Body Autonomy

“Harm reduction means listening to the voices of sex workers and people who use drugs and changing the policies that cause damage. Justice Rivera inspires us to act by bringing these stories together, along with historical insight and practical information on how to move past racist, counterproductive and oppressive ‘wars’ on drugs and trafficking.” —Maia Szalavitz, New York Times bestselling Author of Undoing Drugs: How Harm Reduction is Changing the Future of Drugs and Addiction “Body Autonomy offers us a powerful glimpse into the radical and transformative grassroots work being done by two of the most heavily stigmatized and criminalized groups in society: sex workers and drug users. Detailing community-based solutions and practical policy changes alongside crucial historical analysis and illuminating personal narratives, this anthology invites us to break cycles of structural violence and criminalization through harm reduction practices both ancient and emergent and points to a much larger societal transformation that wants to unfold. Grounded in lived experience and fierce advocacy, Body Autonomy is an inspiring vision for collective liberation in the world to come – and how with compassion and connection we can dream, trip and pleasure our way there.” —Britta Love, Somatic sex educator, Writer & Healer “An illuminating read that establishes a solid groundwork for understanding sex work, this book skillfully places it and it's criminalization within the broader sociopolitical landscape. The author draws indisputable connections between the wars on drugs and sex work in the timeline, and continues to offer us a narrative that is both informative and eye-opening throughout the rest of the book. Most importantly, there are resources provided and this work amplifies the voices of those directly impacted, offering a frontline perspective on the consequences of prohibition and the satisfaction of indulgence within both of these domains.” —Courtney Watson, LMFT and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, Owner of Doorway Therapeutic Services  “The only true autonomy that we have is that of the body. We live in a space and time where even that is under attack. It is important to reclaim ourselves. There is no need to justify how you have a relationship with you. This book represents an important conversation.” —Maurice Byrd, LMFT, Director of Training and Business Operations, Harm Reduction Therapy “Brilliant, revolutionary, profound, and inciting, Body Autonomy is an essential and comprehensive manual for anyone seeking to design a compassionate future in which autonomy, justice, and human rights are written into the fabric of our culture. In order to accomplish this work together, we must dismantle the harmful paternalism, extractivism, and purity-morality cultures of white supremacy that use criminalization of the exploration of consciousness and sensuality as a tool of oppression and control. In Rivera’s collaborative anthology, we learn that in order to effectively accomplish this shift, it is critical to understand the structures rooted in hierarchy and exploitation that control our present, to discern the nature and motivations of the opponents that threaten our wellbeing, to stand on the history and lessons of our collective resistance, and to collaboratively dream our sacred joy into being.” —Angela Carter, ND, Chair, Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board “This anthology, special in its voice being fully BIPOC, is a reminder that Love is an action. Our beloveds, everywhere. Love, the answer. Tenderly, I read these words and remember my own origins — loving those disruptors, those on the edge, those who challenge the status quo. Today, we call this loving harm reduction, decolonization, collective liberation. Tomorrow, with this act of loving practiced, we will know an ancient future. Justice brings her namesake to those who exist on the fringes, illuminating paths of liberation through practical applications of the action of love, followed by prayers of pleasure towards healing, towards joy, — in Love. Undeniably, required, radical reading.” —Danielle M. Herrera, Harm Reduction and Psychedelic Psychotherapist