WHO WE ARE

Mission

The mission of The St. James Infirmary is to provide compassionate and non-judgmental health care and social services for all sex workers while preventing occupational illnesses and injuries through a comprehensive continuum of services.

Program Philosophy & Goals

There are many factors which affect the working conditions and experiences for all sex workers including the political and economic climate, poverty and homelessness, stigmatization, violence, as well as the overwhelming intricacies of the legal, public and social systems. It is the philosophy of The St. James Infirmary to build upon existing skills and strengths in order to allow individuals to determine their own goals while providing culturally competent and non-judgmental services.

• To increase access to primary health care and social services for sex workers within the San Francisco Bay Area.

• To increase formalized communication, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration among individuals and agencies within the San Francisco Bay Area and other areas who serve sex workers.

• To promote community-based public health initiatives on behalf of sex workers, which may be used as a model for improving occupational health and safety standards and developing comprehensive medical and social services for sex workers nationally and internationally.

Sex workers use a variety of venues to obtain health care, including private physicians, public health clinics, and emergency rooms. In many cases, they don’t inform their health care providers about their occupation out of fear of discrimination or judgmental. When sex workers do talk about their work, they often find that physicians and other health care providers fail to go beyond examining them for sexually transmitted diseases, and even that they do with disrespect. The St. James Infirmary challenges the health care model that divides patients and providers. Our clinic was founded on the principals of harm reduction, and the majority of our staff are also community members (receive clinic services). This challenges the traditional top-down service delivery model, and puts the control over our well-being in the hands of sex workers.

The St. James Infirmary is fundamentally against the criminalizing of sex workers for their profession. Regardless of how sex workers got to their current job or if they are experiencing exploitative working conditions or are having the time of their lives, being criminalized is a social injustice with serious public health implications. We do not believe it is supportive of the health and human rights of sex workers to give them a criminal record or send them to jail. Because legalization and decriminalization can mean very different things to different people and in different circumstances, discussions on legalizing the trade or on decriminalizing sex work are complicated and make it hard to find consensus. Incarceration of our community further marginalizes and disenfranchises us, is a barrier for our community capacity building, and furthers a public health crisis.

History

The St. James Infirmary is a peer-based Occupational Safety & Health Clinic for sex workers, and was founded in 1999 by COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) as a joint project between EDA (Exotic Dancers Alliance) and the STD Prevention and Control Services of the City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health. These partners shared common philosophies and worked to share services, resources, and expertise for the benefit of all sex workers. The St. James Infirmary is now a private non-profit that is supported by many organizations and individuals.

For a more comphrehensive history, click here for The St. James Infirmary: A History by Alexandra Lutnick, MA. This is Alix's thesis for her Masters degree, so it's 27 pages!

BOARD & STAFF