This session is offered as part of a series of webinars focused on student wellness in partnership with the Ministry of Post Secondary Education and Future Skills.
This webinar will examine the ways in which post-secondary institutions can create safer spaces for sex workers to access services and destigmatize sex work on campus. We will explore how students are engaging in sex work, how sex work intersects with sexual violence, how to customize safety planning for sex workers on campus, and how to destigmatize sex to make your campus services safer and more accessible. This session is part of a project that offers a series of webinars funded by the Ministry of Post Secondary Education and Future Skills in partnership with BCcampus that focus on the prevention and responding to sexual violence on campus.
Moderator:
Ashley Bentley (she/her) is a queer white settler of British and Irish ancestry who has been working in the sexual violence and social justice field for over a decade on the unceded, ancestral, and shared lands and waters of the Skwxwú7mesh, the xʷməθkʷəỷəm, and SəỈílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations. Ashley has done sexual violence prevention and response work in post-secondary environments, including UBC, SFU, and BCIT, and she is currently the manager of Student Affairs at Capilano University. Ashley has been an independent sexual violence consultant for many years, working for various post-secondary campuses across the country, non-profit organizations, anti-violence spaces, and the K-12 system, including the YWCA, Portland Housing Society, EVA BC, Douglas College, Langara College, and the Department of Women and Gender Equity. Ashley has a master’s degree in equity studies in education from SFU with a focus on sexual violence policy. In her work Ashley advocates for the rights and visibility of sex workers and tries to uplift sex worker voices and experiences, such as by creating more accessible spaces for sex workers to access services on campus. As a white settler, she is committed to continually unlearning, honouring the pathways of those who have done this work before, and uplifting the voices of those who have been systematically marginalized and oppressed.
Panelists:
Kit Rothschild (they/their) is a multiply disabled 40-year-old Ashkenazi Jewish queer and non-binary settler who was born and raised on Treaty 7 territory (aka Calgary). After spending 17 years in Tiohtià:ke, Kanien’keha:ke territory (Montreal), Kit moved to the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, specifically the shared territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations (Vancouver) in 2017 to work at PACE Society as its support worker. With a background in sex work and nursing, Kit continues to combine their curiosity about human sexuality and passion for learning with their work as PACE Society’s violence prevention coordinator and public educator. Kit enjoys horror movies, swimming, dancing, and spending time with all the cats.
Marina Bochar (she/her) is a fourth-generation settler living out her great-grandparents’ settlement on Turtle Island from Romania, Poland, and Ukraine. Marina currently resides on the lands of the Lekwungen peoples, specifically the lands of the Songhees, Esquimalt, and WSÁNEĆ First Nations. Marina has been involved in sex-work support and advocacy for the last eight years and is currently completing her master of social work at the University of Victoria. She works as a program coordinator at Peers Victoria Resources Society, and her advocacy for sex workers’ rights extends to her work as board member at Living in Community, where she aims to use a nuanced and anti-oppressive approach. Marina joins this panel as someone who is in a process of ongoing learning and holds deep respect and reverence for those who came before her in the sex-worker rights movement. Marina is passionate about ensuring that student sex workers have access to safety, support, and a stigma-free learning environment. Additionally, Marina is interested in continuing to learn more about how her involvement in sex work advocacy can intersect with the work of decolonial solidarity and consensual allyship with BIPOC sex workers and BIPOC communities more broadly.
This event is free. To ensure we have an inclusive and welcoming environment for all, we’ve added registration to all our sessions.
Register now!
This notice is to inform you that this session will be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca. By participating in this session, you acknowledge that your participation in this session will be recorded and the recording will be made available openly.