trying to survive capitalism.
In 2020, the federal government explicitly barred sex workers or anyone engaged in work of a "prurient sexual nature" from receiving federal COVID-19 relief. ANSWER knew that our community would be specially vulnerable during this time. We created a mutual aid fund that raised over $30,000 which was distributed to over 50 sex workers in the Detroit area. A huge thank you goes out to anyone who contributed and/or helped to spread the word! It was much more of a success than we anticipated. In October of 2020, we opted to sunset that rendition of our mutual aid fund. A new plan for our mutual aid work will be rolled out in early 2021.
The money raised here will go towards our continued mutual aid work as well as our general operating costs. We will use the funds at our discretion for things like outreach supplies, paying fellow sex workers for facilitating workshops, and stipends for people's labor.
We were blown away by the support we received for our COVID-19 Mutual Aid Relief Fund. Many of those donations were $5-$20. It really doesn't take a lot to make a difference. As they say... size doesn't matter.
Thank you so much for your support!
In 2020, the federal government explicitly barred sex workers or anyone engaged in work of a "prurient sexual nature" from receiving federal COVID-19 relief. ANSWER knew that our community would be specially vulnerable during this time. We created a mutual aid fund that raised over $30,000 which was distributed to over 50 sex workers in the Detroit area. A huge thank you goes out to anyone who contributed and/or helped to spread the word! It was much more of a success than we anticipated. In October of 2020, we opted to sunset that rendition of our mutual aid fund. A new plan for our mutual aid work will be rolled out in early 2021.
The money raised here will go towards our continued mutual aid work as well as our general operating costs. We will use the funds at our discretion for things like outreach supplies, paying fellow sex workers for facilitating workshops, and stipends for people's labor.
We were blown away by the support we received for our COVID-19 Mutual Aid Relief Fund. Many of those donations were $5-$20. It really doesn't take a lot to make a difference. As they say... size doesn't matter.
Thank you so much for your support!
Organizer and beneficiary
ANSWER Detroit
Organizer
Detroit, MI
Sarah Messer
Beneficiary