Bay Area Public Health Workers Bare All for Charity

CONTACT:
Catherine Swanson, MPH, Project Coordinator
Hotties of Harm Reduction
(510) 472-3401
points_of_distribution [at] yahoo.com
http://www.hottiesofharmreduction.org

Bay Area Public Health Workers Bare All for Charity

OAKLAND, Calif.- Nudity may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one considers charity fundraising but the Hotties of Harm Reduction are about to change all that. Building upon the success they achieved last year, a group of public health activists have once again come together to publish "Hotties of Harm Reduction" a calendar for 2006. The calendar features a diverse mix of people baring it all to benefit three local syringe exchange organizations.

The Hotties of Harm Reduction calendar stands out from other fundraising calendars by offering a wider array of humanity than most do and by supporting one of the most effective, yet controversial, HIV prevention methods available.

According to Catherine Swanson, project coordinator and model, the calendar was designed with a variety of intents, "Harm reduction is about accepting the reality that people do not abstain from risky behaviors like having sex and doing drugs, so, given that reality, how can we reduce the risks for those activities? We want to raise money of course, but the calendar is just as much about raising awareness as it is about money".

"The calendar also represents the diversity of those of us dissatisfied with the ˜war on drugs", Swanson continues. Indeed "Hottie" is broadly defined by these activists; the models range in age from 21 to 77 with an equally wide spectrum of race, size, and gender represented in the black and white photos.

The controversy around the HIV prevention method in question stems from what some call a mistaken sense of what needle exchange does and does not do.

"Syringe exchange is one of the most studied HIV prevention modalities in history," says Swanson. "No study has ever found a correlation between needle exchange and increased drug use, and yet that continues to be the argument against funding it".

In fact, as this year's calendar points out, people who use syringe exchange are more likely to enter drug treatment than those who do not.

The last two years have seen some improvements to the state of syringe exchange in California. Last September Governor Schwarzenegger finally passed a bill that permits counties to allow the legal sale and possession of up to ten syringes.

This fall the legislature furthered AB 136, the initial law passed in 2001 which legalized some syringe exchange in the state by allowing health jurisdictions to declare a health-care "state of emergency" in order to allow syringe exchange. When the bill was originally passed health jurisdictions had to declare a state of emergency every 21 days. AB 547, signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October, augments the 2001 legislation by allowing counties to declare a state of emergency once a year instead.

But the calendar is also about something else; having a good time.

Ian MacLeod, a model for both last year's premiere and this year says it clearly: It's good to have some fun, a lot of the work we (syringe exchange workers) do is pretty heavy. It's cool to let our hair down and have a good time.

Each month the calendar features a photograph of nude harm reduction workers with messages like "Safe Sex is Hot Sex" and "Just Say Know" written on their bodies in make-up.

"We were trying to re-use some of the slogans in harm reduction and HIV prevention, says photographer Kasper Koczab, who donated his talents to make the calendar a reality, "with a twist".

The calendar, which sells at retail stores and online (http://www.hottiesofharmreduction.org), also provides key information including online resources, information about drugs and harm reduction techniques for using drugs more safely.

All proceeds from both the calendar benefit three needle exchanges: Points of Distribution (PoD), Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution (NEED), and San Francisco Needle Exchange (SF/NE).

The calendars sell for $10-25, sliding scale, on the Hotties of Harm Reduction Web site, http://www.hottiesofharmreduction.org.

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