WHO WE ARE

The Cupcake Girls remain committed to personal and organizational development so that we can show up well for those around us. In 2021, we formed an official Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee to guide us toward becoming a more equitable organization. Since then, we’ve progressively spent more time bringing additional intention and focus to these efforts. 

In 2023, our JEDI committee began outlining themes for the year, guiding our work, and providing more learning opportunities, discussion, and reflection among our staff, board members, and volunteers. Here are the topics and workshops we covered for each quarter:

Q1: Intersections of Oppression in Sex Work & Sex Trafficking

Our goal for the first quarter was to focus on the intersections of oppression folks in the adult industry face. In doing so, it was important for us to draw a clear distinction between sex work and sex trafficking. Among our team, we discussed the history of sex work and the various systems of oppression directly impacting our program participants. To close the quarter, in March, we hosted a community education panel to further explore these topics. The panel featured speakers from SWAID, Las Vegas Red Umbrella Collective, and Fifth Sun Project.

Q2: Privilege & Bias

In the second quarter, our staff, board, and volunteers continued our guided learning and shifted our focus to privilege and bias. We explored privilege, especially as it relates to different identities and life experiences. We also discussed the difference between implicit and explicit bias, how they drive our thoughts and behaviors, and how to become more conscious of harmful beliefs and behaviors so we can change them.

Q3: Cultural Humility & Accountability 

Our focus for the third quarter was to move from our conversations on bias to ways we can individually show up well for folks who have different experiences and identities than our own. That looks different for everyone, so we continued to focus on an intersectional lens for our learning. We also discussed taking accountability for harm, and acknowledging how important it is to consider the impact of our actions (how they affect others) over our intent (what we mean to do).

Q4: Cultural Competence

Our last quarter of the year was about cultural competence including topics such as representation vs. tokenism, and calling in vs. calling out. We closed the year with an interactive virtual workshop on cultural competence. Although our JEDI committee led the session, our board, staff, and volunteers worked together in breakout rooms to build content to present to the larger group.

We continued this work in March 2024 with a workshop on systems of oppression and mental health, facilitated by Equitable Care Certification (ECC). ECC was created by sex workers, sex work-affirming therapists, and sex-working therapists. They offer a comprehensive 12-course certification for both licensed & unlicensed mental health professionals to provide equitable care to their clients. [link to their site]

Our team has actively chosen to prioritize growth over comfort in these efforts. We’ve had powerful discussions, asked meaningful questions, and walked away from these sessions with resources for continued education and concrete ways to put what we’ve learned into practice.\

This year, we continue to provide similar monthly and quarterly learning opportunities for our team. We look forward to continuing this journey of learning and application as an organization and as community members. We’re excited for even more collaboration, education, and growth this year, and we hope you’ll join us. Keep an eye on our social media and newsletters for opportunities to participate!

(Updated: June 2024)